Richard Wagner: Tristan und Isolde (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)

Cambridge University Press, 3/31/2011
EAN 9780521437387, ISBN10: 0521437385

Paperback, 228 pages, 21.6 x 13.8 x 1.3 cm
Language: English

Wagner's Tristan und Isolde occupies a singular position in the history of Western culture. What Nietzsche called the 'sweet and terrible infinity' of its basic nexus of longing and death has fascinated audiences since its first performance in 1865. At the same time, its advanced harmonic language, immediately announced by the opening 'Tristan chord', marks a defining moment in the evolution of modern music. This accessible handbook brings together seven leading international writers to discuss the opera's genesis and the libretto's relationship to late Romantic literary concerns, present an analysis of the Prelude, the music of the drama itself, and Wagner's innovative use of instrumental timbre, and illustrate the production history and reception of the music-drama into the twenty-first century. The book includes the first English translation of Wagner's draft prose of the libretto, a detailed discussion of Wagner's orchestration, and rare pictures from important and influential productions.

Introduction Arthur Groos
Synopsis
Wagner's prose draft (1857)
1. Public and private life
on the genesis of Tristan und Isolde and the Wesendonck Lieder John Deathridge
2. Between memory and desire
Wagner's libretto and late Romantic subjectivity Arthur Groos
3. The Prelude and the play Joseph Kerman
4. In the realm of the senses
sight, sound, and the music of desire in Tristan und Isolde Thomas Grey
5. A mantle of sound for the night
timbre in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde Jürgen Maehder
6. Staging Tristan Stewart Spencer
7. Tristan's traces Steven Huebner
Select bilbiography.