Last Updated on August 12, 2024
The Greatest Love of All
A glorious summer’s day at Glyndebourne and four hours of Wagner, what could be more perfect! Director Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 2003 production of ‘Tristan und Isolde’ is an old Glyndebourne favourite having been revived in 2007, 2008, and 2009. There was a much-reduced Covid-era semi-staged production in 2021 which didn’t light anyone’s fire but the fully staged version is finally back in a sold-out run.
The three-act opera is unusual in that both the music and the libretto were written by the composer. The story has its roots in a 12th-century text by Gottfried von Strassburg that tell the story of lovers Tristan and Iseult. Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’ was written between 1857 and 1859 and first performed in 1865 at Munich’s Königliches Hoftheater. The score with its infamous ‘Tristan chord’ was revolutionary, taking the audience on a tantalising ride of unresolved harmonic tension and chromatic passion. As well as representing the narrative of the doomed lovers in the opera the music may have mirrored Wagner’s own feelings for poet Mathilde Wesendonck – he had set her poem ‘Träume’ to music in what he described as a ‘study’ for Tristan – that brought an end to his marriage. But the opera also functions as a container for Wagner’s metaphysics as influenced by philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s key text ‘The World as Will and Representation’. Firstly, Wagner grasps onto Schopenhauer’s conception of ‘Representation’ to create a mythologically-based, dream-like work that bypasses the rational, creating a world where all understanding is reflected through the prism of ‘Will’. Secondly the idea that ‘Will’ in its purest manifestation of human desire is ultimately futile is central to the narrative expressed both through the score and through the fatalism of the lovers. Both the intellectual spine of Tristan and the new harmonic possibilities offered created a new road map for exploration with the offer being taken up by a Praetorian Guard of composers including Berg, Britten, Bruckner, Korngold, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Schoenberg and Stockhausen.
The opera is a transcendental love story set in the medieval period. The narrative centres on the forbidden love between Tristan, a Cornish knight, and Isolde, an Irish princess. Isolde is being escorted by Tristan on a sea journey to Cornwall to marry his uncle King Marke. Isolde had nursed Tristan back to health after he had killed her former fiancé. She is furious that he now wants to see her married to the elderly king, planning to poison both herself and Tristan. Her maid Brangäne substitutes a love potion instead of the poison, which Tristan and Isolde unknowingly drink, igniting their passionate love. At King Marke’s castle, Tristan and Isolde meet secretly at night. They profess their love and yearn for eternal unity in death.
King Marke discovers their affair and is devastated by the betrayal. Tristan’s best friend Melot, jealous of Tristan, wounds him in a fight with Tristan allowing himself to be stabbed. A mortally wounded Tristan is taken to his castle in Brittany. He anxiously awaits Isolde’s arrival, believing only she can heal him. When she finally reaches him, Tristan dies in her arms. King Marke arrives, having learned of the love potion and intending to forgive the lovers. Isolde, oblivious to her surroundings, experiences a transfigurative vision of Tristan and dies of grief.
Director Nikolaus Lehnhoff, assistant to the composer’s grandson director Wieland Wagner at Bayreuth, and set designer Roland Aeschlimann have created a unified setting for the opera that amplifies the ebb and flow of the emotion and music thus avoiding the dead hand of literalism. The stage is dominated by a Richard Serra-esque whirling vortex of broken concentric circles, with the curve of a Hokusai wave and rather like a series of giant boat ribs. Costuming is cod- medieval and the lighting concentrates on evocative colour washes that evoke mood or changing times of the day.
Australian heldentenor Stuart Skelton as Tristan and Finnish soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä as Isolde were well matched dramatically making a convincing couple. However, the main problem with the production on the night we attended (the opening night) was that the two leads didn’t deliver vocally. Skelton was underpowered at times. He is the go-to Tristan-du-jour and the occasional crack in his voice and lack of power betrayed a possible illness. Värelä has a slightly screechy upper register which certainly cut through where her lower registers didn’t. This was a shame because all the other singers were on top form.
The estimable Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill in the role of Brangäne was singing from the side of the stage as she had sustained an injury with the part being walked by Marlene Lichtenberg who has since taken over the role to some acclaim. Cargill is a fabulous singer who brings power, a wonderful tone and emotional intelligence to all her roles.
As King Marke German bass Franz-Josef Selig brought a sonorous vocal heft and tangible regal authority to the part, effectively managing the monarch’s emotional journey. The Chinese baritone Shenyang as Kurwenal, Tristan’s retainer, made a big impact in the 3rd act. He has a rich, smooth timbre and a strong stage presence and will move into the larger Wagnerian roles.
Australian tenor Samuel Sakker as Melot, Scottish baritone John Mackenzie-Lavansch as the Steersman and young lyric tenor Caspar Singh as the Young Sailor/Shepherd all impressed, with Singh in particular making a soaring, gorgeous sound.
Conductor Robin Ticciati managed the assembled ranks of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with subtlety and a powerful sense of the overall shape of this epic. The shifting dynamics and textural contrasts were impeccably handled and Ticciati is primed to become a major force in Wagnerian conducting.
Wagner was by all accounts a nightmare of a man, as Johannes Brahms said of him, “with a gigantic capacity for work, colossal industry and horrendous energy.” That horrendous energy allowed him in ‘Tristan und Isolde’ to create one of the greatest masterpieces of Western Art. This production still delivers as a contemporary articulation of the composer’s vision and is worth seeing if you can get a return.
14, 18, 21, 25 August
Glyndebourne Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 5UU
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