by Le Quebecois

Created on: January 04, 2007   Last Updated: April 01, 2007

Wagner: The Faux Romantic?

When Richard Wagner began to compose his opera Tristan und Isolde in 1857, he was recounting romantic virtues by which he didn't live. His German nationalism was only a hope as he lived in Switzerland. Clearly his morals weren't admirable, and his relationships were weak. However, despite his lack of self-control, his personal story was filled with lust and desire, and maybe even a glimmer of true love, like Tristan und Isolde.

Notably, Wagner wrote much of his opera with personal experience to support the emotions of every note that he composed. This strong emphasis on emotion-and particularly the dark and painful-was enormously important during the Romantic Era. Tristan und Isolde is built on the idea that love and lust result in death. Each motif is grand, never missed, and always appealing to the heart. Though Wagner's virtues didn't correspond with his composition, his emotions certainly did.

During the Classical Era, opera was made for an educated audience that likely understood Italian. Wagner disagreed with the notion that opera was for the elite, thus he composed in plain German for plain Germans. His libretti were often based on plots from famous tales of the day, and the sound employs and beautifies the use of the German language. A nationalist like Wagner helped determine the morals and virtues of the day, ironically denying adultery and encouraging passionate love and life. This nationalism was a growing movement in the Romantic Era.

Ludwig van Beethoven began a movement toward romanticism composing in motifs in his Fifth Symphony. Wagner likely enjoyed Beethoven's motifs, as he utilized a motif style of his own (the leitmotif) throughout the Liebestod in his Tristan und Isolde. The main leitmotifs are entitled with feelings, rather than tangible items and elements. "Longing", "Desire", and "Ecstasy" recur throughout the work, and eventually the opera ends with "Transcendent Bliss". The very name of the latter leitmotif is romantic-it refers to the idea of transcendentalism that was growing more and more popular during the mid-19th century.

Perhaps the most important difference between a Wagnerian Romantic opera and a Classical opera is the form. Wagner believed in making the composition believable. People don't break out in song simultaneously and magically know each others' thoughts, so it shouldn't happen on stage by Wagner's reasoning. Furthermore, recitative slowed the constant push of emotion throughout the work, and he therefore preferred a longer work with no spoken text. The art was purely art, never halting intensity. Only rarely is there a true cadence, and in Wagner's opinion, it was never uninteresting.

Tristan und Isolde is a sublime example of Wagner's aid to progress into Romanticism and leave behind old concepts. He embraced the German virtues by which he didn't live and increased patriotism in Germany (though perhaps to a dangerous level in the 20th Century). Emotional style, and a completely new form took the stage in lieu of reserved Classical opera, and the common person took precedence over the nobleman. There is no doubt that Tristan und Isolde is one of the most influential operas of all time.

In des Welt-Atems wehendem All-
In the vastness of the world's spirit

Ertrinken, versinken-
To drown, Sink down

Unbewusst- Unconscious

Hchste Lust! Supreme Bliss!

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