Wesendonck-Lieder WWV 91
Richard Wagner (1813-83)
Der Engel (The Angel); Stehe still! (Be still!); Im Treibhaus - Studie zu Tristan und Isolde (In the Hothouse); Schmerzen (Suffering); Träume - Studie zu Tristan und Isolde (Dreams)
Among Richard Wagner’s friends and patrons were the silk merchant, Otto Wesendonck, and his wife Mathilde. Wagner and Mathilde almost certainly became lovers. Their affair lasted throughout 1858 and probably led Wagner to abandon his work on Der Ring des Nibelungen, composing instead Tristan und Isolde, a tale of intense passion that reflected his feelings for and relationship with Mathilde. The setting of her poems dates from the early days of his work on Tristan. The musical similarities, especially in harmonic idiom, can be discerned by those familiar with both works. For the publication of the songs in 1862, he marked two of them ‘studies for Tristan und Isolde’.
The poetry is not regarded as being of the highest quality by anyone, either today or when it was penned, but the forces of infatuation have been known to over-ride disinterested detachment in matters of judgement. This may have been such a case with Wagner at the time.
The songs were composed originally for female voice with piano accompaniment. Wagner orchestrated Träume to be played by a chamber orchestra beneath Mathilde's window on her birthday, 23 December 1857. The other four songs were subsequently orchestrated by Felix Mottl, a noted Wagnerian conductor of the time.
Richard Wagner (1813-83)
Der Engel (The Angel); Stehe still! (Be still!); Im Treibhaus - Studie zu Tristan und Isolde (In the Hothouse); Schmerzen (Suffering); Träume - Studie zu Tristan und Isolde (Dreams)
Among Richard Wagner’s friends and patrons were the silk merchant, Otto Wesendonck, and his wife Mathilde. Wagner and Mathilde almost certainly became lovers. Their affair lasted throughout 1858 and probably led Wagner to abandon his work on Der Ring des Nibelungen, composing instead Tristan und Isolde, a tale of intense passion that reflected his feelings for and relationship with Mathilde. The setting of her poems dates from the early days of his work on Tristan. The musical similarities, especially in harmonic idiom, can be discerned by those familiar with both works. For the publication of the songs in 1862, he marked two of them ‘studies for Tristan und Isolde’.
The poetry is not regarded as being of the highest quality by anyone, either today or when it was penned, but the forces of infatuation have been known to over-ride disinterested detachment in matters of judgement. This may have been such a case with Wagner at the time.
The songs were composed originally for female voice with piano accompaniment. Wagner orchestrated Träume to be played by a chamber orchestra beneath Mathilde's window on her birthday, 23 December 1857. The other four songs were subsequently orchestrated by Felix Mottl, a noted Wagnerian conductor of the time.