Tristan und Isolde

The Lyric Opera opened a run of Tristan und Isolde tonight, and armed with a student id card, I scored some terrific main floor seats for a measly Jackson. This was my first Lyric production and my first Wagner opera, so it didn't quite dawn on me until I noticed the early 6 pm curtain time that this might be a very long night. Indeed, upon receiving a program, I was informed that the expected running time for this show would be 4 hours and 45 minutes. Let me reiterate, if you have ADD, this is not the show for you.

The Civic Opera House is located a couple blocks west of the Loop, and the story is that the architect designed the building such that the audience would sit facing west, with their backs to New York City, because the architect's daughter was rejected by the Metropolitan Opera. Intercity rivalries aside, the building is quite grand, with the appropriate gilded flourishes that befit an opera house, however I prefer the Met's back-of-the-chair subtitle system to the Lyric Opera's over-the-stage subtitles.

Some research prior to the show revealed that staging and performing Tristan und Isolde is no small feat. As with any Wagner production, a certain amount of stamina is required from the performers (and the audience). Not one, but two conductors have died while conducting this show, collapsing in the middle of the second act. As for the singers, Wagner originally wanted the tenor Alois Ander for the role of Tristan, but eventually he proved incapable of learning the part. The premiere in 1865 had to be delayed because Isolde had gone hoarse. And five weeks after the production finally opened, Ludwig Schnorr, who was playing Tristan, suddenly died at the age of 29, after catching a chill, then contracting excruciating rheumatism and apoplexy. On his deathbed, he deliriously burst into song, with his final words being, "Farewell, Siegfried! Console my Richard!" His friends firmly believed that the stress of performing Wagner's music led to this tragedy.

On with the show. Punctually at 6 pm, the curtain parted and the orchestra began playing the prelude, led by the infamous Tristan chord. (I was quite tickled to learn that Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk parodies the Tristan chord, who knew?) As it turns out, this chord spurred a great deal of harmonic development in classical music, since it contains not one but two dissonances. Wagner also made innovative use of harmonic suspension, chromaticism and orchestral colour, bridging the moment towards atonalism.

The opera follows the tale of Isolde, an Irish princess, who is being taken by Tristan to Cornwall, where she will be wed to his uncle, King Marke. As you can imagine, Isolde is rather unhappy about this, and tries to kill Tristan and herself by drinking a deadly potion. Alas, at the last minute, her maid switches out the death potion for a love potion instead. This makes things rather awkward when they land in Cornwall, where King Marke expectantly awaits his bride. Passionate arias ensue, fights break out, and finally, we have several drawn-out, dramatic death scenes. In essence, the stuff of any proper opera.

Much to my chagrin however, I found that I didn't have the patience to be completely engaged by this show. In the back of my mind, I couldn't get over the fact that Tristan and Isolde's love was corrupted from the beginning by the potion, and there was no real basis for the passionate duets they were performing. Furthermore (and this may be a sign of how much stimulation we require in modern times), I couldn't help thinking the plot was far too static, with nothing happening for much of the show. Compared to say, The Marriage of Figaro, the amount of action in this opera would have fit into a thimble.

All right then, what about the music? Yes, the orchestration is lush and soprano Deborah Voigt did a phenomenal job of tackling the part of Isolde. The audience is wrapped by a glorious, never-ending wall of music...so continuous that it is difficult to tell where pieces end and begin; even ordinary dialogue is accompanied by the orchestra. Or maybe Wagner intended it to be that way, with his insistence on gesamtkunstwerk, or total artwork. Walking out of the performance, if you were to ask me what the highlights or "greatest hits" of the opera were, I wouldn't know what to say. Well, there was that really great duet in the second act...but that was about 40 minutes long...maybe we can do a radio edit. I fully understand why two people have keeled over and died during this show.

A random aside: I was particularly amused to see that the Lyric Opera's Board of Directors includes none other than the "Honorable Rod Blagojevich."

In conclusion, I will have to echo Mark Twain's opinion of what is widely considered Wagner's greatest single opera. On a visit to Bayreuth, Twain heard Tristan and remarked, "I know of some, and have heard of many, who could not sleep after it, but cried the night away. I feel strongly out of place here. Sometimes I feel like the one sane person in the community of the mad."

I hereby renounce my spot on the 8-year wait list for Bayreuth.