Despite having only learnt the skills of harmony at the age of 15, having been discouraged from studying music by his mother, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was perhaps the greatest exponent of both mid-nineteenth-century German romanticism and mid-nineteenth-century opera. In his operas, or ‘musical drama’, as Wagner referred to it, the music was only merely secondary to the drama itself, the libretto having been written by the composer (Kennedy: Tristan und Isolde). This meant that the music was a vehicle for the action on the stage, and was composed merely to deliver and heighten tension. In comparison to the music in the opera, the music of the prelude could not be secondary to the drama, owing to the fact that no drama would have been taking place at the time; consequently the music was the focus for the listener (Newman, 1949: 207). Wagner could therefore use the prelude as a way of preparing the audience for the drama to unfold before them, using the emotionally charged music to forestall the tragic nature of the musical drama. This essay will look at the Prelude to Wagner’s Opera Tristan und Isolde, and look at the way in which Wagner pre-empts the drama of the opera, with particular attention to the harmonic and melodic features which Wagner puts in place.
The story for the musical drama Tristan und Isolde is taken from a legend of the same name, and written about in a poem by the German poet Gottfried von Strassburg (Kennedy: Tristan und Isolde). The legend tells the story of Isolde, being taken from Ireland to Cornwall to marry the King, on Tristan’s Ship, a knight whom Isolde despises, having killed her previous Fiancé and now taking her to Cornwall. She had tried to kill him once before, but fell in love with him when she saw his glance. Isolde, angry for being married off to the King, forces Tristan to drink a death potion, saying Tristan owes her his life, Isolde then takes the potion away and drinks the rest. Whilst they believe they have taken a death potion, they have in fact taken a love potion, and begin to profess their love for one another. After meeting again in private, they are caught by the King and his knight, who wounds Tristan in a fight. Tristan is taken away, and later dies, of his wounds, at Isoldes arrival, after ripping his bandages off at the excitement of seeing her again. The King is angry for his own knight having killed Tristan, and having learnt of the love potion, accepts that Tristan and Isolde were meant to be united. Isolde sings a last aria where she sees Tristan rise again, however she collapses and dies of grief (Forman, 2000: 79).
Wagner’s approach to melody differs from the classical approach of having a melody which is then varied through different harmonic and melodic methodologies. Instead, Wagner uses ‘Unendlich melodie’, or ‘never ending melody’, where melodies are somewhat delineated and very flexible in their development (Rockstro: Cadence). The way which Wagner achieves this is through ‘Leitmotif’s’, which is a recurrent melody or phrase, associated with a character, object or idea (Whittall: Leitmotif). Whilst Wagner himself never named these motifs, the motifs have acquired names over time. The names of these motifs have been derived from the point in which they are heard in the opera, for instance, if a motif is heard when Tristan is on the stage, it is evident that the motif is the motif for Tristan.
This motif if characterised by a rising minor 6th (although it sometimes appears in the opera as a major 6th, depending on the harmonic language being used at the time), and is followed by a chromatic descent. The motif is dovetailed with motif (B) in figure 1, a motif which is referred to as the ‘desire’ motif (Newman, 1949: 208). This motif juxtaposes with the grief motif, which features descending chromaticism, by ascending chromatically for four notes.
The two motifs being dovetailed creates interesting harmony, more specifically, the so called ‘Tristan Chord’, in bar 2, beat 1 of figure 1. The chord is perhaps the most analysed chord in the history of music, and has been described by some as a half diminished chord in root position; a chord which seems unstable and thus harmonically ambiguous. This causes harmonic tension, which is unsettling for the audience.
By appearing at the convergence of two motifs, the Tristan Chord shows that the ideas behind the motifs, that of grief and desire, are not ideas that react well together. This particular idea does seem to anticipate the same notion in the drama: Isoldes grief at the murder of her Fiancé by Tristan’s hand is contrasted with desire, as she can’t kill him for her desire for him. Similarly, the grief which Isolde bears in act three will ultimately kill her, as the desire she has for Tristan cannot be fulfilled; he is dead, once again showing the incompatibility between the ideas of grief and desire.
The phrase as a whole is harmonically ambiguous, creating tension for the listener. The Tristan chord could be said to be an appoggiatura onto a ‘French’ Augmented sixth, in the last quaver of bar two of figure 1, a chord with the root as the flattened 6th of the tonic scale, with the chord comprising of the third, the augmented sixth and the fourth. An augmented sixth chord mimics a dominant seventh, in that it has a clear resolution to a ‘tonic’, which would imply a cadence. However, the ‘French’ augmented sixth has the dissonance between the third and the fourth of the chord, as well as between the tonic and the augmented sixth, so whilst it still seeks a resolution, the tonality it is based in seems ambiguous to the listener. In this case, if we were to say we were in A minor, then we’d have a French sixth with a tonic note of F. This would then move onto an imperfect cadence, finishing the phrase on the chord of E, with an appoggiatura from the A# to the B, the dominant of that chord. As an imperfect cadence, the phrase doesn’t feel finished; note how whilst we have assumed that we are in A minor, the tonic chord is not sounded once, and we have merely assumed from the presence of a dominant chord from the key of A. The next phrase is an almost exact replica, however, it is sounded a third higher, once again giving an ambiguous tonality, as the relationship between A minor and C minor is tentative. This creates harmonic confusion, and the lack of a tonal centre, or resolution of any kind, creates a tense atmosphere, sowing the seed of the tense mood of the opera in the listeners brain.
Further leitmotifs are largely born out of motifs which have come before. From bar 17-22 we hear a new motif introduced in the violoncello. This leitmotif can be found as figure 2.
Denis Forman called this motif the Glance Motif (Forman, 2000: 87), referring to the glance between Tristan and Isolde which makes them drawn to each other and later makes them inseparable. The opening of this motif could easily be described as being the retrograde of motif (a) in figure 1, that is to say, the grief motif. As the Grief motif is characterised by a rising interval followed by a falling scalic minor third figure, the glance motif begins with a rising scalic third (although the removal of chromatacism has made this a major third), followed by a falling interval. This could be seen as a juxtaposition of the ideas which are associated with Tristan’s glance and grief. Initially, Tristan’s glance is the cause of great joy, as Tristan and Isolde profess their love for one another. The retrograding of the grief motif could be a musical way of explaining that the glance causes the opposite emotion to grief, joy, whilst also hinting at the fact that, ultimately, the glance eventually causes grief.
This idea can also be seen in the overall arch shaped structure of the glance motif. The melody of this motif climaxes in the middle after rising from the A that starts the motif, and before falling to the C#, reminiscent of the effects of Tristan’s glance; whilst initially rising to give joy, it all falls down to grief. The climax of this motif, in bar three of figure two, is created using the angular adjacent intervals of a falling perfect fifth and a rising minor seventh. This creates a moment which sounds rather chromatic and disjointed, and is the only straight quaver rhythm in a motif with a characteristic dotted rhythm. The climax feels as if it is merely a join between two successive phrases. This could be metaphorically stating the difficulty of the love which Tristan and Isolde share, as they cannot be together so their love is disjointed, and merely a climax on the road to grief.
The ‘Love potion’ motif is the motif associated with the elixir that Tristan and Isolde both take.
The relationship between the Love potion motif, and the glance and Desire motif is striking; it is almost merely a hybrid of the two. The first bar of the motif is an exact quotation from the glance motif, and is followed by a rising chromatic 2nd, reminiscent of the desire motif, the second motif heard in the prelude, which is also chromatic in nature. In terms of the ideas the motifs represent, it is easy to see this relationship. The elixir which Tristan and Isolde mistakenly drink, gives desire to the couple, as they fall romantically in love. Of course, the desire is not just the product of the potion, without Tristan glance, the potion could never have worked on the two potential lovers.
Wagner maintains an ambiguous tonality throughout, using dissonant chords, and chords which can seem strange in the harmonic context. For instance, in bar 30, we hear what sounds to be an A♭major triad, a chord which is consonant. Nevertheless, this chord is dissonant in its surroundings, as it is spelt C, D#, G#. All three of the notes in the chord are appoggiaturas onto an A major triad, and despite moving at different times onto the new chord, the semitonic movement is surprising, and yet again loses the sense of tonality which the listener had.
Occasionally, Wagner begins to imply cadences, before moving on before the tonic chord had chance to be stated, such as when the A major chord, mentioned above, has become the dominant seventh for a resolution to a D major chord in bar 32. The resolution onto the tonic triad of D occur at different points in the bar, and by time the bass has moved to the F#, the essential major third, the violin two has moved onto a D#, moving beyond the cadence point and preventing any settling in the harmony. This reinforces the vague tonality which leaves an unsettled audience, and pre-empts the unsettled love seen in the opera.
Throughout the analysis of leitmotifs, we must remind ourselves that these names have been given by musicologists and music theorists, and Wagner himself did not name them. Moreover, we do not know the names of leitmotifs from listening to them, so the analysis can seem trivial. However, it is almost certain that Wagner assigned identities to these motifs, and whilst they may not be apparent, they have an academic worth. The motifs create the substance of the work; rather than allowing musical development to direct the structure, the use of motifs is used. Some Leitmotifs are born out of others, giving the listener the impression of a musical development, but in fact it highlights the interconnected relationships between the motifs. Whereas we cannot gain insight into the opera from listening to these relationships, nor learn about the story to unfold before us, we can gain a sense of the thematic material to come. This can mentally prepare us for the struggle between the love, death, and grief to appear before us. Harmonically, the prelude is unsettled, making full use of an ambiguous tonality to unease the listener and to keep them perturbed. The strong features Wagner uses to pre-empt the tragedy of the opera have only a subtle effect on the listener, but can still nonetheless transport the audience to a sound world where the love and anguish can seem all the more poignant.
Resource List
Forman, Denis, The Good Wagner Opera Guide, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988.
Kennedy, Michael et al., “Tristan und Isolde.” The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. rev.. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed May 9, 2015, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t237/e10438
Newman, Ernest, Wagner as Man and Artist, London: Johnathon Cape, 1914.
Newman, Ernest, The Wagner Operas, New York: Alfred A. Knopf: 1963.
Rockstro, S William et al., “Cadence.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed May 9, 2015, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/04523
Wagner, Nike, The Wagners: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty, trans. Osers, Ewald, and Downes, Michael, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2000.
Wagner, Richard, Tristan und Isolde, Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1860
Whittall, Arnold, “Leitmotif.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed May 9, 2015, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/16360
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