Prelude to Tristan und Isolde A2 Music Set Work Intro Notes Written between 1857 and 1859 in Leipzig.

Wagners first compositions were published when he was 18. At 20 he was appointed Chorus Master of Wuerzberg Opera House. Wagner developed what he called Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork) for which he was responsible for every element of the production. Wagner wrote his own words, set them to music in a symphonic style for a very large orchestra. Wagner also built his own opera house in Bavaria which was (and still is) dedicated solely to the staging of his music dramas. The Prelude to Tristan und Isolde was written whilst he was in exile in Zurich. The work was completed in July 1859 in Lucerne. During this time, Wagner was having an extra marital affair; when we look at the scenario of the opera, this probably had personal significance for him. The full opera was staged in 1859 in Munich with hostile reviews. The opera is based on a story about a medieval knight called Tristan who is sent from Ireland to Cornwall to bring Isolde to marry King Mark of Cornwall. During the journey, Tristan and Isolde fall in love and they betray King Marks trust with disastrous consequences for the both of them. The Score Triple woodwind are used here (3 of each type of woodwind instrument) with substantial brass and woodwind sections. During the full opera, Wagner requires a number of the instruments to play on stage. The cor anglais sounds a perfect 5th lower than printed Clarinet in A and bass clarinet sound a minor 3rd lower than printed Horn in F sounds a perfect 5th lower than printed Horn in E sounds a minor 6th than printed Trumpet in F sounds a perfect 4th higher than printed Double bass sounds an octave lower than printed.

Also the alto clef (used for viola) is sometimes used for other instruments. The direction sul g is an instruction for the violinists to play on their lowest string which gives a particularly warm sound The Tristan Chord The first chord of this prelude is so closely associated with the entire opera that has become known as the Tristan chord (see Bar 2). The chord in Bar 3 is a V7 in Am (the A and A# are passing notes) but instead of being followed by a Chord I, there is just a long silence. These bars are transposed to end on a V7 of C but in Bar 7 there is no resolution, just silence. Another transposition leaves the music poised on an unresolved V7 of Em in Bar 11. This progression is repeated an octave higher in Bars 12-13 and then just its last 2 notes are repeated in Bars 14 and 15. In Bars 16-17 the melody surges to a climax but instead of the long awaited perfect cadence in Am, there is an interrupted cadence (V7 VI) with a long highly dissonant appoggiatura on B above a chord of F.

This process of hinting at a tonic, rather than defining it through functional cadences, is one of the ways which this music is very different from that of Bach and Beethoven et al. These two composers used tonality to define form, whereas Wagner uses it as an expressive vehicle which foreshadows the longing of the doomed lovers in the opera (which this prelude begins). This is why it begins in Am but ends with an imperfect cadence in Cm (which is the opening key of Act 1). A further hint at tonal hinting and clashing is the fact that Wagner uses a lot of chromatic dissonances (such as the A# Bar 3) gives the music it restless, yearning quality. Wagner uses unending melody the phrases that join and overlap to give the music a seamless flow and romantic sound. These melodies are often built from smaller units called leitmotifs (leading motifs). These are another stylistic characteristic of the music of Wagner. Each strongly characterised fragment is associated with a particular person/place/object or emotional state. Grief Bars 1 and 2 Desire Bars 2 and 3 Glance (when Isolde is won over by Love Potion (when they drink the potion)

Cello melody in Bars 17-22 2 which is based on motif X The leitmotif breaks down into 2 shorter motifs A and B. When X begins to repeat in sequence, motif B is changed from a falling 7th to a falling tone. In Bars 19-20, the first note of X is tied over while the falling 7th motif is inverted to a rising 7th What makes Wagners system so complex is that his unending melodies mutate and change at the drop of a hat! The Love Potion motif is made up of the same two motifs as the Glance motif but in reverse order and followed by Y from the Desire motif. Careful listening to this monster score will enable you to hear that many parts of the orchestra double each other and that there are rarely more than two principal melodic lines sounding at once. Structure and Tonality Bars 1 24 Exposition Bars 24 65 Middle section Bars 66 83 First recapitulation Bars 82 111 Second recapitulation Exposition A major/minor. Theme 1 (1-17) begins and ends in Am concluding with a massive interrupted cadence. It is fragmented into five phrases by lengthy silences (which are left out later on in the recapitulations). Theme 2 (17-24) cellos and then violins, starts in Am and then modulates rapidly through Dm and B to reach the first perfect cadence in the tonic (A) in Bar 24.

Middle Section There is a shifting tonality here which is centred on A. This section is essentially in Ternary Form (ABA). Section A begins with Theme 3 which is an 8 bar melody from Bars 24-32. It starts in E and ends on the tonic note of A without a cadence. It is made up of motifs from theme 2, played in reverse order. Section A ends with a repeat of Bars 17-24 (the beginning of theme 2, in the wind section). Section B (Bars 36-44) starts with antiphonal development of a motif from Theme 2 and ends with a chord of A. Section A (Bars 45-65) is a reworking of Section A and is linked to the next section by a dominant pedal on E (Bars 63-70).

First Recapitulation (Bars 66-83) A minor/major modulating to V of Eb Minor. Two statements (by oboes and cor anglais) of the Desire motif which are from Bars 2-3 initiate a compressed recapitulation of the exposition in which rests are omitted and some motifs are condensed (woodwinds in Bars 68-74). Meanwhile, the strings continue to develop the motif heard in Bars 17-18 until at Bar 74 they repeat the first 4 bars of Theme 2. The last part of this first recapitulation section modulates to Ebm (furthest from Am) for the main climax of the entire prelude. In Bars 81-83, Wagner contrapuntally combines all three of his themes over harmony which swings between II7 (an enharmonic re-spelling of the Tristan Chord) and V7 of Ebm in each bar (see picture). Rapid ascending scales in the violins, tremolo in the violas and timpani rolls add to the excitement. This huge build up does not culminate in a tonic chord, but the scoring of a Tristan Chord. This reveals its tonal ambiguity by resolving not to V7 of Ebm in Bar 84, but to V7 of Am (as it did in Bar 3) as shown in the picture. This prepares the way for a restatement of the opening bars in their original key and a second recapitulation of motifs that were heard earlier.

Second Recapitulation This section begins in Am and modulates to Cm. The second reinstatement of the main motifs begin with the opening motif of the prelude played by the brass and low strings in Bar 82 (where it overlaps with the climax of the previous section) and is continued by oboes and cor anglais (see picture below). Instead of the long silences heard in the exposition, the phrases are now linked by motifs in the strings. The interrupted cadence recurs in Bars 93-94 and Theme 2 begins in the cellos at Bar 94, but the end of the phrase is modified to lead to an imperfect cadence in Cm (Bars 99-100). Woodwind start a third recapitulation (Bars 100-106 a rescored repeat of Bars 1-7) but an intermittent dominant pedal on G, played by the timpani, anchors the tonality to Cm. The final unaccompanied melody for cello and double basses links the rising minor 6th with which the work began (G-Eb in Bar 107) with the notes of the Tristan Chord played melodically.