660152-54 bk Tristan US 24/05/2005 09:59am Page 12 The Royal Swedish Orchestra WAGNER 3 CDs The Royal Swedish Orchestra traces its origins from the Court Chapel of the sixteenth century and is one of the world’s oldest orchestras. In 1773 Gustav III transformed it into an opera band. As the only professional orchestra in nineteenth-century Sweden it also regularly gave concerts with symphonic and vocal works. Its first encounter with Wagner’s music was probably with the Tannhäuser Overture in 1856. During the twentieth century, the orchestra Tristan und Isolde grew from around sixty to almost a hundred members. Today it numbers 114. Millgramm • Forsén • Fassbender The Royal Opera Chorus Lundberg • Kyhle • Dike The Royal Opera Chorus was created from scratch in 1773 for the first Swedish opera. At the transfer to the newly built Gustavian Opera House at Gustav Adolfs Torg in 1782, it is said to have numbered eighty members. The Royal Swedish Opera Male Chorus and Orchestra number dwindled during the nineteenth century. During its co-existence with the Royal Dramatic Theatre until 1887 chorus members also frequently took minor spoken parts in drama and musical plays. Today the chorus numbers sixty members. The chorus masters are Christina Hörnell and Folke Alin. Leif Segerstam The Royal Swedish Opera Gustav III founded the Royal Swedish Opera in 1773. The first opera house on the current site was inaugurated in 1782. From the early nineteenth century until 1887, the Royal Theatre was the national theatre for opera and ballet as well as spoken drama and concerts. Many company members appeared both in opera and drama and from 1826 to 1863 all genres even shared the same stage. Wagner was introduced with Rienzi in 1865. The old Gustavian theatre was demolished in 1892. Die Walküre had its Swedish première at Svenska Teatern. The present Opera House opened in 1898. Tristan und Isolde was first given there in 1909. Leif Segerstam Leif Segerstam was born in Finland and studied conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Juilliard School, New York. He has been active at the Royal Swedish Opera from 1968, serving as chief conductor and music director from 1995 to 2000. Among his many performances in later years have been Capriccio, Lohengrin, Parsifal, Otello, Wozzeck and The Makropoulos Case. He served as chief conductor of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1975 to 1987, of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1987, as Generalmusikdirektor of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz from 1983 to 1989, and chief conductor of the Denmark Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1988 to 1995, and of the Helsinki Filharmoni. He has composed symphonies, solo concertos and other works, and made many recordings, including, for Naxos, Wagner Choruses (8.557714), Berg’s Wozzeck (8.660076-77) and Korngold’s Die tote Stadt (8.660060-61). 8.660152-54 12 660152-54 bk Tristan US 24/05/2005 09:59am Page 2 Richard Magnus Kyhle WAGNER (1813–1883) Magnus Kyhle, tenor, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and University College of Opera in Stockholm, making his operatic début in 1983 as Bardolfo in Falstaff at the TRISTAN UND ISOLDE Norrlandsoperan. An effective character tenor with a wide repertoire including operas by A Music-Drama in Three Acts (1857–59) Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Bizet. Puccini, Mussorgsky, JanáÇek, and operas by Swedish composers, he has also appeared with Darmstadt Opera, the Landestheater Salzburg and Volkstheater Rostock. Tristan . .Wolfgang Millgramm (tenor) King Marke . Lennart Forsén (bass) Isolde . Hedwig Fassbender (soprano) Gunnar Lundberg Kurwenal . Gunnar Lundberg (baritone) The baritone Gunnar Lundberg studied at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, making his Melot . Magnus Kyhle (tenor) operatic début in 1986 as the Mystic in Jan Wallgren’s Balagantjik at Marionetten with the Royal Swedish Opera. His repertoire includes leading baritone rôles in operas by Mozart, Donizetti, Brangäne . Martina Dike (mezzo-soprano) Verdi, Wagner, Richard Strauss, Bizet, Puccini, and Gounod, as well as contemporary Swedish Ein Hirt / Junger Seemann (A shepherd / A young sailor) . operas. He has undertaken guest performances at the Finnish National Opera and Drottningholm . Ulrik Qvale (tenor) Court Theatre, and has appeared as a soloist in recordings of major choral works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Steuermann (Helmsman) . John Erik Eleby (baritone) Kungliga Operans Manskör (Royal Swedish Opera Male Chorus) Wolfgang Millgramm (Sailors, knights and squires) The tenor Wolfgang Millgramm performs regularly in international concert halls and opera houses in Kungliga Hovkapellet (Royal Swedish Opera Orchestra) Paris, Tokyo, Bayreuth, Dresden, and elsewhere. He has worked with Jiri Kout and Christian conducted by Leif Segerstam Thielemann and given concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam. His repertoire includes Andrea Chénier and Otello, Radames in Aida, Turiddu in Cavalleria rusticana, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Florestan in Fidelio, Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser, Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Siegfried in Götterdämmerung and Parsifal. Sung texts for this release are available as PDF files online at www.naxos.com/libretti/tristan.htm. This measure Ulrik Qvale is designed to help keep our releases at an affordable price and maintain Naxos’ position as leader in the budget- priced market. The tenor Ulrik Qvale studied at the University College of Opera, Stockholm, and made his operatic début in 1992 as Prince Pietro in von Suppé’s Boccaccio at the Royal Swedish Opera. He has appeared in many rôles with the same company, including those of Monostatos in Die Zauberflöte, Die gesungenen Texte dieser CD sind als PDF-Dateien online unter www.naxos.com/libretti/tristan.htm the Captain in Wozzeck, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel, the Fisherman in Stravinsky’s Nightingale, erhältlich. Das soll helfen, den günstigen Preis unserer Veröffentlichungen und die führende Position von Naxos the Steersman in Der fliegende Holländer, Va‰ek and Jeník in The Bartered Bride. He has also in diesem Preissegment zu halten. undertaken engagements at the Folkoperan, Stockholm, as Loge in Das Rheingold, Don José in Carmen and Gustavus III in Un ballo in maschera. 8.660152-54 2 11 8.660152-54 660152-54 bk Tristan US 24/05/2005 09:59am Page 10 Martina Dike CD 1 63:41 CD 2 78:25 The mezzo-soprano Martina Dike studied at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, and the ACT ONE ACT ONE (conclusion) University College of Opera in the same city. She made her operatic début in 1997 as Carmen at Folkoperan, a rôle she has also performed at the Royal Swedish Opera and the Gothenburg Opera. 1 Prelude 11:50 1 War Morold dir so wert 3:02 Her repertoire includes Maddalena in Rigoletto, Clairon in Capriccio, Adalgisa in Norma, the (Tristan, Isolde) Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos and Countess Geschwitz in Lulu. She has undertaken guest Scene I performances at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, the Barbican in London, at Aix-en-Provence and at the 2 Westwärts schweift der Blick 5:58 2 Ho! he! ha! he! 4:39 Frankfurt Opera. (A young sailor, Isolde, Brangäne) (Sailors, Isolde, Brangäne, Tristan) Scene II 3 Auf, das Tau! 5:20 John Erik Eleby 3 Frisch weht der Wind 4:16 (Sailors, Isolde, Tristan) (A young sailor, Isolde, Brangäne, Tristan, The bass-baritone John Erik Eleby studied at the Royal Academy of Music and University College Kurwenal, Sailors) 4 Heil! König Marke Heil! 4:11 of Opera in Stockholm, making his operatic début in 1995 as Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem (Men’s voices, Isolde, Brangäne, Tristan, Kurwenal) Serail at Confidencen, Stockholm. He has appeared in many rôles at the Royal Swedish Opera, 4 Hab’ acht, Tristan! 5:01 including Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos, Sparafucile in (Kurwenal, Isolde, Brangäne, Tristan, Sailors) ACT TWO Rigoletto, Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Escamillo in Carmen, and Kecal in The Bartered Bride. He has also undertaken engagements at other Swedish opera houses. Scene III 5 Prelude 1:57 5 Weh, ach wehe! 5:56 (Brangäne, Isolde) Scene I Hedwig Fassbender 6 Hörst du sie noch? 11:31 6 O Wunder! Wo hatt’ ich die Augen? 5:29 (Isolde, Brangäne) Hedwig Fassbender had sung a number of different rôles before finally undertaking her (Brangäne, Tristan) triumphant first Isolde in 2001. Initially trained as a pianist, she went on to study voice in Scene II Munich with Ernst Haefliger. She was a member of the opera companies in Freiburg and Basel, 7 O Süße, Traute! 4:37 7 Isolde! Geliebte! 7:53 and sang the most important rôles of the lyric mezzo-soprano-repertoire, including Cherubino, (Brangäne, Isolde) (Tristan, Isolde) Octavian, Rosina, Dorabella, Idamantes at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Marguerite in La damnation de Faust in Amsterdam, Nicklausse in Les contes d’Hoffmann in Barcelona, at the Bastille in 8 Kennst du der Mutter 3:34 8 O sink’ hernieder 4:31 Paris, in Vienna, Basel and Lyon. Isolde, her first dramatic soprano rôle, was followed by Marie in Wozzeck, the (Brangäne, Isolde) (Tristan, Isolde) Marschallin in Lyon and, among Wagnerian rôles, Sieglinde in Liège, followed by Kundry and Brünnhilde. Scene IV 9 Einsam wachend in der Nacht 2:23 9 Auf! Auf! Ihr Frauen! 8:04 (Brangäne, Isolde, Tristan) Lennart Forsén (Kurwenal, Isolde, Brangäne) 0 Lausch’, Geliebter! 3:48 The bass Lennart Forsén studied at the Royal Academy of Music and University College of Opera in Scene V (Isolde, Tristan) Stockholm. He made his operatic début in 1986 as the Archbishop in The Maid of Orléans at the Royal 0 Begehrt, Herrin 8:57 Swedish Opera. In 1994-95 he was with Leipzig Opera and from 1998 to 2000 with the Deutsche Oper (Tristan, Isolde) ! Doch unsre Liebe 4:21 am Rhein, Düsseldorf/Duisburg.