The opera "Tristan and Isolde" by Richard Wagner was staged and premiered at the Court Theatre in Munich on 10 June, 1865. It was conducted by G. von Bülow.

Subsequent performances: Munich (1869, 1872); Weimar (1874); Berlin (1876, conducted by R. Wagner). The opera was staged in London and Vienna. After the composer's death, it was performed under the direction of Felix Mottl in Bayreuth. In Russia, the opera ”Tristan und Isolde” was first performed under the direction of Julius Prüwer during the tour of Georg Paradies German troupe in St. Petersburg in 1898. The first Russian staging of the opera took place in St. Petersburg, at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1899, conducted by Felix Blumenfeld (Felia Litvin as Isolde, Ivan Ershov as Tristan).

The legend of Tristan and Isolde is of Celtic origin – it came from Ireland and gained great popularity in all countries of medieval Europe. Over several centuries, the legend transformed, and by the 12^th century, it had taken shape of a Franco-Breton literary novel, then underwent many literary refinements and transformations, overgrown with details, novels by famous writers appeared, but the meaning of the legend remained unchanged – love is stronger than death.

However, Wagner interpreted the legend differently – he created a poem about a tormenting, all-consuming passion that proved stronger than reason, family obligations, and a sense of duty. In accordance with the composer's plan, the opera is marked by the unity of dramatic expression, tremendous tension and tragic intensity of feelings.

Richard Wagner first encountered the legend of Tristan and Isolde in the 1840s, and the idea for the opera came to him in the autumn of 1854; by August 1857, the composer wrote the text in a single impulse in just 3 weeks, for which he even interrupted work on the tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung". Then Wagner began composing music and completed the opera by 1859. The premiere took place in Munich on June 10, 1865.

Richard Wagner considered the opera ‘Tristan und Isolde’ to be his best and favourite composition, as its creation was also linked to an episode in the composer's biography as well, when he was in love with the German poetess Mathilde Wesendonck. He called his opera a monument to his unrequited love.

In this opera, the world was introduced to musical drama for the first time, in which the orchestra plays the leading role. Through the developed system of keynotes, the composer comments each psychological and dramatic passage in the development of the plot. Wagner realized his idea of "endless melody", creating a very special style of arias, duets, quartets. This caused fierce criticism, which has not subsided until nowadays.

Fragments from the opera “Tristan and Isolde” recorded from gramophone records stored in the museum Collection repository are presented in our Sound Library.