Wagner's 'Tristan Und Isolde' in Defence of the Libretto

7/23/2019 Wagner's 'Tristan Und Isolde' in Defence of the Libretto

1/18

Wagner's 'Tristan und Isolde': In Defence of the LibrettoAuthor(s): Arthur GroosSource: Music & Letters, Vol. 69, No. 4 (Oct., 1988), pp. 465-481Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/854898

Accessed: 27/07/2010 17:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=oup.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Oxford University Pressis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toMusic &

Letters.

http://www.jstor.org
http://www.jstor.org/stable/854898?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ouphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ouphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/854898?origin=JSTOR-pdf


2/18

WAGNER'S 'TRISTAN UND

ISOLDE':

IN DEFENCE OF THE LIBRETTO

BY

ARTHUR

GROOS

AS ITS

TITLE

SUGGESTS,

this

article deals

primarily

with

literary

rather than

musical

analysis,

and focuses

on concerns that

inevitably

differ

from

those

traditionally

addressed

by

musicologists.'

Such

an

enterprise may require

some

justification,

since

anyone

who

has ever

considered

Wagner's

libretto to Tristan und Isolde as

a

literary

text

-

as a

'good

read',

so

to

speak--will

probably

doubt the

feasibility

and

even

the

sanity

of such

an

undertaking. Wagner's

librettos

are

known

neither for

their lucidity nor for their charm, and no scholar would ever attempt to validate

Schopenhauer's

waspish

comment

that

Wagner

showed more talent as a

writer than

as a

composer.

Nonetheless,

someone should

demonstrate--if

I

may

paraphrase

Mark Twain -that

Wagner's

librettos

really

are

better than

they

read.

Recent advances in

the

study

of

librettos,

particularly

in

the

elaboration of their

relationships

with

literary

sources,

have

made it

increasingly

clear

that these

texts

often

present

a

sophisticated

type

of

discourse

requiring expectations

and

methods

of

analysis

that differ from

those

involving

traditional

literary

genres.2

A

more

radical

approach

could

be

taken

in

the

particular

instance

of

Wagner's

operas,

whose

librettos

may

not

differ

substantially

from

contemporary

modes

of

high

literary expression now found unpalatable by twentieth-century sensibilities.3 If the

most

self-advertising

of all

composers

thought

his

own

librettos

so

important

that

he

published

them

separately

years

in

advance of

the

orchestral

score

and

presented

them

in

readings

of

astonishingly

effective

theatricality,

and if

those

librettos

re-

ceived

high

praise

from

important

writers

and

critics,4

we

should

devote

some atten-

tion to their verbal

integrity

independently

of their

relationships

to

literary

sources

or

musical

realization.

Support

from

Wagner's

theoretical

writings

may

be

suspect

for a

variety

of

reasons

(including long-windedness

and

lack

of

clarity),

but

private

cor-

respondence,

such

as the

letter

to

Theodore

Uhlig

of 31

May

1852,

makes

the case

succinctly:5

'

It is a

slightly

revised and

expanded

version of a

paper originally

presented

at

a

conference

on

Verdi

and

Wagner

held

at Cornell

University

in

1984. The

analytical

papers

from that

conference

appear

as

Analyzing

Opera:

Verdi and

Wagner,

ed.

Carolyn

Abbate &

Roger

Parker,

Berkeley

& Los

Angeles

(forthcoming).

I

am

indebted

to

my

colleagues

in

the

Department

of Music at

Cornell,

particularly

James

Webster and

Joanna

Green-

wood,

for

their

encouragement

and

help.

2

See,

for

example,

Reading

Opera,

ed.

Arthur

Groos &

Roger

Parker,

Princeton,

1988. For

greater

elabora-

tion

of

the

present

paragraph,

see

ibid.,

pp.

1-11

and

12-13.

3

Even

the Italian

'libretto

language'

of the

nineteenth

century,

which has

annoyed

so

many

critics,

seems

to

represent

the

attempt

of

librettists to remain

in the

mainstream of

'high'

literary

discourse

by

employing

the

same

linguaggio poetico

as

other

writers. See

Piero

Weiss,

'"Sacred

Bronzes":

Paralipomena

to

an

Essayby

Dallapiccola',

19th CenturyMusic, ix (1985), 42-49.

4

See,

for

example,

the

letter of 16

April

1856 from

Gottfried Keller

to Hermann

Hettner,

in

Gottfried

Keller:

Gesammelte

Briefe,

ed.

Carl

Helbling,

i

(Berne,

1950),

429 f.

5

Richard

Wagner:

Sdmtliche

Briefe,

ed.

Gertrud Strobel &

Werner

Wolf,

iv

(Leipzig,

1979),

386. All

transla-

tions

in

this

essay

are

my

own.

465


3/18

Wer

in einem

urtheil

iiber meine

Musik die

harmonie von

der

Instrumentation

trennt,

thut

mir ein eben

so

grosses

Unrecht,

wie

der,

der meine

Musik

von

meiner

Dichtung,

meinen

Gesang

vom worte trenntl

Anyone

who

separates

harmony

from instrumentation

in

judging

my

music does

me as

great

an

injustice

as

someone who

separates

my

music from

my

text,

my song

from the wordsl

The

variety

of evidence

concerning

Tristan

in

particular

can

support

any

argument,

so

I will

be

both

brief and biased. The

performance

of the words

was

so

important

to

Wagner

that

he

originally persuaded Ludwig

II

to allow the

premiere

to take

place

in

the Residenz-Theater

in Munich:6

Besonders

ist die

Aussprache vorziiglich

zu

verstehen,

worauf

mir-gerade

diessmal-so

unendlich

viel

ankommt.

Above

all,

diction

is

particularly

intelligible, which-especially

this time-is

infinitely important

to

me.

Ludwig

Schnorr von

Carolsfeld,

the first

Tristan,

had

nothing

but

contempt

for

critics of the

premiere

who

had

neither

read

the

poem

in

advance nor understood

it.7

More than

a

century

later,

the 'infinite

importance'

of the words

seems

to

have

been

lost on

many

opera

singers;

it

certainly

seems

lost on

monolingual

critics

who

suggest

that

among

the

composer's

works

'Tristan

is

least

spoilt

by

a

performance

without

stage

action

and

would still

make

a

not inconsiderable

part

of its

proper

effect

if

the

words, too,

were

dispensed

with'.8

This sort of

Anglo-Saxon

nonsense

only

preaches

what

generations

of

musicologists

have

unreflectingly practised,

discussing

Wagner's operas

with

piano

reductions

and--pace

the

composer's

warn-

ing-ignoring

his

orchestration

almost

as

often

as his

words.

Given the

difficulties

of

analysing

Wagner's

music,

however,

it

is

surprising

that so

few

musicologists

attempt to ground their arguments in sustained analysis of the libretto. If we wish to

understand the

dual nature of

Wagner's

creative

activity

as

both

librettist and

com-

poser,

we

should

not

reduce his libretto to

an ad hoc

quarrying

ground

for

foot-

noting

musical

arguments

but

should,

rather,

respect

it

as a

separate

and

integral

world

of

discourse

-even

though

it

may

ultimately

become

something

else

through

the

interaction

of words

and

music.9

In

the

following pages,

I

advance

an

argument

for this

attitude

by

examining

three

aspects

of the

libretto to

Tristan

und Isolde:

(1)

the

climax of

each

act;

(2)

central

metaphors

of

Act

II

scene

1

and

their

ramifications;

and

(3)

the

structure

of

Act I.

My

discussion

is limited to

verbal

analysis

and can therefore

only

hint

at

pos-

sible relationships between words and music, which seem to range in my three

examples

from

coherence

to

divergence,

raising-I

hope-issues

that

will

require

the

concerted

attention

of

musicologists

and

literary

critics

alike.

I

It

has

long

been

recognized

that

the

climax

to

each act of

Tristan und Isolde-

the

results

of the

potion

(Act

I

scene

5),

the

conclusion

of the Liebesnacht

(Act

II

6

Kinig

Ludwig

II.

und

Richard

Wagner:

Briefwechsel,

ed.

Winifried

Wagner

et

al.,

i

(Karlsruhe,

1936),

86.

7Ernest

Newman,

The

Life of

Richard

Wagner,

iii

(London,

1945),

362.

Richard

David

in

The

Wagner Companion,

ed. Peter

Burbidge

&

Richard

Sutton,

London

& Boston,

1979,

p.

129.

9

Since

this

essay

was

completed,

a

comparable

study

has

appeared:

Ulrich Weisstein,

'The

Little Word

und:

Tristan und

Isolde

as

Verbal

Construct',

Wagner

in

Retrospect:

a Centennial

Reappraisal,

ed.

Leroy

R.

Shaw

et

al., Amsterdam,

1987,

pp.

70-90.

466


4/18

scene

2)

and Isolde's

Liebestod

(Act

III scene

3)-represent

interrelated

musical

high points

of the

opera.

The same is true

of the

libretto,

as the final lines of

each

passage

reveal:'0

Act

I

Act II

Act III

Du mir

einzig

bewusst,

ein-bewusst:

unbewusst,

heiss ergliihter Brust,

hochste Liebeslustl

h6chste

Liebeslustl

h6chste

Lustl

All

three

passages

end

in

a

remarkably

similar

manner.

Commentators

and

translators

usually

render these exclamations with

something

like

'supreme

joy

of

love'

or

'highest

bliss'.

These are

reasonable

approximations,

but

they

impose

an

explicitness

on the

original

text that

it does

not

actually

express.

The German

word

'Lust' has

two

primary

sets of

meanings: joy

(bliss,

delight,

pleasure

etc.)

and the

anticipation

of that emotion

(wish,

desire,

longing

etc.).

This

ambiguity

also

characterizes

'Liebeslust',

with

the

further

complication

that

the

word

first

appears

in three famous passages in Goethe's Faust, where it expresses the hero's dual

nature,

anticipating

momentary

sensual

delights

which

his

striving

for the ultimate

totality

of

human

experience

will

not

permit

him

to

enjoy."

A

recent

study

has

demonstrated that some of the diction

and

verse

forms

of

the

opera

derive

from

Goethe's

play;

and a more

detailed examination of this lexical

counterpoint

as

well

as

circumstances

surrounding

the

genesis

of Tristan

suggests

that it does stand

in

a

complex antagonistic

relationship

with

Faust,

the one work of German

literature

capable

of

contesting

the

unique position Wagner

wished

to

posit

for

his

music

drama.

2

For our

purposes,

it is

important

to

emphasize

that the

ambiguity

of 'Liebeslust'

and 'Lust' articulates a tension between fulfilment and desire that seems particularly

appropriate

for Tristan und

Isolde.

According

to

a

diary

entry

cited

by

Siegfried

Melchinger,

the

prelude

to Tristan

presents

the

'einheitlicher

Grundgedanke'

(uni-

fying

basic

concept)

of the

opera,

the

striving

towards a

'Zustand

absoluter

Seligkeit'

(condition

of

absolute

happiness)

which is

simultaneously

associated with

the

'Gefiihl

und

das

Bewusstsein des

Nicht-erreichen-k6nnens'

(feeling

and

con-

sciousness of

its

unattainability).'3

In

the

same

sense,

the double

meaning

of

hap-

piness

and desire in

'Liebeslust'

perfectly

characterizes

the climaxes

of Acts

I

and

II,

moments of

great intensity

which

the arrival of

King

Marke

interrupts,

changing joy

to

longing,

and

frustrating

the resolution

towards

which

both the

action

and

the

music have been directed. Similarly, the ambiguity of 'Lust' at the end of Act III

'0

Citations

give

the

text

according

to

the

orchestral score in

Richard

Wagners

Werke,

ed. Michael

Balling,

v

(Leipzig,

1917)

in so far

as this is

practical.

In cases

where

simplification

of

simultaneous

voices is

necessary

for

clarity,

I

have

followed

the

printed

libretto

in

Richard

Wagner:

Sdmtliche

Schrzften

und

Dichtungen,

vii

(Leipzig,

1911).

"

See

the

entry

in

Jacob

& Wilhelm

Grimm,

Deutsches

Worterbuch,

vi

(Leipzig,

1886),

951. The

three

passages-the only

loci

cited

by

the

Grimms-consist of

Faust's

famous

definition of the

'two souls'

conflicting

within

his

breast: 'Die eine

halt,

in derber

Liebeslust,

/sich an die

Welt

mit klammernden

Organen'

(1114

f.);

Faust'scommand

to

Mephisto

after

meeting

Gretchen to

procure

him 'ein

Halstuch von ihrer

Brust,

/

Ein

Strumpf-

band

meiner

Liebeslust '

(2661

f.);

and

the

petition

of the

Doctor Marianus in

the

final scene

of

Faust

II

that the

Mater

Gloriosa

accept

'was des

Mannes

Brust

Ernst und

zart

beweget

/

Und mit

heiliger

Liebeslust

Dir

entgegen-

triget' (12001 ff.).

12

See

Dieter

Borchmeyer,

Das

Theater Richard

Wagners,

Stuttgart,

1983,

pp.

253

ff.,

esp. p.

284;

and

my

'Appropriation

in

Wagner's

Tristan

Libretto',

Reading Opera,

pp.

25-29.

13

'Eine

Handlung:

Versuch iiber

Tristan und

Isolde',

Hundert

Jahre

'Tristan',

ed. Wieland

Wagner,

Emsdetten, 1965,

p.

114. I have been

unable

to

verify

the

date,

28

November

1874,

given

by Melchinger.

467


5/18

might

be

correlated with the

suggestion

by

musicologists

that the Liebestod

remains

unresolved

harmonically.

While

the

ambiguity

of the final word

in

these three

passages

establishes the

keynote

for the entire

work,

the

phrase

or

word with

which

it

rhymes always

has a

precise

meaning.

All

three

rhyme

words

derive from 'bewusst'

(aware,

conscious)

-'Du mir

einzig

bewusst'

(Act I),

'ein-bewusst'

(Act II)

and 'unbewusst'

(Act III)

respectively-and

articulate

a

basic concern

of the

opera:

the

developing

con-

sciousness

of the

hero

and

heroine.

The

exclamation

at

the

end of

Act

I,

'Du

mir

einzig

bewusst'

(of you

alone

I

am

aware),

characterizes the

effect of the

love

potion,

which

makes Tristan

and

Isolde

aware of their

previously

unconscious attraction

for

each other

(one

notes the

emphatic

stress on

pronouns)

at the

same time

as

it

makes

them

aware of

nothing

else.

The

ecstatic

'ein-bewusst',

which climaxes their

exploration

of

the

brave new

world

of love

and death

in Act

II,

evokes the

transcen-

dent union

of 'one-consciousness'

that

they

can

realize

only

by casting

off

the

shackles of

individuation that

separate

them.

Finally,

the

Liebestod

calls

upon

the

heroine

quite literally

to

expire,

'unbewusst',

into the

surrounding

universe,

thus

becoming

'un-conscious'.

These

simple

variations-'conscious',

'one-conscious',

'unconscious'

-epitomize

in

telegraphic

style

the

trajectory

of

desire that

begins

with

Tristan's

and Isolde's

new-found love

and concludes

with

its

realization

in

death.

These

verses

implicitly

suggest

something

about

the

nature of

Wagner's

libretto

that

I

now

want to

investigate

in

their

larger

context.

Everyone

would

agree

that

the

language

of

Tristan

und

Isolde

is not

realistic,

nor

does it often

employ

dialogue

in

the

traditional

sense

of the term.

In

fact,

the

language

might

be

characterized

as

ritual

or

hieratic,

symbolically presenting

a

myth

that

unfolds

in

the

re-enactment

of central

events

in Tristan's

and Isolde's

vita.

This is not to

say

that

the

opera

lacks

the

dialectical

exchange typical

of conventional

drama

-

it

is

present

when

the

hero

and heroine

clash

with

each other or

with

a

representative

of the

feudal order

(e.g.

Act

II

scene

1).

The

opposite

end of the

verbal

spectrum

-

silence

-

also

constitutes

a

significant portion

of

the action.14

But

the

memorable

passages

that

emphasize

Tristan

and

Isolde,

either

as individuals

or

as a

couple,

are characterized

by

the

pro-

cess

through

which

they

discover

and

explore

increasingly

new dimensions

of

the

consciousness

to

which

Love

has destined

them.

This

emphasis

on

process,

articulated

by

an

astonishing

mastery

of

rhetoric,

comprises

what

might

be called

a

verbal

counterpart

to

the

musical

'art of

transition'.

With

this

in

mind,

we can

now

look

at

the

three

climaxes

-the

moments

towards

which the

progress

of

each act

is

directed

-

in

greater

detail.

The love

potion

at

the

end of

Act

I

precipitates

the

affinity

for

each other

which

the

hero

and heroine

have

hitherto

repressed.

A mere 30 lines

from the

drinking

of

the

philtre

to the

interruption

of their

ardent

duet

represents

the lovers'

awakening

from

separate

concerns,

first to

a

discovery

of

each

other

and

then

to

a

mutual

affir-

mation

of

love.

The initial

reaction

of the

lovers

proceeds

simultaneously

but

separately,

as the

strict

syntactical

parallelism

in three

pairs

of

utterances

(11.

1-2/3-4;

5/6;

7-8/9-10)

suggests:

TRISTAN:

Was

traumte

mir 1

von

Tristans

Ehre?

ISOLDE:

Was

traumte

mir

von Isoldes

Schmach?

14

See Hans

Mayer,

'Tristans

Schweigen',

Anmerkungen

zu

Richard

Wagner,

Frankfurt,

1966,

pp.

61-75.

468


6/18

TRISTAN:

Du mir verloren?

5

ISOLDE:

Du mich verstossen?

TRISTAN:

Triigenden

Zaubers

tiickische Listl

ISOLDE:

T6rigen

Ziirnens

eitles Draunl 10

TRISTAN:

What

did

I

dream / of

Tristan's honour?

/

ISOLDE:

What

did I dream /

of

Isolde's shame?

/

TRISTAN:

You

lost to

me?

/

ISOLDE: You

cast

me out?

/

TRISTAN:

Malicious

cunning

/

of deceitful

magici

/

ISOLDE:

Idle

threats

of

foolish

angerl

At the same

time,

the

decreasing

lexical

parallelism,

from identical

(1/3)

or near-

identical

(2/4)

lines

(isocolon)

to

anaphora

(5/6)

and

then to

mere

alliteration

(7/9),

implies

a

decreasing

isolation

as each

questions past

obsessions,

then

enquires

about the other

and

finally

exclaims over the

deception

of

the

immediately

preceding

moments.

The

ensuing

passage

(11. 11-22)

represents

the

increasing

affinity

between Tristan

and

Isolde

by

means of two

rhetorical

devices,

rhyme

in

alternating

lines

(12/14,

16/18,

20/22)

and a

form of chiasmus

in which

each

invokes

the other

(11/12,

13/14):

TRISTAN:

Isoldel

11

ISOLDE:

Tristanl

TRISTAN:

Siisseste Maidl

ISOLDE:

Trautester

Mannl

TRISTAN: Isoldel/ISOLDE:

Tristanl/ TRISTAN: Sweetest

maid

/ ISOLDE:Dearest

man

(Anyone

familiar

with

Wagner's

source

will

immediately

recognize

a

variation of the

technique

with which

Gottfried von

Strassburg

first

introduces

his

hero and heroine:

'Ein man ein

wip,

ein

wip

ein

man,

/Tristan

Isolt,

Isolt

Tristan'

(11.

129

f.).15)

As

their voices

finally

come

together

in

near-unison

and

then

in

unison

in

quatrains

(15-18

and

19-22)

distinguished by

a

rhetoric

of

conscious

parallelism

(isocolon,

anaphora

and

alliteration),

both

succumb

to

the same

force

of

which

neither

is

yet

fully

conscious,

a

state which

the absence of

first-person

pronouns suggests:

BOTH:

Wie

sich

die Herzen

15

wogend

erhebenl

Wie alle

Sinne

wonnig

erbebenl

Sehnender Minne

schwellendes

Bliihen,

20

schmachtender Liebe

seliges

Gliihenl

BOTH:

How our

hearts

surgingly

exaltl / How all

our senses

blissfully

tremblel Of

longing

love

/

a

swelling

flourishing,

/

of

languishing

love/

a

blessed

glowing )

The

first

quatrain

exclaims

in

a

general

sense

about

the

emotional

process

that

overwhelms

them,

which

the

rhyme

with verbs

using

the

'er'

prefix

underscores

('erheben',

'erbeben');

the

second

progresses

to an

identification

of that

process

with

love,

circling

around both

the medieval

and the

Modern German

word,

'Minne'

(19)

and 'Liebe'

(21).

The

actual

subjects

of

that

identification,

the

gerunds

'Bliihen'

15

As

I

suggest

elsewhere

(see

Reading

Opera,

pp. 18-24),

this

represents

the first of several

pointed

intertextual

references

to

Wagner's

source

that

draw

attention to

his

appropriation

of

it.

469


7/18

and

'Gliihen'

(20/22),

again

emphasized through

their

position

as

rhyme

words,

intimate that

this

process

has

now become

a

permanent

state of

being.

The

conclusion of the duet articulates the

couple's

sudden

('jach')

realization

and

affirmation of their love:

Jach

in der

Brust

Jauchzende Lustl

T:

Isoldel

Isoldel I:

Tristanl Tristanl

25

Isolde,

Welten

entronnen,

Isolde

mir

gewonnen

du mir

gewonnen,

Tristanl

Isoldel

Du

mir

gewonnen,

du mir

einzig

bewusst,

30

h6chste

Liebeslustl

BOTH:

Suddenly

in

the

breast

exulting joyl

/

T: Isoldel Isoldel

Isolde,

/

Isolde won

for

me,

/

Isoldel

I:

Tristanl

Tristanl/From

worlds

escaped,/You

won

for

me,

Tristanl/BOTH: You

won

for

me,/of

you

alone

I am

aware,

/

highest

love-bliss/desirel

The most obvious formal expression of this realization is complete rhyme: identical

rhyme

between

couplets

at

the

beginning

and

end

of

the section

(23/24

and

30/31),

even

with the

identical word

'Lust'

(24/31),

underscores the

congruence

or

harmony

of the lovers'

desire.

The

intervening

rhyme, 'entronnen'/'gewonnen'

(26

f.),

sug-

gests

through

contrasting past participles

the

results of

an irreversible

process:

namely

that

the lovers

have

escaped

from the

feudal world

and-contrary

to the

premature

fear

of

line 5

('Du

mir

verloren?')-

have found

each

other

already.

Only

one

line

is

unrhymed,

Tristan's

and Isolde's

exclamation

of

each

other's

name

(25

ff.),

which

repeats

and

doubles

lines

11

f.,

not

only

marking

through

repetition

an

intensification

of the hero

and heroine's

mutual

affinity

but

also

reminding

us

that they now comprise a separate unity and are 'consonant' only with each other.16

At

the

same

time,

the

differentiation

of

vocal

parts

in

the

score

suggests

a

characteristic

variation

in

their

responses.

Tristan

seems

more

intense,

apparently

fixated

on

Isolde,

whereas

she

reacts

to the

larger opposition

between the

world

and

the lovers

(26 f.),

a

differentiation

that

will be

expressed

in their deaths: Tristan

col-

lapses

at

the

sight

of

Isolde;

Isolde

expires

into

the

surrounding

universe.

The

corresponding

passage

in

the

Liebesnacht

(Act

II

scene

2)

resembles

that

of

Act

I in

its

progression

towards

a

climax

that

is

expressed

by

identical

concluding

lines

('h6chste Liebeslust').

But

whereas the

hero and

heroine

barely

advance

beyond

the

'sudden'

discovery

of their love

in

the

first

act

('Jach

in der

Brust'),

they

are

'ardently'

involved

in

its consummation

in

the

second

('heiss

ergliihter

Brust').

More

important,

the

end

of the

Liebesnacht,

a

verbal-if not

musical-coda

to the

preceding

deliberations,

presents

in a

brilliant rhetorical

display

the

results of

Tristan's

and Isolde's

metaphysical

exploration

of

the

polarities

of

day

and

night,

love

and

death,

being

and

non-being.

After

Tristan's

preliminary

exclamation,

'Wie

sie fassen'

(How

to

grasp

it),

the

lovers

begin

a

joint

rejection

of

the

day-world,

emphasized

by

the

now

familiar

techniques

of

isocolon,

anaphora

and

alliteration

(1-3).

In

the

ensuing

exchange

(4-13),

which

is

structured

on

a

principle

of

binary

opposition,

the

hero

and

heroine,

both

singly

and

together,

long

to

negate

or

be

without

('ohne'-4,

6,

8

etc.)

the

frustrations

of

the

day-world

and

replace

them

16

The

printed

libretto

(cf.

n.

10)

renders this

affinity

with

a further

chiasmus:

'Isoldel

Tristanl/

Tristanl

Isoldel'

(28).

470


8/18

with

a

state that fulfils

their

longing

(hence

the

adjectives

that affirm

its

positive

value-5, 7,

9

etc.):

BOTH:

Fern der

Sonne,

1

fern der

Tage

Trennungsklagel

ISOLDE:

Ohne Wahnen,

TRISTAN:

Sanftes Sehnen

5

ISOLDE:

ohne

Bangen,

TRISTAN:

Siiss

Verlangen:

ohne

Wehen

BOTH:

hehr

Vergehenl

ISOLDE:

ohne

Schmachten 10

BOTH:

hold

Umnachtenl

TRISTAN:

ohne

Meiden,

BOTH:

ohne

Scheiden . .

.

BOTH:Far

from the

sun,

/far from

days'/lament

of

partingl/

ISOLDE:

Without

deluding-

/TRISTAN:

gentle

long-

ingl/ISOLDE:

without

fearing-/TRISTAN:

sweet

yearning.

/Without woes/BOTH: sublime

dying./ISOLDE:

Without languishing/BOTH: ovely darkening.

/TRISTAN:

Without avoiding/BOTH:without separating ...

The

actual

transition

from

a

world

that

both

have

endured

to

one of which

they

have

only

an

intimation

has

far-reaching

metaphysical consequences.

The

transcen-

dent

realm in

which

they

long

to

fulfil

their

love

can

be

defined

beyond

the

physical

boundaries

of

time

and

space:

traut allein

ewig

heim,

15

in

ungemess'nen

Riumen

Ubersel'ges

Traumen

.

. .

intimately alone, / for ever home, / in unmeasured space/ most happy dreaming

but

the

integration

of

Tristan

and

Isolde themselves

into this

Utopian

time-space

requires

a

redefinition of

their own

relationship.

In

positing

a

goal

without

physical

boundaries,

the

lovers

impose

upon

themselves

the

necessity

of

transcending

the

limitations

of

individuation.'7

Even

though

the

potion

has

enabled

them

to

find

each

other

as

'Tristan und

Isolde',

the

same

conjunction

'und'

that

links

each

to the

other

also reminds

them

of the

individual

separation

of

self-consciousness

expressed

by

proper

names.

The

rhetorical

means

of

overcoming

this

syntactic

paradox,

chiasmus,

is

identical

with

the one

that

established

their

relationship

in

Act

I,

now

serving

as

the

means to a

higher

end. Isolde

and

Tristan

yearn

to

become

'no

longer

Isolde' and

'no

longer

Tristan'

(20/23)

respectively,

since

each

desires

to

merge

her

or his

personality

with

that of the

other.

Isolde

first

expresses

this

wish

in

the

form

of a

chiasmus

(18/19),

as

does

Tristan

(21/22).

But

both

negations

of the

speaker's

personality,

through

a

reversal

of

the

sequence

of

name and

pronoun

between

Isolde's

exclamation

(18/19)

and

Tristan's

(21/22),

also

combine

chiastically

to

establish

a

larger

and

positive

interrelationship

between

the

two:

ISOLDE:

Du

Isolde,

Tristan

ich,

nicht mehr

Isoldel

20

17

See

Peter

Wapnewski,

Der

traurige

Gott:

Richard

Wagner

in

seinen

Helden,

2nd

edn.,

Munich, 1982,

pp.

71-79.

471


9/18

TRISTAN:

Tristan

du,

ich

Isolde,

nicht mehr

TristanI

ISOLDE:You

Isolde,

/

Tristan

I,

/ no

longer

Isoldel

/TRISTAN:

Tristan

you,

/

I

Isolde,

/

no

longer

Tristanl

As

they

strive towards this

meta-personal relationship,

in which each

will

exchange

consciousness with the other and be subsumed into a

larger

unity,

first-

and

second-person pronouns-the

expression

of

self-consciousness

-

disappear

from

their

discourse,

and Tristan and

Isolde

begin

a

duet

in the

metaphysical

as well as

musical sense of the

word:

T:

Ewig

I: Ohne

Nennen,

ohne

Trennen,

25

Endlos

neu

Erkennen,

neu

Entbrennen;

BOTH:

endlos

ewig

ein-bewusst:

heiss ergliihter Brust 30

hochste Liebeslustl

T:

For

everl

Endlessl

I:

Without

naming,

/

without

parting,

/

new

knowing/

new

enflaming;

/

BOTH:

endless for

ever

/ one-conscious:

of ardent

glowing

breast

the

highest

love-bliss/desirel

As is the

case

with

the

corresponding passage

in

Act

I,

there

is a

subtle

differentia-

tion between the hero

and heroine. Tristan

remains more

intense,

focusing

on

the

immediate

goal,

whereas Isolde

hesitates,

taking

the

larger perspective

in

a

quatrain

that looks back on the

world

that

separated

them

(24

f.)

as

well

as ahead to

a

future

of

perception

and

passion

(26 f.).

Again,

Tristan determines

the

issue,

and

they

join

together

in

affirming

the condition

beyond

time

and

space,

'endlos

ewig',

in which

they

can

be

as

one,

'ein-bewusst'.

Isolde's solo Liebestod

at

the

end of Act

III

necessarily

differs from the

duets

of

the

preceding

acts.

Her initial

responses

are

structured

not

in

the

form of

a

chiasmus-the

characteristic

trope

of Tristan

and Isolde's

exchanges-but

as

an

antithesis,

a

characteristic

expression

of

the

mutual

unintelligibility

of the

lovers

and

the

feudal world.

Brangaene

enquires

'Horst

du uns nicht? .

. .

Vernimmst

du

die Treue nicht?'

(Don't

you

hear us? .

. .

Don't

you recognize

your

loyal

servant?),

to

which

Isolde,

'die

nichts um sich

her

vernommen'

(who

has

perceived

nothing

around her), responds with a higher epistemology: 'seht ihr, Freunde?/Seht ihr's

nicht?'

(Do

you

see,

friends?

/

Don't

you

see

it?).

In

rephrasing

her vision

of

Tristan's

apotheosis,

she

reveals

that

her

perceptions

not

only

transcend

their

ability

to

feel

and

see,

'fiihlt

und seht ihr's nicht?'

(don't

you

feel

and see

it?),

but

are also

attuned,

quite

literally,

to

a different world:

Hore

ich

nur

diese

Weise,

die

so

wunder-

voll

und

leise

Wonne

klagend,

5

alles sagend,

mild

vers6hnend

aus

ihm

tonend

in mich

dringet,

472


10/18

auf sich

schwinget,

10

hold erhallend

um

mich

klinget?

Heller

schallend,

mich

umwallend,

sind es Wellen 15

sanfter Liifte?

Sind es

Wogen

wonniger

Diifte?

Wie sie

schwellen,

mich

umrauschen,

20

soil

ich

atmen,

soil ich lauschen?

Soil ich

schliirfen,

untertauchen?

Siiss

in

Diiften

25

mich verhauchen?

Do

only

I

hear / this

melody,

/

which so wonder-

fully

and

softly,

/

delight

lamenting,

/

everything

saying,

/

gently

reconciling/ from him resounding,/ urges me, / soars up / sweetly sounding, / rings around me?/ Sounding

clearer,

/

flowing

around

me,

/

are

they

waves of

gentle

breezes?

Are

they

billows

of

delightful

fragrances?

How

they

swirl,

/

roar around

me,

/

shall

I

breathe,

/

shall

I

listen? Shall

I

sip?

submerge?

in

their

fragrances sweetly expire?

This

world

is

mediated to Isolde's

audience

by

her

subjective responses,

which are

punctuated by

a series of

questions

and

unified

by

a

series

of

formal

devices

-

consis-

tent metre

(trochaic

dimeter),

enjambement,

the extension of

rhyme beyond

couplets

or

quatrains.

The

passage

renders--to

use an

appropriate

musical

analogy--one

extended transition:

the

heroine's

perception begins

as

a

sound

which

only

she

perceives,

'h6re

ich

nur/

diese

Weise'

(a

typological

fulfilment of Tristan's

alte Weise). It grows increasingly louder, impinging on her consciousness ('in mich

dringet')

and

enveloping

her

('ur

mich

klinget',

'mich

umwallend',

'mich

umrauschen'

(12,

14,

20)),

finally

pervading

her

respiratory system ('Liifte',

'Diifte')

and

becoming

tangible ('Wellen',

'Wogen').

Several

responses

to

this

increasingly

insistent force thus

seem

possible-listening

('lauschen'),

tasting

and

touching

in a

partial

and a

total form

('schliirfen',

'untertauchen')

and

expiring

('verhauchen')-

the last of

which,

by

virtue of

its

placement

as

the last of

her

questions

and

its

im-

plicit

value

judgement ('siss'),

constitutes the hesitant

rough

draft for the decisive

act that

follows.

Isolde's

response represents

less

of

an

answer

to these

questions

than

a

rendering

of her death as a verbal process, both of which form, appropriately enough, an

exclamatory

sentence

fragment:

In dem

wogenden

Schwall,

in dem

t6nenden

Schall,

in des

Welt-Atems

wehendem All--

30

ertrinken,

versinken,

unbewusst,

-

hochste Lustl

In

the

surging

swell,/in

the

ringing

sound,/in

the

World-breath's/wafting

universe-/to

drown,/sink

down- / unconscious- / highest bliss/desire

The

dissolution

of her

being

begins

with

motion towards

a

goal

that is

also

in a

state

of

flux,

which

the

participles

underscore

('wogend',

't6nend',

'wehend').

The

473


11/18

magnitude

of that

goal

is

expressed

by

'Welt-Atem'

itself,

which has

two stressed

accents,

interrupting

the flow of

anapaestic

dimeter as well as

the

anaphora

of

lines

27-28 and

placing

an

emphasis

on

the word that its lack

of

rhyme

also reinforces.

Whereas

the

emphasis

of

the

unrhymed

line in

Act

I

falls

on Tristan

and

Isolde,

sug-

gesting

that

they

form

a

world unto

themselves,

the stressed

and

unrhymed

'Welt-

Atem'

at the

end

of the

opera

suggests

a universal

process

that now

encompasses

everything

else. There is

no

longer

a

first-person

pronoun

to create

a sense of self

and

direct the action of

a

verb,

since

Isolde

is

already

a

part

of the

action;

rather,

the

'subject'

of

the

fragment

is

the

process

of her

dissolution

itself,

represented

by

the infinitives 'ertrinken' and 'versinken'.

It concludes

with the

Assumption

of

Isolde,

that

is,

the

incorporation

of her

being

into the

all-encompassing

universe,

marked

rhythmically

and

harmonically by

a reversal

of metre

and

shift to the minor

in

the

penultimate

line.

More

precisely,

sibilants

('unbewusst',

'hichste

Lust')

in

the

final lines

brilliantly

express

her

'expiration'

into the

'world-breath'.

The

rest

is

not

silence but the orchestra.

II

As

a second

example

of the

sophistication

of

Wagner's

libretto,

I

would

like

to

examine a

larger

section

of the

opera:

Act

II

scene

1 and its extended

metaphorical

context.

Wagner

immediately

delineates the

shape

of

this

scene

audio-visually

through

the

introductory

background

music

of

hunting-horns

and the

burning

torch at

the entrance to

Isolde's

pavilion.

The

course

of

the

scene,

in

fact,

begins

with a discussion of the

fading

horns

and concludes

with Isolde's

extinguishing

of

the torch.

The

differing

responses

of

Brangaene

and Isolde

to

sound

and

sight,

that

is,

to

the horns

and

the

torch,

gradually

reveal

two

opposing epistemologies,

that

of

the

representative

of

feudal

society,

who

remains attuned

to

the

world around

her,

and

that of

the

subjective

lover,

who

validates

her

subjectivity by denying

external

circumstance

in

order to attain

a

higher

reality,

first

willing

sound to

silence

and

then

light

to

darkness.

The

dialogue

begins

with Isolde's assertion

that

the

sound of the

hunt

is 'schon

fern'

(already

distant)

and

Brangaene's

response

that it

is 'noch

...

nah'

(still near).

Identical

stage

directions

also

draw our attention

to the

fact that

each woman

responds

by

'lauschend'

(listening)

to the

other's

assertion,

an

activity

that

Wagner

emphasizes

throughout

the

opera

to

underscore

fundamental

differences of

percep-

tion

between

society

and

the

lovers.

The

repeated stage

direction

that

Brangaene

'lauscht'

(listens)

and Isolde

is

'wieder

lauschend'

(listening

again)

emphasizes

what

their

ensuing

exchange

confirms,

namely

that the

two women have

radically

dif-

ferent

sensory

perceptions.

Each

attempts

initially

to

influence the

other

by sug-

gesting

that

her mode of

perception

is

deficient:

Isolde

asserts that

'dich

tauscht

des

Laubes

sauselnd

Geton'

(the rustling

sound

of

leaves

deceives

you);

Brangaene

responds

that

'dich tiuscht

des Wunsches

Ungestiim'

(the

impetuousness

of

desire

deceives

you).

The debate

escalates:

each

proceeds

to

argue

her case from

the

other's

perspective,

Brangaene

asserting

subjectively

that 'Ich h6re

der

H6rner

Schall'

(I

hear the

sound

of

horns)

and Isolde

denying

its

objective

existence,

'Nicht

H6rnerschall

t6nt

so

hold'

(the

sound

of

horns

does not sound

so

pleasant).

The

antithetical

reactions

of

Brangaene

and Isolde

to the same external stimulus

clearly

establish

a

paradigmatic

opposition

between

servant and

mistress,

society

and

the

individual,

objective

and

subjective

modes

of

perception.

The love

potion

has

474


12/18

isolated Tristan and Isolde from

an

uncomprehending

feudal

world,

and

they

will

remain

incomprehensible

to it

throughout

the remainder

of the

opera.

This

antithetical

pattern

of

discourse,

which

Anthony

Newcomb

convincingly

integrates

into a

'ritornello'

structure,

continues

with statements

and

counter-

statements that

explore differing

perceptions

of

the

past,

particularly

of the

am-

biguous

role of Melot.

8

Turning

towards

the

future,

Isolde

broaches

the

topic

that

dominates the

conclusion of their

exchange,

the ineluctable

progression

from

silence

to

darkness,

from absence

of sound

to absence of

light.

Asserting

that she

has

already

won

the initial skirmish

in

the battle

of

epistemologies,

since

night

'has

already

infused

silence

through

heath and

home'

(Schon

goss

sie

ihr

Schweigen

/

durch

Hain und

Haus),

Isolde now

insists--aided

by

alliteration

and

repetition

of

her

command-

on

extinguishing

the

'deterring glare'

of the

torch:

'O

losche das

Licht nun ausl

/

Losche den

scheuchenden

Schein '

Brangaene's

counter-

argument

that

she

should

let the

warning

flame

illuminate

the

danger

(the

plea

to

be

passive

and

take

notice is also

repeated),

'O

lass'

die

warnende

Ziinde,

/lass'

die

Gefahr sie dir

zeigenI',

finally

compels

the

heroine

to

generalize

the

rejection

of

her

servant's mere

feudal

loyalty

and

raise

the

conflict to

a

higher

level

of

abstraction.

Implicitly

disavowing

the

traditional

God

of

light

and his

cosmogony

of

day,

Isolde

affirms her

higher

loyalty

to

Lady

Love,

the

perfect

conflation

of

subject

and

world,

a

personification

of

her

own

desire and

the

omnipotent

ruler

of the

universe

('Des

Weltenwerdens

/

Walterin'),

who

commands

the

alternative Genesis

of

the

Liebesnacht:

Frau

Minne

will:

es

werde

Nacht,

dass

hell sie

dorten

leuchte,

(wdhrendsie auf die Fackel zueilt.)

wo sie

dein

Licht

verscheuchte.

Lady

Love

commands:

'Let there be

night',

so she

may

shine

(She

hastens

towards

the

torch)

where

she

extinguished your

light.

Isolde's

extinguishing

of the

torch

signals

to

Tristan

and--ironically--to

Marke

as

well,

extending

the

dialectic

between

the

queen

and her

servant,

individual

and

society,

into

the

remainder

of the

act.

The

temporary

celebration

of the

private

interest of

the lovers in

Scene

2

will

be

countered

by

the

intrusion

of the

king

and

the

temporary

victory

of

the

day-world

in

Scene

3.

Isolde's

concluding

words

also

preface

an

act of

singular

existential

commitment:

Die

Leuchte,

und

war's

meines

Lebens

Licht-

lachend

sie

zu

loschen

zag'

ich

nichtl

(Sie

wirft

die

Fackel

zur

Erde,

wo

sie

allmdhlich

verlischt.)

The

torch,

/ even if

it were

the

light

of

my

life,

/laughing

/

I

do not

hesitate

to

extinguish

itl

(She

throws

the

torch

to

the

ground,

where it

gradually

dies

out.)

The

particular

metaphor

of

the

torch

with

which

she

expresses

this

commitment

owes

much

to

the

changing

conception

of

death in

Enlightenment

and

Romantic

8

See

Newcomb's

analysis

of

this

scene in

Analyzing

Opera.

475


13/18

thought,

and deserves

to

be

presented

briefly

in

this

larger

context.'9

Lessing's

famous

contribution

to

classical

archaeology,

'Wie die

Alten

den Tod

gebildet'

(How

the Ancients

Portrayed

Death

(1769)),

called

attention

to Greek

and Roman

illustrations

of death

as a

gentle

youth

with

an

extinguished

torch,

recommending

this tradition

as a

poetic

alternative to the

negative

Christian

image

of

the

skeleton:

'Was kann das

Ende des Lebens deutlicher

bezeichnen,

als eine

verloschene,

umgestiirzte

Fackel?'

(What

can

signify

the end of life more

clearly

than an

extinguished,

overturned

torch?).

Lessing's suggestion

found

immediate

acceptance

in

German

philosophical

poetry,

particularly

in

Schiller's

'Die

Gotter Griechenlands'

(SA,

i.

158)

and

in

Novalis's

'Hymnen

an die

Nacht',

and it

became

so

popular

that

Schiller soon twitted

Romantic

enthusiasm for the

image

in

the

distich

'Der

Genius

mit

der

umgekehrten

Fackel'

(SA,

ii.

81):

Lieblich sieht

er zwar aus mit

der erloschenen

Fackel;

Aber,

ihr

Herren,

der

Tod

ist so aesthetisch

doch

nicht.

To

be

sure,

he seems

lovely

with the

extinguished

torch;

/but,

good

sirs,

death

is

really

not so

aestheticl

Following

the

famous

exchange

between

Luise

Miller and

her father

in

Schiller's

Kabale

und

Liebe

(Act

V

scene

1),

the invocation

of the

gentle

youth

or

his ex-

tinguished

torch

can also

imply

a view of suicide

as a release

from the limitations

of

earthly

existence,

a

release

particularly

desired

by

lovers.

Isolde's

readiness

to

snuff

out

her life

in

order

to

realize

her love

in

the

transcendent

realm of

night

thus

represents

the

culmination of

an extensive

tradition.

There

is an

equally

significant

dimension to

Isolde's

action

within

the

opera

itself.

Wagner

metaphorically

prepares

a

large-scale

chiasmus

of

death

between

heroine

and hero

in

Acts

II

and

III.

In

extinguishing

the

light

and

even

voicing

a will

to

self-

annihilation in order to expedite Tristan's arrival, Isolde voices sentiments that

Tristan

will

express

immediately

in

the

Liebesnacht

and then

realize

at

the

moment

of

her arrival

at

Kareol

in

Act

III. After

the

ecstasy

of

greeting,

Tristan's

thoughts

immediately

turn

to the

light

that

Isolde

has

just

extinguished:

'Das

Lichtl

Das

Lichtl/

dieses

Licht,

/wie

lang

verlosch

es nichtl'

(The

light

The

lightl/O

that

light,

/how

long

until it

was

extinguished ).

Isolde's

recapitulation

of

her

action

spurs

him to

draw

an

analogy

to

himself,

one that

characteristically

involves

the

light

of the

day-world

with

which

he as

feudal hero

has been

associated:

Wie du

das

Licht,

o k6nnt'

ich

die

Leuchte,

der Liebe Leiden zu richen,

dem

frechen

Tage

verloschen

As

you

did the

light,

/if

only

I

could

quench

the

glare,

/to

avenge

love's

sorrows,

of

brazen

dayl

Two

extended

outbursts

near

the

conclusion

of

Tristan's

initial

fit

of

delirium

in

Act

III scene 1

draw the

metaphorical

analogy

to

the

Liebesnacht. The

first links

the

'9

See

Borchmeyer, op.

cit.,

pp.

274

f. In what

follows,

Lessing's

text is cited

according

to the

Sdmtliche

Werke,

ed.

Karl

Lachmann

&

Franz

Muncker,

xi

(Stuttgart,

1895),

12;

Schiller'sworks

according

to the Sdmtliche

Werke:

Sakular-Ausgabe

(henceforth

SA),

ed. Eduard von

der

Hellen,

Stuttgart

&

Berlin,

1905.

476


14/18

torch that once

kept

him

from Isolde

with

his reluctant

return

to

consciousness

and

day:

Brennt sie

ewig,

diese Leuchte

die

selbst

nachts

von

ihr

mich scheuchte?

Will

it

burn for

ever,

/this

torch,

/which even

at

night

/

kept

me from

her?

The

second

longingly

evokes the

extinguishing

of the

torch that

introduced

the

Liebesnacht:

'wann,

ach

wann/

lschest

du die

Ziinde?'

(When,

oh

when/will

you

extinguish

the

flame?).

Tristan's delirious

continuation of this

metaphor

has

left

even

perfect

Wagnerites

scrambling

to

explain

away

its

apparent banality:

Das

Licht-wann

loscht

es

aus?

Wann wird es

Nacht im

Haus?

The

light-when

will it be

extinguished?

When will it be

night

in the house?

Wagner

seems

to

compound

the

transgression by

beginning

Tristan's

recovery

with

the same

expression:

'Noch

loscht

das

Licht nicht

aus,

/noch

ward's

nicht

Nacht

im

Haus'

(The

light

has

still

not

gone

out,/it's

still

not

become

night

in

the

house).

Although

some

scholars

believe

that these lines

reveal

the

limitations of

Wagner's

poetic

talent,20

I

would

argue

that

they

not

only

complete

the

nexus

of

light/torch

metaphors

established in

Act

II but also

reaffirm

the

larger

Romantic

context of

Tristan's

death.

In

the

former

instance,

Tristan's

outburst

continues

(even

with

identical

rhyme)

the

narration

of

his

frustrated

waiting

for

Isolde

to

extinguish

the

torch outside her garden house in Act II scene 2:

Selbst in

der

Nacht

dammernder

Pracht

hegt

ihn

Liebchen

am

Haus.

streckt mir

drohend

ihn

ausl

Even in

the

night/of

twilight

splendour

/my

beloved shelters

it

by

her

house,

/extends

it

threateningly

to me

Furthermore,

the

rhyme

('Haus'/'aus')

and

invocation of

the

extinguished

torch

echo the

conclusion of

Schiller's

'Melancholie,

an

Laura'

(SA,

ii.

40):

Losch', o Jiingling mit der Trauermiene,

Meine

Fackel

weinend

ausl

Wie

der

Vorhang

an der

Trauerbiihne

Niederrauschet

bei

der

sch6nsten

Szene,

Fliehn die

Schatten-und

noch

schweigend

horcht

das

Haus.

Extinguish

lamenting,

o

youth

with the

sad

countenance,

my

torchl

As the

curtain

in

tragedy

descends on

the

most

beautiful

scene,

the

shadows

flee,

and-still

silent-the

house

listens.

Tristan,

of

course,

lacks

the

self-conscious

role-playing

that

characterizes

Schiller's

address

to his

coy

mistress,

since he

desires

only

to

finish

his

scene on

the

stage

of

life

by

becoming

unconscious.

But

Tristan

more

than

compensates

for

this

lack

by

the

intensity

of his

reaction

to

Isolde,

the

'light

of his

life' in every sense of

20

See

Wapnewski,

op.

cit.,

p.

53.

477


15/18

the word. What

she

expressed

as a

hypothetical promise

before

his

arrival,

he

now

fulfils

at

the moment of

her entrance:2'

Wie,

h6re

ich das Licht?

Die

Leuchte,

ha

Die

Leuchte verlischtl

Zu ihr Zu ihr

What, do I hear the light?/The torch, ha The torch goes outl / To herl To her

Confirming

Isolde's

assertion of

the

superiority

of

her

subjective

perceptions

(especially

those

of

sight

and

sound)

over the

experience

of the

feudal

world,

Tristan

expires

in

a

single

incandescent moment of

synaesthesia

('do

I

hear

the

light?'),

imposing

his

will

on

reality

and

posing

the

challenge

that Isolde

meets

in

her

ecstatic

transfiguration.

III

As a final example of the importance of the libretto, I want to examine briefly the

unity

of Act

I.

The musical structure

of the act

has

been

analysed

several

times,

most

notably

by

Alfred Lorenz

and

more

recently

as well as more

successfully by

Robert

Bailey,

who

organizes

the

act into

ten

segments

based on

Wagner's

idea

of

a

'poetic-musical

period',

that

is,

segments

containing

a

single

dramatic

episode

and

one

central

tonality.22 According

to this

principle

of

organization,

the

conflict

of

A

and C

in

the

Prelude

is

played

out

over the

course

of

the entire

act,

with

a

recall of

the

Prelude

(period

1)

during Brangaene's

counsel

(period

6)

dividing

the act

into

two

large

symmetrical periods.

Music

by

members

of the

crew,

first

a

single

sailor

and then

a

chorus,

introduces

periods

2 and

7

respectively,

which

both close

with

Isolde giving instructions to Brangaene and are followed by periods 3 and 8, both of

which

have the

most

extended

purely

instrumental

passages

in

the

act.

What

intrigues

me is that

a

verbal

analysis

of Act

I

results

in

a

different,

though

not

necessarily

more

valid structure.

Such

an

analysis

perforce

includes

Wagner's

directions

for

staging

and

even scene

changes,

something

that

a

purely

musical

analysis

traditionally ignores.

The fact that

he did not

add

scene divisions

until

the

orchestral

draft could

reflect

any

number

of

factors,

ranging

from a

post

hoc

deci-

sion to

the

realization

of

a latent

structure.

The fact remains

that scene

changes

signify

more

than

entrances

and exits

(neither

Brangaene's

mission

to Tristan

in

1.2

nor

Kurwenal's

dismissal

in

1.4

nor

even Isolde's

entrance

in III.2 occasions

a

scene

change), and that the scene divisions represent Wagner's only explicit imposition of

a

verbal

organization

on

Act

I.

A

synoptic

outline

of the

libretto

according

to this

organization

suggests

that

the

text

has

a

bipartite

structure,

consisting

of Scenes

1 and 2 and Scenes

3-5,

which

represent

unsuccessful

and

then

successful

attempts

to

establish

a

dialogue

between

Tristan

and

Isolde,

who

desperately

need to

come

to

terms

with their

past

before

the

imminent

arrival

in Cornwall

condemns

them

to an

unacceptable

future:

see

Table

I.

21

The entrances

of

Tristan

in Act

II

scene

1

and

Isolde

in Act

III

scene

2

are

framed

by

an

implicit

chiasmus.

The lovers

greet

each other

at

the

beginning

of

the

Liebesnacht

with:

'TRISTAN: Isoldel Geliebtel

/

ISOLDE:

Tristanl

Geliebterl'

Their

meeting

in Kareol

begins

to

mirror this

-'ISOLDE:

Tristanl

Geliebterl'

-

but

its

completion

is

inter-

rupted

by

the

hero's death.

22

The

Genesis

of

'Tristan

and Isolde'

and

a

Study

of

Wagner's

Sketches

and

Drafts

for

the First Act

(unpub-

lished

dissertation),

Princeton

University,

1969.

478


16/18

TABLE

I

'TRISTAN

UND

ISOLDE',

ACT

I

(Tent-like

chamber

on

the

foredeck

of

a

ship,

richly

Bailey,

op.

cit.:

covered

with

tapestries,

initially

closing off

the

background

completely)

1: Prelude

SCENE

1:

A.

Sailor's

song

2: bb.

1-268

B.

Isolde-Brangaene:

1.

Isolde's

outburst

2.

Brangaene's

concern

(Curtains

opened

in the

middle)

SCENE

2:

A. Sailor's

song

B.

Isolde,

Brangaene:

1. Isolde

on

Tristan

('Todgeweihtes

Haupt')

C.

Brangaene's

mission:

1.

Brangaene

delivers

message

2. Kurwenal answers(Tristan ballad)

(Brangaene

retreats,

closing

the

curtains)

D.

Chorus:

echoes

Kurwenal

SCENE

3

(with

the

curtains

completely

closed):

A.

Isolde-Brangaene:

1.

Brangaene's

report

2. Isolde

answers:

narrative

and

curse

3.

Brangaene's

consolation

4.

Isolde-Brangaene:

the

potions

5. Chorus:

arrival

SCENE

4:

A. Kurwenal delivers

message

B.

Kurwenal

sent to

Tristan

C.

Isolde-Brangaene:

the

potion

SCENE

5:

A.

Tristan-Isolde:

1.

Introductory

sparring

2.

The

past:

Tantris,

Morold

3.

The

present:

reconciliation

B.

Chorus/Tristan-Isolde:

arrival

C.

The

potion:

duet

(The

curtains

are

torn

wide

apart)

D. Arrival

3:

bb. 269-491

4:

5:

6:

7:

bb.

bb.

bb.

bb.

491-751

751-926

927-990

990-1207

8:

bb.

1207-1495

9:

bb. 1496-1709

10:

bb.

1709-1836

Wagner emphasizes

this

bipartite

division

visually

by

means of detailed

stage

directions

for

moving

the

curtains

that

separate

Isolde's chamber

from the rest of

the

ship.

At the

beginning

of Scene

1,

the curtains

are 'nach dem

Hintergrunde

zu

ganzlich

geschlossen'

(completely

closed off

towards the

background),

separating

Isolde and

Brangaene

from

Tristan,

Kurwenal

and the

crew,

and

introducing

us

visually

to the

principals

in a

self-imposed

silence that

has

lasted

since

the

departure

from Ireland. Isolde's frustrated

outburst forces

open

the

curtain,

revealing

Tristan

as

the

object

of

her

obsession,

and

'opening'

the

way

in

Scene

2

for the initial

attempt

at

communication,

albeit

indirectly

through

a

messenger

and far

too

imperiously

to

be successful. Tristan's

unwillingness

to

respond

to

Brangaene's

three

variations of Isolde's

order culminates

in

Kurwenal's retort

-there

is

nothing

like a

479


17/18

categorical imperative

countered

by

a

song

delivered 'mit h6chster Stirke'

(at

greatest

volume)

to

prevent

the

beginning

of

any

dialogue.

Kurwenal's

blustery,

self-

conscious musical number forecloses

any

possibility

of

real

discourse,

and

Brangaene

retreats,

closing

the curtain

behind

her.

Scene

3 returns

to

Isolde

and

Brangaene,

'allein,

bei

vollkommen

wieder

geschlossenen Vorhangen'

(alone,

with

the curtains

completely

closed

again),

beginning

the

second

cursus

or

attempt

at

rapprochement. Appropriately

enough,

the curtains remain closed until

they

'are

torn

wide

apart'

(die

Vorhange

werden

weit

auseinandergerissen)

at

the

climax of

the lovers' duet

in

Scene

5,

reinforcing

the

verbal and

musical

ambiguity

of this

climax

with

a visual one.

At

the

very

moment

that the

pyschological

barriers

to

their

love

are removed

and

they

become

conscious of

it,

Tristan

and Isolde

are also

revealed to the

approaching

members of the

day-world

in all

their

vulnerability,

establishing

the

double theme of their

ever-deepening

love

and

its conflict

with

the

feudal

world.

This double

cursus

of

uncompleted

and

completed

discourse

is united

by

more

than this

emphatically

visible

stage

action

(otherwise

it would

be

'curtains'

for the

argument).

Scenes

1

and

2

appear

at first

glance

to form Stollen or

parallel

units

through

the

repetition

of

the

sailor's

song

and the

exchange

between

Isolde

and

Brangaene,

but

they

are united

by

a

concern

larger

than

their initial

symmetry,

namely

the

attempted

progression

from isolation

to

union,

from

monologue

to

dialogue.

The same

progression

recurs

in

the second

cursus

of

Scenes 3-5. Isolde's

response

to

Brangaene's

report

in

Scene

3

culminates,

like her

monologue

in

Scene

1,

in an

outburst

(curse)

and

elicits

Brangaene's

concern

(consolation),

thus

begin-

ning

a

second

cycle

that

will lead

through

another

messenger

(Scene

4)

to

a real

dialogue

between

the

hero

and

heroine

(Scene

5).

Unlike the

one-sided

and closed

forms

of discourse

in which their stories

are

initially

presented

-

the

myth

of

Tristan

in Kurwenal's

ballad

(Scene

2)

and the

self-

conscious

narration

of Isolde

(Scene

3)-

the

discussion in Scene

5 forces Tristan

and

Isolde

to

confront

the

past

together,

beginning

with the

public

reconciliation

in

Ireland that

began

their

private

silence,

moving

backwards

to

the

events

involving

Tantris

and

Morold

and

then

proceeding

forwards

again.

This is not

the

place

to

treat

one of

the most

complex

scenes

in

Wagner.

Suffice it to

say

that an

explication

would

need

to

suggest

how

both

characters

close

their

journey

into

the

past

by

relating

it to the

present--Tristan

by offering

his

sword,

Isolde

by rejecting

it

in

favour of

a

drink of

atonement,

one

on

which

she has not counted.

This

crucial

moment

seems to

relate the

entire

act,

with its

convergence

of

external

and internal

action,

to the

combination

of

vectors

characteristic

of

the

'circuitous

journey'

in

Romantic

literature.23

The

ship

arrives

at that

linear

goal

towards which

it

has

relentlessly progressed;

the

lovers

reach the

end

of their circular

journey

of

the

mind,

arriving

at the threshold

of

understanding

their

repressed

affinity,

for

which

the

effects

of

the

potion

and the

opening

of the curtains are but

the outward

and

visible

signs.

A

brief

comparison

of

these

verbal

structures

with the

musical ones

posited

by

Bailey

reveals-not

surprisingly-points

of

agreement

as well

as

points

of

divergence.

Both

agree

on

beginning

the

meeting

of Tristan

and Isolde

with a

scene

division

(5)

as

well as with

a

new

musical

period (8).

Th

Wagner's 'Tristan Und Isolde' in Defence of the Libretto

Documents

Transcript of Wagner's 'Tristan Und Isolde' in Defence of the Libretto