The Performance Material for Richard Wagner's “Tristan and Isolde” in Dresden

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Tonight, the Bayreuth Festival opens with Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. A good opportunity to take a brief look at the sources of this work described in RISM. The composer prepared his first sketches as early as 1857, and an autograph album leaf, written in Paris in 1860, can now be found in the Fondation Martin Bodmer, Bibliotheca Bodmeriana (RISM ID no. 400090233 - RISM Catalog | RISM Online).

For students of music history, however, the sources related to the Dresden production (RISM ID no. 270000981 - RISM Catalog | RISM Online) – even though compiled in 1884, one year after Wagner’s death – prove more interesting, since many of the musicians who participated in the performance on 21 May 1884 had worked closely with Wagner. The flute part, for example, contains annotations by Moritz Fürstenau (1824–1889). Besides, numerous performance notes prove that the material remained in use until the 1980s. In addition to guest performances in London and Prague, the parts were also used on the 50th anniversary of Wagner’s death in 1933, under the direction of Richard Strauss.

Image: Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde; Violoncello 2 part from the music archive of the Sächsische Staatsoper, D-Ds (without shelfmark)

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