Thread by @Wagner2_0

#WednesdayWagner Here I go again ... no, not the Whitesnake song, but the weekly pill on Wagner's compositional strategies. Today: Echoes of 'Tristan chord' in "Tristan und Isolde" (part 1). Let's go! 
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#WednesdayWagner One of the clearest evolution of "Tristan Chord" appears at the beginning of Act 2. Just listen the first 20 seconds of the Prelude: 


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#WednesdayWagner Firstly, note that, at bar 9, the bass melody ('Isolde impatience' by some authors) is comprised by the pitches that formed the resolution of the so-called "Tristan Chord" at the start of the opera. You can see the details below:
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#WednesdayWagner Indeed, this melody in the bass is really closed to the one at the love duet that will be later heard in Act 2 (O sink hernieder)! The direction is the same, but only two pitches has been moved 1/2 tone (marked with arrows below). That is really impacting

#WednesdayWagner Additionally, you can see that the last pitch of this melody (Gb) is harmonized ... by another 'Tristan chord'! Although, in this case, this Tristan Chord is not moving anywhere, since it's the final of the phrase instead
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#WednesdayWagner That's the interesting point ... How did Wagner achieve to make this Tristan Chord conclusive? Well, the point (as always) can be found in the harmony. Let's dig a little bit

#WednesdayWagner Here we have two kind of Dominants (dim. 7th followed by Dominant 7th) followed by the Tristan Chord is acting as Tonic (VI of minor mode, transformed to minor chord and with added 6th). Note that, years later, Mahler would start his 7th Symphony with this sound

#WednesdayWagner The Tristan Chord here is acting as a tonic, being this sequence a Deceptive Cadence. Wait a minute ... Have you heard that before? Of course! This resembles also the first cadence of the Prelude of Act 1, with is also a Deceptive Cadence on the borrowed VI

#WednesdayWagner So... What is really doing Wagner here? He is clearly generating a link with previous material, both in the harmonic and melodic sides, but with changes in tempo, character, nature of the chords, texture ... Everything is more turbulent now! 
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#WednesdayWagner Indeed, the impatience of the lovers is perfectly described, although this music is constructed in a way that you don't need to know the plot to perceive coherence. The use of the same elements all over the piece gives this cohesion to the whole opera

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PS: No thread without mistake ... I forgot to include the harmony of this excerpt (should be placed before Mahler's 7th). Sorry guys!

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