I've heard various recordings of *Tristan und Isolde* many times but have
attended only two live performances.

The first was in the early 50s when I heard it in NY at the old Met,
standing room.  While it was an overwhelmingly fulfilling experience, I
remember nothing else about it, neither singers, nor conductor.  I don't
even knoww whether Flagstad sang Isolde, which she was doing at that time,
but I do know that Melchior was no longer singing there.

My second was yesterday evening (3/20/99), Row V Orchestra Center, at the
Kennedy Center w/ a full house attendance.  Heinz Fricke was the conductor.
Carol Yahr sang Isolde; Jyrki Niskanen, Tristan; Rosemarie Lang, Brangaene;
Juergen Freier, Kurvenal; Siegfried Vogel, King Marke.

Tim Page in the Washington Post gave it rave reviews w/ accolades for
Fricke and all the singers, albeit somewhat qualified in Niskanen's case,
and who am I to say him nay, especially when *Tristan*, along w/ *Otello*
and *Don Giovanni* is one of my three favorite "must have" operas? I'll
say a little more about the singers later.

The opera started at 7 pm and was over a little before midnight.  It had
two welcome intermissions.

I think it should be realized that *Tristan* is a 6-act, rather than a
3-act opera.  Each of the three official "Acts" can be broken down into
two, each a contained unit and of a length to be found in the acts of other
operas not as long.  Thus in the first act Tristan's arrival below deck to
confront Isolde really marks the beginning of a new act, as do King Marke's
arrival in act II, and Isolde's arrival in act III.

The opera started w/ a tender rendition of the orchestral introduction,
"Tristan chord" and all, the sailor's song (sung by Corey Evan Rotz)
could be heard while a face in an otherwise dark center stage became
visible...not the sailor's, but Isolde's as the increased lighting made
apparent.  In the background was what I first thought was a stylized sail
but was actually a canopy to shield Isolde and Brangaene from the weather
and the sailors.  Alas, their singing seemed all too often drowned out by
the orchestra.  It was a wonderful orchestra and, as J.K.  Holman remarked
in his article in the Washington Opera Magazine,

   "In his mature works, Wagner turned increasingly to the orchestra as
   chief spokesman for his harmonic and motivic ideas.  He always wanted
   beautiful singing, but at the same time, the human voice often merely
   annotates or ornaments the instrumental line.  Isolde's *Liebestod*
   is an example of this.  Listeners can always find safe haven in the
   orchestral mainstream."

Indeed, most of us have probably heard orchestral versions of Wagner
passages w/out the voices, including the "Liebestod" but many of us have
also heard those passages w/ the voices sung well and forcefully and when,
as seemed to me here, this was not the case, I felt something was missing.
I had to content myself with considering the voices simply as more
instruments contributing to the orchestra's sonority or more elements in
the orchestral tapestry of color.  There were exceptions.  Kurwenal was one
such.  (I was reminded of Fischer-Dieskau outsinging Suthaus in the
Furtwaengler/Flagstad recording.)  I listened for the pronounced plucked
string accompanying Isolde's "das Schwert, ich lies es fallen" (the sword,
I let it drop) but missed it.  The extended orchestral passage signalling
the meeting of T and I suggesting a confrontation of some sort of Titans
(obviously Wagner's intention) was well played and staged and a suitable
introduction to the real second act (which all would have us consider a
mere continuation of the first).  The pair's drinking of the love potion in
the mistaken belief that it was a poison is accompanied by a new lifting of
the  canopy revealing a dark, starlit night, where when previously raised,
it had diclosed the ship's prow (shaped something like the Eiffel Tower)
in daylight.  At the end of the act, when the pair disengage, she to go w/
King Marke, I's gown got caught in the hilt of T's sword.  I don't know
whether or not that was an accident or intentional symbolism.

The second act opened w/ singing so drowned out that I only knew it
was going on because I was seing surtitle text.  W/ T's appearance, the
stage grew dark again.  The intention in this production was clearly to
signal that light and the reality of I's marriage to Marke was bad and
that dark, under the cover of which T and I could seek out fantasy and love
(apparently never consummated physically), were good.  As the parties sang
the magical "Sink hernieder", audible this time, a gigantic moon against
the starlit cardboard sky appeared, first all aglow, then eclipsed, but not
fully covered, w/ a dark disk; the lit circumference eventually became a
circle of fire and blazing daylight returned w/ King Marke's unexpected
return.  King Marke, sung on this night (and two other nights) by Siegfried
Vogel, was IMO the finest singer in the cast.  His reproach of Tristan, who
was not only his nephew, but the son he never had and his most trusted
friend, and of Melot who had alerted him to Tristan's breach of trust (a
psychological complex mixture of motives) was forceful, moving, convincing,
and in complete balance w/ the orchestra.

The third act was set upon some sort of reflecting disk which made
one believe that the characters were floating on it.  I don't think that
was intentional.  I could finally hear the singers against the orchestra.
After Isolde's arrival is finally, finally heralded, Tristan, in
anticipation of her powers of healing, rips off his bloody shirt, and
proceeds also to rip off his chest bandages.  I almost thought I was seeing
a revival of *Hair*.  Isolde sang her part, including the "Liebestod" like
a trooper.  My favorite "Liebestod" is probably that of Germaine Lubin, a
French Wagnerian who may or may not have been too friendly w/ the German
occupiers and may or may not have been cleared in subsequent proceedings.
Her rendition, especially the repeated "Seht ihr's nicht?"s (can't you see
it) are artless and heartbreaking for their artlessness in a way I've not
heard from any other singer.  Last evening's "Liebestod" was different from
what I believe is usual, in that Isolde did not sink lifeless to the ground
but finished standing up, w/ the lights dimming, the set growing darker,
leaving only her face illuminated in the middle of the stage, just as in
the beginning, on the ship taking her from Ireland to Cornwall.

Applause was enthusiastic w/ several curtain calls.  While I think
Vogel and Fricke should have gotten the lion's share of it, that was
unfortunately resolved for Yahr and Niscanen, but I take solace in noting
that V and F got more applause and cheers than any of the remaining
singers.

Three annoyances, not the fault of the production:  A disturbing noice,
sounding much like 78 rpm record hiss, turned out to be someone snoring a
few rows in front of me; a recurring aroma of whiskey apparently exhaled by
someone sitting near me who had indulged too much during the intermission;
and the silent, but noticeable and disturbing, evacuation of a person from
one of the front rows just before the Liebestod who, I assume, was placed
in the ambulance that I saw arriving at the building as I left it.

Wolf-Ferrari's *Sly* next Wednesday.

Walter Meyer