Thread by @Wagner2_0

#WednesdayWagner To celebrate that #OnThisDay, 155 years ago, the great "Tristan und Isolde" was premiered, let's continue with your weekly dose of your favourite composer. Today: Echoes of Tristan Chord (part 2)
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#WednesdayWagner We explored the Tristan Chord at the beginning of Act 1 (in the first bars of the drama) and also in 2nd act, both in the Prelude and in the love duet ('O sink hernieder'). But this amazing chord is used along the entire piece
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#WednesdayWagner Listen carefully the moment in the love duet (Act 2) when Isolde tells "Herz an Herz dir, Mund an Mund" (heart on your heart, mouth on mouth), 3.07 in the following link

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#WednesdayWagner The melody is formed exactly by the pitches that form a "Tristan Chord" (i.e. a half-diminished chord). The harmony is not the one at the Prelude, that's how here is not easy to perceive the reference
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#WednesdayWagner On this very scene, listen when both Tristan and Isolde sing "Liebe-heiligstes Leben" (4.18 in this link). These two chords appear several times, the last one just before Liebestod in Act 3

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#WednesdayWagner These two chords are both the "Tristan Chord", with roots separated by a tritone. Even their function is the same (because of tritone substitution): Dominant of Dominant in Ab Major. And only 2 chromaticisms are needed for this link
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#WednesdayWagner A very different use of Tristan Chord appears ... at the beginning of Act 3. Yes, all the acts begin with a Tristan Chord!! Listen this wonderful excerpt below:

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#WednesdayWagner Now, the sensuality of the chromaticism has been replaced by total darkness. The chord here acts as a II7 in minor mode, but note the similarities between both act 1 and act 3 preludes. The reference is so clear
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#WednesdayWagner Of course, the pitch that moves is not the same as in act 1 prelude (3rd of the chord). If Wagner would have done that, it couldn't have reached Tonic of F minor. So he wisely chose to move other pitch (G, root in this case)
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#WednesdayWagner So we can see that not only all acts of "Tristan und Isolde" start with references to the so-called "Tristan Chord", but this sound is almost everywhere in the piece, harmonically and melodically
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#WednesdayWagner Depending on what is happening in the history, the use, development and implications of this "Tristan Chord", musically speaking, will be different, but always plenty of coherence and giving us the details of the story. Gesamtkunstwerk!
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