Weiler, S. (2006). Richard 's : Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weiler

Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

ing been seeded by Beethoven, estab- ten 'li i Ic enamored with t he phi h s- lished by Schubert, and lovingly nour- ophy of Ludwig Feuerbach 2 were ished by Schumann and Mendelssohn, behind him, and he had begun to all before 1840. In this earlier Roman- espouse the Weltanschauung of Arthur tic musical paradigm, art embodied Schopenhauer; and his preoccupa- nature. To Wagner, art embodied phi- tion with the 7',Lta,i myth, based on losophy. He became the very essence the Gottfried von Strassburg legend of post-Romanticism. Verdi, Massenet, of 1210, continued to develop and Puccini, Humperdinck, Debussy, expand." At the center of it all stood Mahler—no composer of song or his lodestar, his impassioned attach- Opera escaped untouched by the fruit ment to . of Wagner's noble passions and burn- Wagner had fled Dresden due to ing ideals. Wagner's intense alliance his political involvement in the failed with Mathilde Wesendonck trans- uprising of May 1849 and was shel- Sherri Moore Weiler formed his personal and artistic tered by Liszt at Weimar before even- Wagner's earliest operas (Die Fern, philosophies and became the prelude tually making his way on a false , , Derfliegende to his . passport to Switzerland. He settled Holländer, Tannhä user, and Lohen- The elements of 's in —German-speaking, polit- grif i) were designated "grofe roman- distinctive musical style in Fiinf ically liberal, outside the confines of tische Oper" by Wagner himself, and Gedich tefu r cine F,-a uenstinnne u nd the German states, yet teeming with were patterned in the German Ro- Kiavier serve as the gravitational force fellow Germans. It was here that he mantic opera tradition of Weber and that binds Mathilde Wesendonck's met the Wesendoncks, Otto and Marschner (see Table 1 for a list of poetry to the composer's unique, Mathilde, who themselves had arrived Wagner's music dramas). It was not futuristic musical ideas. Commonly in Zurich in April 1851. Wagner was until he started work on the Ring known as the Wesendonck Lieder, the conducting regularly for the civic cycle in the early 1850s that Wagner five poems personify the profound Music Society in Zurich, and the began, for primarily philosophical nature of the couple's extraordinary Wesendoncks had become culturally reasons coupled with his burgeoning relationship, while the music com- involved in the small scale music life creative genius, to depart from the posed for them unmistakably fore- of the city, so it was not surprising established operatic style of his day. shadows Wagner's music drama that their paths would eventually The Ring project intrigued Wagner . In fact, two of the cross, as they did in February 1852. immensely, and although he made songs, "Träume" and "Tm Treibhaus," The two families—Richard and musical sketches of all the Ring operas were musical studies for the Act II Minna Wagner, Otto and Mathilde during the decade of the 1850s, Tris- Love Duet and the Act III Prelude, Wesendonck—became good friends. tan und Isolde persistently intervened respectively (see Table 2 for a chart Wagner, who had always had a com- and directly coincided with his inti- of the poetry, dates, and musical keys). pulsion to teach and convert others, macv with Mathilde Weseridonck, Surrounding Wagner's personal delighted in initiating this new, atten- Nineteenth-century Romanticism sphere during the 1850s were sev- tive pupil into his art and his theo- was in full flower in , hay- eral key determining influences. His ries. Mathilde referred to Richard as twenty-year marriage to Minna con- "the Master" in her diaries, and Journal of Singing, January/February 2006 tinued to be a source of general unhap- Richard affectionately called Mathilde Volume 62. No. 3, pp. 267-278 Copyright 2006 piness, making him emotionally "the Child." Mathilde was able to National Association of Teachers of Singing vulnerable; his seminal essays writ- respond to Richard's musical schemes

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2001i 267 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified

lahlc 1. Wagners ( )peras and Music Dramas: Cwnjositional Chronology.! 1854 letter to Liszt. Wagner bewailed his impetuous marriage to Minna, Title Dates of Composition Date of First Performance whom he claimed to respect but could Die Fern 1833-34 Munich, 1888 not actually love. In such a painful mood he further wrote, l)as Liebesverhot 1835 Magdeburg, 1836 Rienzi 1838-4() Dresden, 1842 I now take a delight in living for my wife: I)rr Holländrr 1841 Dresden, 1843 flieqende if love is to be measured according to sac- Thnnhäuser 1843-45 Dresden, 1845 rifices, no one was ever loved so much, 1846-48 Weimar, 1850 since for no one have such heavy, delib- Der Ri;zjj des Nibelunjen Poems begun 1848, Bayreuth. 1876 erate sacrifices been made . . . As I have completed 1852 never enjoyed the real happiness of love 1853-54 Munich, 1869 in my life, I now intend to erect a monu- Die Walkiire 1854-56 Munich, 1870 ment to this loveliest of all dreams, a work Sicyjfried 1856-57, 1864-65, Bayreuth, 1876 in which love shall really have its fill from 1869-71 beginning to end: in my head I have Tristan und isolde. (Mt rerdii,nmerunq 1869-74 Bayreuth, 1876 evolved a Tristan and Isolde 1857-59 Munich, 1865 In September 1854 Wagner had Die Meistersinger ion 1862-67 Munich, 1868 been introduced to the quietist, renun- NiArnbrr ciatory philosophy of Arthur Schopen- Pai'dftil 1877-82 Bayreuth, 1882 hauer, which had a profound effect on his future outlook on life. Schopen- hauer had written his three major Gedicine ron Mathilde WcsendonckJuir Frauenstimmr und Klarirr Table 2. Fu nf aesthetic treatises under the direct (Wesendonck Lieder). influence of Ludwig Feuerbach, whose Title [Studej reference] Date composed Kejj attacks on orthodox theology caused the philosopher to become the idol of Der Engel 3() November 1857 G major young German intellectuals sympa- Stehe still! 22 February 1858 C minor thetic to the uprisings of 1849 and Im Treibhaus I May 1858 D minor had even attracted the interest of Karl Study for Act 3 Prelude. Marx and Friedrich Engels.' Feuer- Tristan und Isoldel bach's philosophy was materialistic, December 1857 C minor Schmerzen 17 man centered, and atheistic." Scho- 5 December 1857 A" major 'l'rume penhauer's philosophy had many par- ISrudy for Act 2 Love Duct, allels with Buddhist thinking. In his Tristan and lsoldel 1819 book 7w World as Will and Idea, Schopenhauer wrote of the will as and dreams in a way Minna had never they underwent a transformation; the the primal force of all being, as the been able to respond. Minna's own kind adviser and teacher amiably source of all pain and misery on earth, health demanded frequent treatments instructing his adoring student as well as of all happiness." Wagner, and spa cures, which necessitated her became the musical genius dispens- from his first readings of the philoso- being gone for weeks at a time. During ing his gifts to his "tutelary goddess," pher in late 1854, was attracted more these absences Wagner fell hack his muse.' to Schopenhauer's moral philosophy increasingly on Mathilde Wesendonck Wagner's growing romantic inter- than to his views on aesthetics, and he as his attentive female sympathizer. est in Frau Wesendonck during the was delighted to learn that he had She was undoubtedly overwhelmed six year period after February 1852 already subconsciously incorporated l)y his genius and his attention. Their "precipitated, or at least paralleled, a much of the philosopher's ideas into relationship became steadily more philosophical preoccupation with the his own writings. 2 He subsequently cordial, and it was not long before nature of love itself."7 In a December integrated specific aspects of Schopen-

268 JOURNAL OF SINGING Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weiler

hauer's philosophy of music into began the composition sketches for Mathilde as his angel. The missive Tristan und isolde. Music was corisid- the first act, but he interrupted his marked the completion of the draft ered to he a direct objectification of Tristan absorption to set to music five of the first act of Tristan, which the the will; not a mere copy of ideas that poems written by Math ilde. This Fünf composer celebrated in poetic form. tried to mirror the will, but instead a Gedichte collection represents one of Tristan und Isolde, copy of the will itself. Therefore, the very few occasions on which he in keuscher Tone Golde, wrote music to words written by any- through music all individuals had itir Weinen und ihr Küssen 17 direct access to the will. Furthermore, one other than himself. leg' ich zu deinen Füssen, Schopenhauer (and b y extension Frail Wesendonck's literary aspi- dass sic den Engel loben, Wagner) held that music was the most rations on the whole may not have der mich so hoch erhoben!2° powerful of all the arts, not needing been particularly noteworthy, but the words or actions to be effective. Words philosophical ideas in the five poems Yet another instance of Wagner's ref- could instead be used to call forth the were concepts the poet and the com- erence to Mathilde as "dear hallowed power of music itself and give it speci- poser had no doubt discussed many angel" occurred in the fateful letter

ficity. 1 In Tristan, he explored these times. Filled as they were with of 6July 1858 which, intercepted by deeply influential ideas in depth for Schopenhauer's principal theme of Minna, precipitated the breaking up the first time. renunciation and suffering as a means of the intimate Zurich living arrange- Certainly Wagner did not accept of liberation, they were the perfect ments that had been in place since Schopenhauer without some modifi- metaphor for the Richard-Mathilde late April 1857.21 cation of his own. Wagner contended involvement. While the FünJGedichte Wagner composed "Der Engel" in that even music that appeared to be poetry expressed Frau Wesendonck's G major with a lightly arpeggiated absolute had to borrow its formal own personal perspective, Wagner texture that resembles the harp, that structure from life, either from dance preferred to dramatize the Richard- most angelic of instruments. The sim- or from words, from "bodily motion" Mathilde-Otto triangle in his Tristan plicity of both the piano accompani- or from "spoken verse," and of the poem through the tragic characters ment and the harmony lend sincerity two choices he felt that the poetic was of Tristan, Isolde, and King Mark. to the text, which speaks of "der the nobler one. 14 The eminent German musicologist Kindheit frühen Tagen." In the last Wagner had completed most of the Carl Dahihaus maintained that two beats of m. 13 the key changes to poetry for Tristan und Isolde was not the out- an ominous G minor, mirroring the by early 1853 and had even begun to come and expression of Wagner's love "Herz in Sorgen" in the text. Moving compose the music. But the orbiting for Mathilde Wesendonck, as much through A minor, then E minor/major influences of Schopenhauer, Tristan, as the love itself was a means whereby which quickly modulates to D major, and Mathilde Wesendonck fused for the dramatic conception took on must- the dominant of tonic G, Wagner him in the mid-1850s, propelling his cal and scenic shape.' 5 This is an oddly sets the word "nieder" on an creative energies in an entirely new important concept, inasmuch as it ascending perfect fourth. He then direction. flies in the face of naïve nineteenth- changes the key briefly hack to G Wagner's earliest sketches for century hermeneutics that held that major at in. 25, then to F# major, Tristan und Isolde date from June music was an expression of a com- where the textual intent of "und es 1857, shortl y after he and Minna poser's emotions and experiences. In sanft gen Himmel hebt" now matches moved into "Asyl," his name for the truth, this notion found no support the rising musical scale. The rapid cottage purchased for him by Otto in Wagner's own aesthetic concept, modulatory sequence of "Der Engel" Wesendonck at Mathilde's insistence. which can be roughly summarized as is a rather mild example of Wagner's Wagner was in the middle of the musi- follows: It is not music that expresses chromaticism; a more characteristic cal draft of Sieqfried, but Tristan thrust drama, but drama that expresses example is found in "Stehe still!" The the entire Ring conception from his music.19 first two-thirds of the C minor song mind. At the end of August he began Wagner composed Mathilde's poem is highly chromatic, changing key fre- his Tristan poem, which he claimed "Der Engel" on 30 November 1857; netically, until a modicum of har- was "written in plain letters in my in a letter to her dated 31 December monic quietude is reached in in. 70. hook of fate.""' In early October he 1857 Wagner surel y referred to Again, the music complements the

,J \N1'ARV I:, 13P1\PY 2006 269 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

poem, which begs the Eternal Creator line over the accompaniment, which formal musical units in order to to stop the mad rush of desire, silenc- serves to give rhythmic impetus (par- respond vividly to the promptings of ing the unending day of wanting so ticularly in mm. 8- 11)and harmonic the text, in practice he certainly rec- that the worth of pure joy might be fill. The voice and piano exchange ognized the necessity for a small num- measured— Schopenhauer in his functions in a melodic relay, each her of easily identifiable motifs. In his purest iteration. The poet claims that handing off melodic material to the early works he used these primarily only when the inner soul begets no other throughout the brief, thirty- to distinguish his compositions from more desire will the riddle of Nature one-bar song. The descending melodic the florid vocal phrases of traditional be solved. In both songs, Wagner's theme encompasses nearly an octave nineteenth-century opera.27 In 1857, basic motive for the ultimate source and repeats five times in the vocal however, when he began to work on of existence is the major chord, surely line, eleven times in the accompani- both Tristan and the Wesendonck the most fundamental harmonic ele- ment. The distinct rhythmic figures of Lieder, his aesthetic had evolved ment in music. 22 But in Wagner's the melody consist of repeated dot- under the impact of Schopenhauer hands the simple chord assumes pro- ted eighths with sixteenths and dot- to the point where the music itself found significance, rising as it does ted sixteenths with thirty-second became the central feature. The effect from intensely chromatic passages. notes, simultaneously lending a strong of this was that leitmotivs became The listener feels a sense of relief, sense of driving urgency and a frus- even less specific in meaning and peace, even triumph in "Stehe still!" trated resignation to the music. even more subject to musical elabo- when the C major chord rises through Mathilde Wesendonck's fervent poem ration. There is the sense, especially the cadential V7 out ot'a series of dom- expresses these musical ideas, yet it in Tristan, that the motifs "lead" the inant seventh and ninth chords in the would he difficult to argue that the music while remaining linked to the measures preceding "heil'ge Natur" music echoes the poetic sentiment. text.2 Dahlhaus bemoans the prac- (mm. 84-86). Rather, one gets a sense that the music tice of giving Wagnerian leitmotivs a The wan charm of the Wesendonck is the poetic intention, that it pulls fixed identity, but he realizes the poetry, inspired by Mathilde's love the poetry along with it, as Wagner unavoidability of doing so, flatly stat- for Wagner and by the Tristan poem. himself delineated in his concept of ing that instinctive understanding is "a classical example of a familiar die dichtcrisclie Absicht.26 of musical motives without the need phenomenon—that a beautiful song It is difficult to discuss Wagner in for mediation through language is may as well be written to a mediocre any form without some mention of illusory.' poem as to a great one. 1123 Wagner's the Leitmotiv the musical concept he While it seems self-evident that all music, on the other hand, has all the is credited with having invented. The five poems are clearly under the influ- chromatic sophistication and emo- term itself did not come into being ence of the Tristan libretto, ° it is tional intensity of Tristan and Isolde, until music historian A. W. Ambrose also obvious that all of the I"ünf with the vocal line weaving its coined it in 1865 to describe music Gedichtc contain moments of the "unendliche Melodic" above the rich that seeks to establish a higher unity Tristan music."' For example, "Der harmonic texture. 24 Perhaps in sup- by means of consistent themes. Engel" employs in the accompani- port of this endless melod y concept, Wagner himself used it in his essay ment at m. 41 the same appoggiatura there is no repetition of words in the of 1879, Ober die Anwendunjder figure that occurs numerous times in FünfGedichte. Wagner chose instead Musik aufdas Drama. He had previ- the famous Transfiguration scene at to use the endless melody "as a way of ously employed a variety of expres- the close of Tristan (Example 1). The expressing the inexpressible." 25 The sions to discuss thematic elements in bass line of the accompaniment at heart-rending melody in "Schmerzen" his works, predominantly the Erin- mm. 43-46 in "Stehe still!" is the pre- is initiated in C minor by the "weep- flerungs!notiv and the I-Iauprmotii'. cursor of the Schicksalsthe,na (des- ing" descending sixteenth notes that The composer as conductor was no tiny theme) from Act I (Example 2). function as appoggiaturi and by the doubt aware of the extensive use of The "Schmerzen" accompaniment three-bar introductory phrase (i6- reminiscence motifs in the operas of imitates the fbrtissimo warrior horns VIj-iv7-i-V-i) which is immediately Cherubini, Marschner, Weber, and of King Mark in mm. 13-14 and mm. reproduced in the vocal line. Melodic Spohr. Although Wagner was attempt- 30-31, representing the "royal instru- amplification expands in the vocal ing in Oper and Drama to construct ments of power" when the musical

270 JOURNAL OF SINGING

Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weiler

a) A is tonic four times before the voice Vr enters, yet the weak pull of the iv-i bl - - - mel - , progression never gives the listener

A 43 a sense of harmonic completion. This Hauptmotiv continues for two more measures, while the vocal line begins a melancholy countermelody (mm. U 1-9). The second Hauprrnotii•' occurs at mm. 4, 8, 16, 28-29, and 64 as an b) extension, an ascending melodic line of the first idea. Lasting only one measure (two measures at its fourth iteration, with slight rh ythmic vari- ation) it nevertheless leads into the third motif in an organic linking with the first."' The third I-Iauptmotit' be- gins in the accompaniment in the sec- ond beat of m. 9 and continues to the A7 chord in 111. 13, and repeats in mm. l - - - - iy_ b.ed - - l, f Wa._ t - - —, ..1d j eu . - w 55-58. Throughout, the poetry of "lm Treibhaus" reflects a mournful de- cline, an impending doom. Yet the php healing presence of "Isolde" finds its counterpart in the "I" of the poem, a sympathizing narrator who expresses Example 1. a) "Der Engel." mm. 39-41; h) Trira,i und I.o!de, Transfiguration scene. her feelings of kinship for the doomed plants37 (translations of poems appear at the end of the article): quotation occurs at the end of Act wide in passionate longing yet , C' The theme that some have labeled embrace only the horror of empty WohI, ich wei g es, arnie Pflanze: the "Love theme" is also prefigured space. ein Geschicke teilen wir, in the opening lines of"Schmerzen," In both the Act III Prelude and the ob umstrahlt von Licht nod Glanze, but with a different, less driven song, the same ascending musical fig- unsre Heimat ist nicht Filer! rhythm (Example 3). However, as ure (as in mm. 1-2) is associated with mentioned previously, the two songs the idea of struggling against re- "Träume" was chronologically the with direct motivic links to the opera straint. 13 D minor, the key of "Im second of the Wesendonck poems are "Im Treibhaus" and "Trume," Treibhaus," is also "the tonality of Wagner set, although it appears last which Wagner himself claimed were [King] Mark's grief," according to in the Fü nf Gedichte published edi- Tristan compositional studies. Jean-Jacques Nattiez.34 In this song, tions. Composed on 5 December The musical setting that the words more than any other, the poetic intent 1857, less than a week after the 3() of "Im Treibhaus" evoke parallels the may function to draw drama from the November composition of "Der dramatic situation found in Tristan music even before the words have Engel," this song served as the study und Isolde as Act III opens. Frau been revealed. Wagner called this func- for the Act II Love Duet and figured Wesendonck's greenhouse imagery tion in music the "foreboding" func- prominently as well in Isolde's corresponds closely to the predica- tion. The song is made up of three "Transfiguration." The most strik- ment of the ailing Tristan; the sor- musical ideas, or Hauptmotiven, which ing element in "Trume" is the lack rowing plants, surrounded by warmth alternate to give the music its form. of inherent tension. Dynamically, the and light, are yet cut off from their The song opens on the subdomi- song hovers around variations of p, true home. They stretch their limbs nant G minor and quickly resolves to only once reaching ffand then imme-

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 271 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

* a) precedes it, tapering off gently with an elongated final 6-5 suspension. Composed over a five-month period between 30 November 1857 and 1 May 1858, the Fünf Gedichte were written to piano accompaniment. The first performance of the whole cycle was given in July 1862 by Emilie Genast at a country house belonging to Franz Schott, the music publisher.' Present were Minna Wagner, who was ow. to die before the year was out; b) - KIL Mathilde Wesendonck, whose adula- tion inspired both Wagner the man 1T and Wagner the artist; and Cosima von Biilow, who would soon begin her own tumultuous liaison with the com- poser. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall that night! Ronald Taylor writes how one of the guests described in his memoirs the difference between an emotional and a commercial response at the performance's end: "Tears poured down Cosima von Bülow's Example 2. a) "Stehe still!" mm. 45-49: h) Tristan and !s/de, Schicksalstheilia, face. Herr Franz Schott [the music Act 1. publisher] rubbed his hands in glee and immediately locked the manu- diatel y backing off. This is in high continues to build sequentially even script away in a drawer."° Wagner contrast to the anguishedf intensity as the accompaniment figure returns arranged "Träume" for solo violin of "Schmerzen," the reiterated f-p to its initial soothing undercurrent and chamber and conducted dynamic surges of "Stehe still!" and of repeated eighth notes at m. 50. it himself on 23 December 1857 as a the pi p lassitude of"Im Treibhaus." Wagner wrote nachiassend (easing surprise for Mathilde's twenty-ninth Wagner makes use of the flat sixth or letting up) in the score at m. 54 birthday at the Wesendoncks' Zurich in m. 3 in tonic A major as the music and imfrner inchr nachiassend at m. villa."' The other four songs were progresses harmonically through a 58, taking advantage of the relative orchestrated by the Austrian conduc- series of seventh and diminished sev- musical calm to introduce two major tor Franz Mott], whose skill has no enth chords over a pedal Ab. The rest- Han ptfrnotii'en. The first occurs at doubt resulted in the enduring popu- ful tonic resolution at m. 13 with the mm. 55-56 and is part of a much- larity of the songs. Hans Werner recurring 6-5 suspension provides developed theme heard throughout Henze reorchestrated the cycle in melodic interest and prepares the the opera. The second occurs in mm. 1976, resulting in "a more radical but vocal entrance with a V 7 cadence 61-64 and figures predominantly in sensitive rescoring," but the songs are (mm. 15-16). The opening four-bar the Act II "Love Duet" (Example 4). almost always performed today with vocal phrase is driven up a whole step Though only heard in fragments in Mottl's . 41 Many sopra- by means of a diminished A 7 chord "Träume," the two themes play nos and mezzo sopranos have recorded to Bh major at the initiation of the prominent developmental roles in the cycle, including , second four-bar vocal phrase (m. 21). the music drama. The song ends in Jane Eaglen, Eileen Farrell, Birgit A syncopated bass figure under rising much the same way it began. The Nilsson, Astrid Varnay, Kirsten dotted rhythms intensifies the meter tonality of A" major graduall y estab- Flagstad, and Christa Ludwig, whose for six bars beginning at m. 32, and lishes itself out of the tonal flux that 1962 recording with Klemperer is

272 j ov NA I. OF SINGING Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weller

a) forbidden desires. Art is the victor Langsam und breit over life, and the victory is music's. At the heart of this profound per- sonal experience lies the music itself, music the likes of which the world had never heard before. The dissolu- tion of tonality, the emancipation of melody and counterpoint from pre- formed chordal associations, and the suspension of the principles of har- b) mony all serve to render both Tristan and the Fü nf Gedich teas mainsprings in the history of modern music. p.211 Ofo. tofoodtt..cru . ii Tao.wIW ly .o..tI OF,o.. - des A& - di., 40 - . . Ar- .! Thi - - pr NOTES

Donald Jay Grout, A Short Historij of Opera, 3rd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 454. 2. The three essays were Art and Rei.- olution (1849). The Art ii'ork of the future (1850), and (1852). 3. Milton Brener, Opera Offstage: Pas- sion and Politics Behind the Great (.)prras (New York: Walker and Com- pany, 1996), 82. Example 3. a) "Schmerzen": b) Tristan und isolde. Love Theme. 4. The spelling of the family name was absolutely stunning. However, no tionship between Herr Wagner and changed to Wesendonk, without the recording is known to exist with the Frau Wesendonck. Nor can it be sep- c, by the American branch of the fam- original piano accompaniment. These arated from the somber mood of un- ily shortly after the turn of the twen- masterpieces are not for the beginner certainty and frustration that accom- tieth century. This article will honor the German spelling in use during or even the self-absorbed intermedi- panied the composer's exile. Likewise, the time of these events, ate but for an advanced or mature the intellectual substructure of the singer they offer access to German two works owes much to the philos- 5. Chris Walton, "Braut und Schwester song through the world of idea to a ophy of Arthur Schopenhauer. Of all bist do dem Bruder," The Musical Times 143, no. 1880 (2002): 40. degree no other lieder composer had Wagner's works, these two composi- ever attempted, allowing the singer to tions are the closest to the experi- 6. Julius Kapp, The Women in tVaqner stimulate her brain as well as her heart, enced reality of his life, and the most Life, trans. Hannah Wailer (New to grow mentally as well as musically. directly expressive of the "emotional York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1931), 106. Richard Wagner's musical genius strains and spiritual pressures"" that 7. Brener, 82. coupled with Math ilde Wesendonck's tore at him during the years of their 8. Kapp, 107. poetic inspiration resulted in the Funf development. Wagner and Mathilde Gedichte, five songs that belong both surely knew that their passion for 9. Ronald Taylor, Richard Watjner: His Lif Art and 7'houtjht (London: Paul biographically and musically to the each other could result only in renun- Elek Limited, 1979), 87-89. world of Tristan. The writing of Tris- ciation and self-abnegation; and just tan und Isolde, like the writing of the as surely they both knowingly, even 10. Ibid. FünfGedichte, cannot be separated joyfully, endured the birth pangs that 11. Frank Glass, The Fertiiithzq Seed: Wog- from the personal drama of the rela- brought forth the artistic fruit of their itei''s (i,cep( of the Poetic 1,iti,it (Ann

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 273 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

a) Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1983), n&chi&sstnd I . Immer mehr 65-66. 12. Taylor, 115. ten - e Tag be . Irut,_ daD lie waeh ten, d&D ale blü - - hen trin - mend 13. Glass, 68-69. 14. Ibid., 71. - I IP'4"i 15. "Asyl" translates as "refuge"; Wag- ner and Minna took up residency in r late April 1857. nachIisnd 16. Brener, 83. 17. Ibid., 84. 18. Carl Dahihaus, Richard Wagner's Music Dramas, trans. Mary Whittall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 2. 19. Ibid., 5. 20. Richard Wagner, Richard Wagner to Math i/dc Wcsendonck, trans. William Ashton Ellis (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), 17. "Tristan and Isolde, what they bewailed and forwent, their tears and kisses, in music's chaste gold I lay at thy feet, that they may praise the angel who has lifted me so high" h) 21. Ibid., 28. 22. Deryck Cooke, introduction to Wag- ner DerRinq dts Nibelungen (I)ecca A 199 508 141 32149.0, 1968): quoted by Walter William Richards. "Nature as a Symbolic Element in Richard Wagner's Treatment of Myth" (PhD dissertation, The Florida State University, 1997), 59. 23. Taylor, 130. 24. Ibid. 25. Mary A. Cicora, Modern Myths and halda k 6va all fl b..k 1U ....4. Wagnerian I)econstructions: Herm- h.. - eiwu tic Approaches to Wagner s Music- b fl., 1.apl -. - - Dramas (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 115. 26. Glass, 107. 27. Arnold Whittall, "Leitmotiv," The New Grove Dictioniuy of Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 1 December 2002), http://www.grovemusic.com. 35 28. Ibid. Example 4. a) "Triiume," mm. 54-69; h) Tristan und Isolde, Love Duet. 29. Dahlhaus. 61.

274 JOURNAL (II- SINGING Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weiler

30. Glass, 303. Cico ra, Mary A . Modern Myths and Spencer. Princeton: Princeton University Wagnerian Deconstructions: Hermeneutic Press, 1993. 31. Taylor, 130. Approaches to Wagner's Music-Dramas. Richards, Walter William. "Nature as a 32. Glass, 103. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000. Symbolic Element in Richard Wagner's 33. Ibid. Dahlhaus, Carl. Richard Wagner's Music Treatment of M yth." PhD dissertation, The Florida State University, 1997. 34. ,JeanJacques Nattiez, Wagner Andro Dramas, trans. Mary Whitta]1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979. g/Jne: A Study in Interpretation. trans. Steigman, Benjanii n M. The Unconquer- Stewart Spencer (Princeton: Prince- Franklin. Peter. "Flight from the Green able Tristan: The Story of Richard Wagner. ton University Press, 1993), 296. Hill: Tristan and the Destiny of the New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933. Artist.' The Music Review XXX V112 (May 35. Glass, 112. Taylor, Ronald. Richard Wagner: HiN Life 1975): 135-39. 36. Ibid., 113-14. Art and Thought. London: Paul Elek Gautier, Judith. Richard Wagner: Rienzi Limited, 1979. 37. Ibid.....3. to I'arsifal, trans. with the author's special Wagner, Richard. Fünf Gedichte eon 38. Taylor, 130-31. permission by L. S. Boston: Williams, j. Mathilde Wesendonck fur Frauensirnme 1883. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 39. Ibid. und Kla tin: Frankfurt: C. F. Peters, based 1983. on 1862 Schott edition. 40. Barry Millington, "Wagner," The Nra.' Glass, Frank W. The Fertilizing Seed: Grove Diet ionar!J of Music Online, ed. My Life, trans. Andrew Gray. Wagner's Concept Poetic Intent. Ann L. Macy (accessed 2 December 2002), otthe Munich: Paul List Verlag, 1963. Reprint, Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1983. http://www.grovemusic.com . New York: Da Capo Press. 1992. Grey. Thomas S. Wagner's Musical Prose: 41. Ibid. ______- Richard Wagner to Mathilde 'I'cvts and Co,ztevts. Cambridge: Cambridge Wcsendonck, trans. William Ashton Ellis. 42. Taylor, 136-37. University Press, 1995. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905. 43. Dahihaus, 64. Grout, Donald .Jay. A Short History of Ten &igs (1838-1858) for Voice Opera, 3rd ed. New York: Columbia and Piano. ed. Wolfgang Golther. Boca University Press, 1988. SOURCES CONSULTED Raton: Masters Music Publications, Inc., Kapp, Julius. The 1Vonu'n in 1VaqPu71 Lite, 1993. Abbate, Carolyn. and Roger Parker. trans. Hannah Wailer. New York: Alfred A iza lyzing Opera: Verdi and Wagner. A. Knopf, 1931. Walton. Chris. "Braut und Schwester bist Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of du dem Brucler." i'heMusical Times 143, California Press, 1989. Lee, M. Owen. Waqner: The Terrihlc Man no. 1880 (2002): 37-47. and His Truth fid Art. Toronto: University Anderson, Warren, and ThornasJ. of Toronto Press, 1999. Weston, Jessie L. The Legends of the Mathiesen. "Muses," The New Grove Wagner Drama: Studies in Mythology and Dictionary of Music Online, ed. L. Macy Millington, Barry. "Wagner," The Nemr Romance, New York: Charles Scribner's (accessed 11 November 2002), http:// Grove Dictionary of Music Online, ed. L. Sons, 1900. www.grovemusic.com Macy (accessed 02 December 2002), http://www.grovernusic.com Winslow, R. R Mathilde Wesendonk- The Brener, Milton. Opera 0f71age: Passion 5'vret Behind /aflfl"s "7 'rista n and Isolde.' and Politics Behind the Great Operas. New Nattiez, Jean-Jacques. W?ujner A udrogipu': New York: The William -Frederick Press, York: Walker and Company, 1996. A Studij in Interpretation, trans. Stewart 1949.

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JA NUARY/FEHRtJA iv 2006 275 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

THE POEMS

Der Engel

In der Kindlieit frühen Tagen In the early days of childhood hört' ich oft von Engein sagen, I often heard tales ofamyels die des Himmels hehre Wonne who exchange the higher joys tauschen mit der Erdensonne, ofHeai'en for the sunshine of earth, daf, wo bang ein Herz in Sorgen so that whoever with sorrowing heart schmachtet vor der Welt verborgen, languishes hidden from the world, dafs, wo still es will verbiuten, whoever bleeds to silent death, uEld vergehn in Trilnenfluten, passing away in floods oftears, daLe,, wo brunstig sein Gebet whoever with feri or prays einzig urn Erlosung fleht, only for release from life— da der Engel niederschwcbt. to him the angel descends und es sanft gen Hiirnnel hebt. and gently raises him to Heaven. Ja, es stieg auch mir ein Engel nieder, Yes, an angel came also to inc und auf leuchtendem Gefieder and with his shining golden wings fOhrt er, ferne jedern Schmerz, carried, far from every pain, meinen Geist nun himrneIwirts! my spirit up towards Heaven,

Stehe still!

Sausendes, brausendes Rad der Zeit, Rushing, roaring wheel of tune, Messer du cler Ewigkeit knife blade of eternity, leuchtende Sphären urn weiten All, glowing spheres in distant space die ihr urnringt den Weltenhall; closed about the globe ofearth; urewige Schopfung, halte doch em, first creation, stop your turning, genug des Werdens, laS mich scm! enough of existence. let me be! Halte an dich, zeugende Kraft, Hold hack, power of beg etting. urgedanke, der ewig schafft! primal thought, eternal creator! Heminet den Atem, stillet den Drang, Stop this breathing, still this desire, schweiget nur eine Sekunde lang! silence it only afew seconds' time! Schwellende Pulse, fesselt den Schiag; Swelling impulse, restrain your blow, ende, des Wolleris ew'ger Tag! end the unending day of wanting! Dars in selig süfern Vergessen So that in sweet and happy forgetting icli mog' alle Wonne ermessen! I might measure the worth of joy! Wenn Aug' in Auge wonnig trinken, When eye drinks in the joy of eye, Seele ganz in Seele versinken; when soul is sunk in another's soul, Wesen in Wesen sich wiederfindet, when being finds itself in. anothers being, und alles Hoffens Ende sich kündet: and we reach the end ofall hoping: die Lippe verstunlint in staunendeni Schweigen, when lips are dumb in wondering silence, keinen Wunsch mehr will das Inn'rc zeugen: the inner soul will beget no more desire: erkennt der Mensch des Ew'gen Spur, then man will know the eternal sign und lost dein Rdtsel, heil'ge Natur! and solve .your riddle, holy Nature.'

276 JOURNAl. OF SINGING Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Sherri Moore Weiler

Im Treibhaus Ilocligewoibte Blätterkronen, I-luIi-aiclteil leeiJ j (?HtUii', Baldachine von Smaragd, canopies of emerald. Kinder ihr aus fernen Zonen, children of a distant clime. saget mir, warum ihr klagt? i-ell me, oh,ij do you mourn? Schweigend neiget ihr die Zweige, Noiselessly your bra nc/u's be rid, malet Zeichen in die Luft, shapinq,gesiures in the air und der Leiden stummer Zeuge, and as silent witness of sorrow steigct aufwärts, sü1er Duft. there rises upwards a sweet scent. Weit in selinendem Verlangen Wide in ijcarnin.g desire hreitet ihr die Arme otis, you spread outpour arms und umschlinget wahnbefangen and embrace the maddening öder Leere nicht'gen Graus. void horror of empty Space. Wohi, ich wei g es arme Pflanze: Well do I know . poor plants, ein Geschicke teilen wit, that u'eshare one destiny. oh unistrahit von Licht und Glanze, even with light and glass above us. unsre Heimat ist nicht hier! our homeland is not here! Und Me froh die Sonne scheidet Just as the sun qlad!y withdraws von des Tages lecrem Schein, from the empty light of day, bullet der, der wahrhaft leidet so does he who truly sorrows veil himself sich in Schweigens Dunkel em, in the dark silence. Stille wird's, ein säuselnd Weben All,ormvs still, a rustling motion fulIet bang den dunkein Raum: fills the darkened space n'ith grief schwere Tropfen seh' ich schweben isee heavy drops suspended an der B1tter grunem Sauni. on the green edges of the leaves.

Schmerzen

Sunny, weinest eden Ahend Suit, gon ii'ucp c I cl :!J dun//nj dir die sctionen Augen rot, zintilgour/ir cues are red, wenri mi Meeresspiegel hadend when bathing in the sea's mirror dich erreicht der fruhe Tod; you reach yourearly death: doch ersteh'st in alter Pracht, get you rise with accustomed splendor, Glorie der düstren Welt, glomuj of the qloomny world. du am Morgen neu erwacht, newly awakened at morning wie Ciii stolzer Siegesheld! as a proud, victorious hero! Ach, wic soilte ich da kiagen, Alt, why should I complain, wie, mein Herz, so schwer dich sehn, why, my heart, pity you so mug die Sonne selbst verzagen, when the sun himself must despair, muPs die Sonne untergehn? when the sun must sink? Und gebieret Tod nor Lehen, i)eath a/wa jjs qi i'es birth to lifr, gehen Schmerzen Wonnen nur: pains always bri ngJhrth joys: o wie dank' ich da g gegeben oh, how thankful am it/tat Nature soiche Schmerzen mir Natur! has,given me such pains!

JA N1,.\RY/1"i:nF.uUARY 2006 277 Weiler, S. (2006). Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder: Isolde Personified. Journal of Singing, 62(3), 267-278. Retrieved from https://www.nats.org/cgi/page.cgi/_article.html/Journal_of_Singing/Richard_Wagner_s_Wesendonck_Lieder_Isolde_Personified_2006_Jan_Feb © National Association of Teachers of Singing Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder. Isolde Personified

Träume Say, what wondrous dreams Sag', welch wunderbare Träume hold mij mind in thrall, halten meinen Sinn umfangen, so that they have not like empty bubbles claf, sic nicht wie leere Schume passed into oblivion? sind in odes Nichts vergangen? Dreams, that in ever hour, Träume, die in jeder Stunde, eieii da,y, grow fairer, jedern Tage schOner bliih'n, and with their heavenly message und mit ihrer Himnielskunde pass through pity soul with blessings! selig durch's Gemüte ziehn! Dreams that, like celestial rays, TrOurne, die wie hehre Strahien penetrate my very soul in die Seele sich versenken, and paint an unfuding picture there dort em ewig Bud zu malen: offbrgetting and remembering! Ailvergessen, Eingedenken! Dreams that. like the sun of spring, TrOunie, wie wenn Fruhlingssonne draw flowers from snow with a kiss; aus dem Schnee die Bluten kiit, thtjj are horn to unsuspected joy daS zu nie geahnter Wonne and greet the new day; sic der neue Tag bcgriilt, then thejj grow, and they bloom, daS sic wachsen, daS sic bluhen, and dreaming give forth their scent; trumend spenderi ihren Duft, gently they cool upon your breast sanft an cleiner Bnist vergluhen, and then sink into the grave. und dann siriken in die Gruft. Itranslations by S. Weiler]

',ices in 2004. Weller was a featured cham- The two have a compact disk on the Centaur Mezzo so pro no Sherri Moore Wri Ire her music perfOrmer at the 48th national label, released in 2001, tided Russia: Golden received both the BA and MEd degrees from conference of NATS in New Orleans in July Century of Song. Weiler's doctoral treatise Clemson University. She received the MM 2004, has held office in the Alaska Chap- centered on preventing counterproductive degreefrom the University of' Cincinnati ter of NA7'S, and has had an article about tensions induced by Russian dictum in Amer- College-Conservatorij of Iviusic and the DM Berlioz 's Les Nuits d'été published in jour- ican singers. She has performed the Verdi degree from Florida State University in nal of Singing. She has also written articles Requiem withJerome Hines, Mendelssohn S 2004. Dr Weller has taught voice at Alaska reviewing voice pedagogy classics for Clas- Pacific University, University of Alaska sical Singer magazine. Elijah with Erie Mills. and a Schubert bicen- Anchorage, Florida A&M University, tennial recital with John Wust man in 2000. Florida State University, and is currently As a performer Weiler was selected hij She has appeared in numerous roles with Assistant Professor of Music at Shorter Col- Mstislav Rostropovich to sing the mezzo solo Anchorage Opera, Sacramento Opera, Flor- lege in Rome, Georgia. She served as Direc- in Th-okofiev 's Alexander Nevsk with the y ida State Opera, and Cleveland Opera. Dr. tor and Artistic Director ofAnchorage National Symphony in 1992, which helped Weiler hasgiven recitaLsfbr Willamette Uni- Opera's Studio Theatre, a young artist pro- instill agreat love and appreciation for Russ- versity, Portland State University, Oregon gram,from 2000-2002. Her professional ian vocal literature. For more than a decade presentations include a lecture-recital trac- Weiler coached Russian language and song Music Teachers' Association, Anchorage ing folk elements in Russian art so ngfrom literature with Svetlana Velichko, agradu- Opera, A nchorage Festival ofMusic the Uni- 1850-1950 performed fOr the College Music ate and twenty-nine-year member of the versity of'Alaska Anchorage, Florida A&M Society at regional and national confer- piano faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. University, and Shorter College.

278 JOURNAL OF SINGING