Inspired by Wagner’s own tortured affair with the wife of his patron, this searing masterwork is based on Arthurian legend and tells of an illicit romance between a Breton nobleman and the Irish princess betrothed to his uncle and king. The composer’s larger-than-life sensibilities are on full display throughout the score: Along with intoxicating orchestral music that surges in tandem with the couple’s burgeoning passion and a chord left symbolically unresolved until the last moments of the opera, the opera also features one of the repertory’s most soaring and ecstatic final climaxes, as Isolde surrenders to a love so powerful that she transcends life itself.
Ben Heppner
as Tristan
Jane Eaglen
as Isolde
Katarina Dalayman
as Brangäne
Hans-Joachim Ketelsen
as Kurwenal
René Pape
as King Marke
James Levine
as Self - Conductor
Brian Davis
as Melot
Anthony Dean Griffey
as A Sailor's Voice
Mark Schowalter
as A Sheperd
James Courtney
as Steersman
MET Orchestra
as
