Wagner, Tristan and Isolde, Prelude

Mathilde Wesendonk (1828 - 1902)

After finishing the reading of Schopenhauer´s work The World as Will and Representation, the German composer Richard Wagner began to write the first verses of his musical drama Tristan und Isolde, close to the thought of the Danzig philosopher, whom he took from then on as his inspirational guide and teacher. The work was based on an ancient German legend, whose leitmotiv were love, destiny, betrayal and death, which fit perfectly with the spirit of the romantic period.

Shortly after, on April 1857, his patron and advisor, the banker Otto Wesendonk, rented a simple house to Wagner, in Zurich, on the land he had prepared to build the mansion planned to inhabit in the company of his beautiful young woman Mathilde, thirteen years younger than him and a poet in addition.

In September of that year, Richard welcomed, as guests, the orchestra conductor Hans von Büllow and his wife Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt. The Wesendonks, already moved to their splendid love nest, were frequent guests, especially Mathilde, who did spend a long time alone because Otto had to travel frequently. Thus, the evenings that used to take place in the little house, curiously called Assyl, counted on the presence – if we talk about the ladies – of Minna, Richard's wife, Cosima and Mathilde.

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883)

One warm summer afternoon in 1858, Richard read the poems, already quite advanced, that would make up the musical drama script in three acts Tristan and Isolde, before the three ladies. While as sketches, Minna already knew them; Cosima was not indifferent to Richard's words but decided to procrastinate on it (she will marry Richard in 1866); Mathilde, on the other hand, was shuddered from head to toe by the musician's verses, causing instant crush on her. The story of Isolde and Tristan seemed to recall theirs.

Mystical and subjugating was the passion born between them. Mathilde's visits to Assyl became more frequent and also the exchange of letters in veiled language. But it all went to hell when Minna intercepted a letter from Mathilde, a letter in which language had already lost the veil. As a result, the Wesendonks set out on a trip to Italy, and Minna abandonned Wagner, who was forced to continue working in Tristan. Months later, he left Assyl and left for Venice, then to Lucerne, where he finished the work in August 1859. Tristan had died, also Isolde. Richard had not, he was alive, but alone.

Prelude and Liebestod ... and Melancholia 
"Melancholia", the film by Danish director Lars von Trier, was presented at the 2011 Cannes festival. It's a drama containing a curious mix of elements of science fiction and reflections on life and the destiny of human beings, which ends with the total destruction of the Earth by the collision with another planet.
The film begins with a kind of overture, about ten minutes, filmed in slow motion, without dialogues or ambient sound, in which, along with scenes of space and the impending collision, the themes and characters are presented in a dream sequence that von Trier will explore later. The complete sequence is accompanied by a reduced orchestral version that links the prelude to the third act and the final aria of Wagner's work.

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