Buddhism, Wagner and Love

I have a friend who says sometimes a particular piece of music will capture him to the point where he will simply listen to it over and over--and over--again. I know how he feels, and many times I have found myself fixated on a particular piece, or maybe even just a small segment of the piece.

Recently while scouring YouTube videos for musical examples to send to the choir I direct, I came across a video of the American soprano Jessye Norman singing the "Liebestod" (Love Death) from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner, performing with the Berlin Philharmonic at the last concert directed by Herbert von Karajan, the legendary conductor of the orchestra. The aria is sung at the close of the opera, and takes somewhere around eight minutes to perform. It is one of the great masterpieces of Western music. I found myself obsessed with the work and its significance.

In the opera, set during the Middle Ages, the Irish princess Isolde, betrothed to a king, unknowingly shares a love potion with Tristan, who in the past had killed her former lover and brought her much grief. The two are now captives of their own desires and can find no rest on earth. Tristan sings about the burden of living during daylight hours, when he must conform to the ways of the world, but at night the two can meet secretly and live out their desires for each other. Eventually the two come to realize that the eternal night of death will be their only release. Near the conclusion of the opera Tristan is mortally wounded by his enemies. Isolde, as she beholds his body, knows that she must join him in the next world. She sings the closing aria, which has come to be known as the "Love Death" and dies allegedly of grief, but in so doing realizes that she has entered into a spiritual transformation and release.

It is important to realize that Wagner preferred to call this final aria Verklarung, "Transfiguration", rather than associating it only with death. If you listen to the music, your realize that the music, far from expressing despair and grief, actually embodies hope and conviction. Isolde sings about submerging herself into the "rapturous wave" of an ocean that will usher her into a new world. The opera closes with soft, peaceful chords. My own feeling is that Isolde dies not of grief, and in fact she and Tristan die not at all. By renouncing this world they enter into a higher and purer realm. The music of the opera is known for its unending tension, filled with harmonies that never resolve. (Wagner created the famous "Tristan chord", a dissonant chord that moves not to a consonance, but only to another dissonance, just for this purpose.)

Tristan und Isolde was first performed in 1865, at a time when Westerners were just beginning to question traditional Christianity and explore Eastern mysticism. Wagner, ironically a man of strong desires and opinions (but with a tender side that is often overlooked), was much influenced by the writings of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who believed that happiness can only be obtained by the elimination of our desires. Hence, in the opera the lovers can only find peace and release from their earthly torments by giving up their earthly desires.

Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, enunciated the idea of abandonment of desires 2400 years earlier than Schopenhauer. Thus, Tristan can be said to be a Buddhist opera. Interestingly, the British composer and mystic Cyril Scott (no relation to me that I am aware of!) remarked that Wagner's music is an auditory representation of Buddhist principles. Wagner is known for his extremist views on a variety of subjects, particularly Jews (although he seemed to often seek out the companionship of Jews), and yet Scott insists that Wagner's mind simply snapped under the pressure of spiritual forces that were working too strongly inside him.

In any case, we know that Buddhism is perhaps the gentlest and most tolerant faith active in our world today, and we are blessed to enjoy Wagner's music regardless of our personal beliefs or orientations.

If you are not familiar with the "Liebestod"--well, you should be. If you take the time to get to know it, you'll find it mesmerising and haunting. Even if you don't listen to it over and over as I did, you may find that you still want to make it a part of your life and reflect on its meaning. You can scour YouTube for links, or look for your own. You will be the richer for having done so.

Thanks,
Gary