Tristan and Isolde: the culmination of a magnificent project
Each of Petr Popelka’s years at the helm of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra has brought a concert performance of one act of Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde.
Following on the events in April 2023 and March 2024, the final part of the project will take place on 7 October. Be there in the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum to hear it live or listen to it on the radio. The live broadcast will be offered by ČRo Vltava and the recording will be rebroadcast two days later by ČRo D-dur.
The opera Tristan und Isolde, which premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 under the direction of Hans von Bülow, was described by the influential contemporary philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche as “dangerously fascinating, terrifyingly and sweetly infinite”. Indeed, Wagner’s symphonic style is renowned for its endless melodies and captivating charm. The music, conceived in broad strokes and interwoven with characteristic motifs, lends mystery and exclusivity to his operas. In Tristan and Isolde, this reaches an enormous expressive intensity. Although the opera was composed in the same period as Verdi’s La Traviata or Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, from a musical point of view it is a completely different, truly visionary and groundbreaking work, especially thanks to the instrumentation and advanced chromaticity.
In the third act, set in the castle of Kareol in Brittany, the story culminates in a final tragedy. The only thing keeping the wounded knight Tristan alive is his desire to meet Isolde. Feverishly, he reflects on his life and his initially unacknowledged love for her. He curses the love potion and his fate. He longs for the death that Isolde is to bring him. On several occasions he thinks her ship is approaching, but it is only a hallucination. When Isolde finally arrives, Tristan, who has torn off his bandages in ecstasy, dies in her arms. King Marke of Cornwall approaches on the next ship. Tristan’s servant, Kurwenal, believes he is out for revenge and fights the courtier Melot to the death. However, Marke no longer wants revenge because he has learned about the magic love potion. He came to understand that the lovers he had accused of betrayal were not to blame, and even decided to give his blessing to their union. He mourns the dead and feels a sense of futility. Isolde is no longer aware of what is happening around her. She is delirious, dying of grief. Her love for Tristan does not let her outlive him.
An extensive scene called Isolde’s Love-Death crowns the opera poetically and musically. Together with the overture, it is often performed as a separate concert piece. It tests the vocal and expressive limits of the sopranos and gives the audience a thrilling sense of the intense emotions that Wagner’s highly romantic music was able to capture and evoke.
