The Tristan Chord Revealed

0:00 Introduction with Loki
1:22 Wagner - a colossal figure
1:58 Tristan und Isolde - his most famous achievement
2:21 Historical context: Revolution in Dresden
3:31 Rethinking opera
3:42 The Ring Cycle and the invention of the Leitmotif
4:05 Wagner’s influence on literature
4:38 Wagner interrupts work on the Ring Cycle
5:27 A philosophical explanation of Tristan & Isolde
6:21 The objective and the subjective
6:42 Tristan and Isolde’s dilemma
7:34 The potion reveals pure subjectivity
8:24 The most dramatic end to any operatic act!
8:49 Act 3 is one of the most amazing things...
9:03 Context: what does the Tristan chord represent?
9:52 No one had ever begun a piece of music like this before
10:40 Orchestration and symbolism
12:00 The sound is enigmatic
12:43 continuing phrases
13:39 Tonality is being outlined very systematically
15:13 It tends to be explained out of context
15:49. Wagner’s teachers, Partimento and the Rule of Octave
19:49 Harmonising a descending A minor scale bass line
20:23 Augmented 6th chords
21:11 The French 6th plus an appoggiatura
21:57 Transforming convention: a definition of genius
22:58 Wagner’s use of the chord throughout the opera
24:18 Tristan & Isolde is the seed of modernity
25:26 The final resolution of the chord at the end of the opera
25:47 Later developments: Debussy and Stravinsky
27:59 Tristan opens a new realm of possibilities
28:31 Reading through the opening of the Tristan Prelude at the piano

This video is a deep dive into Wagner’s Tristan chord, the most famous and enigmatic harmonic event in history.

Matthew King explains the chord from a number of perspectives, and helps to put this microcosm of Wagner’s genius into a broader dramatic and historical context, with some discussion of Wagner’s development, and a quick survey of subsequent literary and musical events that occurred under the spell of Tristan und Isolde.

Friedrich Nietzsche, who in his younger years was a close friend of Wagner’s, wrote that, for him, "Tristan and Isolde is the real opus metaphysicum of all art... insatiable and sweet craving for the secrets of night and death. . . it is overpowering in its simple grandeur". In 1868 he wrote about the effect of the Prelude: "I simply cannot bring myself to remain critically aloof from this music; every nerve in me is a-twitch, and it has been a long time since I had such a lasting sense of ecstasy as with this overture". Long after his split with Wagner, he still admired Tristan und Isolde: "Even now I am still in search of a work which exercises such a dangerous fascination, such a spine-tingling and blissful infinity as Tristan — I have sought in vain, in every art."

⦿ SUPPORT US ON PATREON ⦿
  / musicprofessor  

⦿ BUY US A Kofi ⦿
https://ko-fi.com/themusicprofessor

⦿ Support us on PayPal ⦿
https://paypal.me/themusicprofessor?c...

⦿ SUBSCRIBE TO THIS CHANNEL ⦿
https://bit.ly/3Pnnwon

Here is a fascinating discussion for anyone wanting to look in more detail at the Tristan chord from the perspective of the Rule of Octave:    • Wagner's Tristan Chord: Just a chord ...  

Here is an interesting philosophical discussion about Tristan, the Ring and Parsifal between Sarah-Jane Leslie and the late Roger Scruton:    • Roger Scruton - Wagner and Philosophy  

Hans Knappertsbusch’s recording of the Tristan Prelude (with the full score):    • EINLEITUNG zu AKT 1 von TRISTAN UND I...  

Marie Jacquot performs the Prelude and Liebestod (orchestra only) in 2022 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra:    • Wagner: Tristan und Isolde - Vorspiel...  

Waltraud Meier, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan orchestra perform the Prelude and Liebestod:    • Wagner: Tristan and Isolde – Prelude ...  

Daniel Barenboim conducts Act 1 of Tristan under Isolde (with English subtitles):    • wagner:  tristan und isolde (1of3);ba...  

Carlos Kleiber’s legendary recording of the entire opera (get hold of the libretto on line!)    • Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde - C...  

Pierre Boulez conducts Wagner's rarely heard concert version of the Tristan Prelude which includes a fascinating new transition to the final B major resolution at the end of the opera:    • Wagner - Prelude to Tristan und Isold...  

#wagner #tristanchord #themusicprofessor