The most famous operas in the world. Original title, author and brief description.

Tristan and Isolde (Tristan und Isolde), R. Wagner

Opera in three acts; libretto by the author.
First production: Munich, Court Theatre, 10 June 1865.

Characters:
Tristan (tenor), King Mark (bass), Isolde (soprano), Kurwenal (baritone), Brangena (soprano), Melot (tenor), sailor (tenor), shepherd (tenor), helmsman (baritone); ship crew, knights, squires.

The time period is around the 12th century.

Act one.
Tent on the deck of a ship. The Irish princess Isolde, feeling like a prisoner on the ship, is angry and despairing. She orders her friend Brangene to call the knight Tristan for an explanation. Tristan avoids explanations because he loves Isolde and, unaware of reciprocity, generously tries to arrange a profitable marriage for Isolde in Cornwall. His friend Kurwenal comes instead and gives an arrogant answer: the hero Tristan has nothing to talk about with the woman whom he is taking as a captive, having defeated Ireland, as a bride to his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall. Isolde’s anger gives way to despondency: she complains to Brangene that Tristan, the same knight of Tantris whose life she once saved with her care, is ungrateful and kidnapped her for his uncle, old Mark. At this thought, Isolde boils with rage; She tells Brangene to bring a box of magic potions, a gift from her mother, and prepare a cup of poison for Tristan. Kuvernal says that the land is already close. Isolde asks him to invite Tristan to drink a cup of wine with him as a sign of reconciliation. This time Tristan comes. Brangena, however, deliberately mixes up the potion and pours a love potion into the cup instead of poison. The cup passes from the hands of Tristan into the hands of Isolde. Little by little, both light up with passionate love and rush into each other’s arms just at the moment when the ship touches the land of King Mark.

Act two.
The garden in front of Isolde's chambers, at the door of which there is a burning torch. Clear summer night. Isolde enthusiastically awaits a date with her lover. Brangena warns that the knight Melot has been watching Tristan since his arrival, but Isolde is calm: Melot is Tristan’s friend, and he specially took the king on a hunt to arrange this meeting. Isolde herself extinguishes the torch as a sign that everything is fine. Tristan soon appears. Brangena climbs the watchtower. The lovers indulge in the mystical charm of passion and do not hear Brangena's cries. Finally, Kurvenal himself runs in shouting: “Save yourself, Tristan!” But now it's too late. King Mark, Melot and his retinue soon appear before the tender couple; Brangena's fears were justified; Melot arranged not a date, but a trap. The king, with majestic sadness, reproaches his nephew for betrayal. Tristan turns to Isolde asking if she is ready to follow him. Melot, indignant, rushes at him with a sword. Tristan defends himself and, wounded, falls into the arms of Kurvenal. Isolde rushes to her lover. Mark restrains the enraged Melot from further violence.

Act three.
Garden at Tristana Castle with gate and sea view. Tristan rests on a bed under the shade of an old linden tree; with him is Kurvenal, who hopes only for one doctor - Isolde. The shepherd must give a signal with his horn when he sees a ship at sea; but the shepherd plays only sad melodies - the ship is not visible. Tristan awakens; his concern for Isolde is growing; he faints again. At this time, the shepherd’s cheerful chant will be heard: Isolde’s ship is approaching. Kurwenal runs to meet her, and Tristan gets up from his bed in excitement, throws off his bandages and rushes into the arms of Isolde, who has rushed to him, in order to die immediately. Isolde falls unconscious on the corpse of her lover. At this time, a new signal from the shepherd is heard: King Mark’s ship is sailing. Kurwenal, preventing an attack, locks and defends the gate, but falls victim to his friendly loyalty. King Mark did not come, however, for revenge; he learned from Brangena that Tristan and Isolde drank a love drink instead of poison and thus fell victim to higher powers; he came to declare Isolde free and unite her with Tristan. But it’s too late: Isolde temporarily awakens from her stupor in order to die of melancholy, to pour out love on Tristan’s body. It remains for King Mark to bless the corpses.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The Legend of Tristan and Isolde - Celtic origin. It probably came from Ireland and enjoyed wide popularity in all countries of medieval Europe, spreading in many versions (its first literary adaptation - the Franco-Breton novel - dates back to the 12th century). Over the centuries, it has acquired various poetic details, but the meaning remains the same: love is stronger than death. Wagner interpreted this legend differently: he created a poem about a painful all-consuming passion, which is stronger than reason, a sense of duty, family obligations, which overturns the usual ideas, breaks ties with the outside world, with people, with life. In accordance with the composer's plan, the opera is marked by unity of dramatic expression, enormous tension, and tragic intensity of feelings.

Wagner loved Tristan very much and considered it his best composition. The creation of the opera is associated with one of the most romantic episodes of the composer's biography - with his passion for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of a friend and patron, who, despite her ardent love for Wagner, managed to subordinate her feelings to duty to her husband and family. Wagner called “Tristan” a monument to the deepest unrequited love. The autobiographical nature of this opera helps to understand the composer’s unusual interpretation of the literary source.

Wagner became acquainted with the legend of Tristan and Isolde back in the 40s; the idea for the opera arose in the fall of 1854 and completely captured the composer in August 1857, forcing him to interrupt work on the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”. The text was written in one impulse, in three weeks; Composing music began in October. The work was carried out with long interruptions; the opera was completed in 1859. The premiere took place on June 10, 1865 in Munich.

MUSIC.

"Tristan and Isolde" is the most original of Wagner's operas. There is little external action or stage movement in it - all attention is focused on the experiences of the two heroes, on showing the shades of their painful, tragic passion. Music, full of sensual languor, flows in a non-stop stream, without being divided into separate episodes. The psychological role of the orchestra is extremely great: for revealing the emotional experiences of the characters, it is no less important than the vocal part.

The mood of the entire opera is determined by the orchestral introduction; here brief motives continuously replace each other, sometimes mournful, sometimes ecstatic, always tense, passionate, never giving peace. The introduction is open-ended and goes directly into the music of the first act..

The motives for the introduction permeate orchestral fabric of the first act, revealing the state of mind of Tristan and Isolde. They are contrasted with song episodes that serve as the background of a psychological drama. This is the song of the young sailor “Looking at the Sunset” that opens the act, sounding from afar, without orchestral accompaniment. Kurvenal’s ironic song, taken up by the chorus “So tell Isolde,” is energetic and courageous. The central characteristic of the heroine is contained in her long story “On the sea, a boat, driven by a wave, sailed to the Irish rocks”; there is anxiety and confusion here. Similar sentiments mark the beginning of the dialogue between Tristan and Isolde, “What will be your order?”; at the end of it the motives of love longing sound again.

In the second act the main place is occupied by the huge love duet of Tristan and Isolde, framed by scenes with Brangena and King Mark. The orchestral introduction conveys Isolde’s impatient animation. The same mood prevails in the dialogue between Isolde and Brangena, accompanied by the distant roll call of hunting horns. The scene with Tristan is rich in contrasts of experiences; its beginning speaks of the stormy joy of a long-awaited meeting; then memories arise of the suffering experienced in separation, curses on the day and light; the central episode of the duet is wide, slow, passionate tunes glorifying night and death: the first - “Come down to earth, night of love” with a flexible, free rhythm and tense-sounding unstable melody - was borrowed by Wagner from what he wrote in the year he began work on “Tristan” romance "Dreams" to the words of Mathilde Wesendonck. It is complemented by Brangena's call - a warning of danger - here the composer revives the form of “morning songs”, beloved by medieval troubadours. One of Wagner’s best melodies - “So, let us die in order to live forever” - is colorful, endlessly unfolding, directed upward. A big build up leads to a climax. In the final scene, Mark’s mournful, nobly restrained complaint stands out: “Did you really save? Do you think so? and a small chanted farewell to Tristan and Isolde, “In that distant land there is no sun on high,” where echoes of a love duet are heard.

Third act framed by two extended monologues - the wounded Tristan at the beginning and the dying Isolde at the end. The orchestral introduction, using the melody of the romance “In the Greenhouse” with lyrics by Mathilde Wesendonck, embodies Tristan’s sorrow and longing. As in the first act, the painful emotional experiences of the characters are shaded by clearer song episodes. This is the sad tune of the English horn (shepherd's pipe), which opens the action and returns repeatedly in Tristan's monologue; such are Kurvenal's energetic speeches, accompanied by a march-like orchestral theme. They are contrasted by Tristan’s brief remarks, spoken as if in oblivion. The hero's long monologue is based on sudden changes in mood. It begins with the mournful phrases “Do you think so? I know better, but you can’t know what,” where echoes of his farewell to Isolde from the second act are heard. Gradually, the drama increases, despair is heard in Tristan’s speeches, suddenly it is replaced by joy, stormy jubilation, and again hopeless melancholy: “How can I understand you, an old, sad tune.” Then light lyrical melodies follow.

Dramatic turn of the act The cheerful tune of the English horn serves. At the moment of Tristan's death, the theme of love longing that opened the opera is repeated again. Isolde’s expressive complaint “I’m here, I’m here, dear friend” is full of dramatic exclamations. She prepares the final scene - the death of Isolde. Here the melodic melodies of the love duet of the second act develop widely and freely, acquiring a transformed, enlightened ecstatic sound.

Stage action in three acts.

Libretto by R. Wagner.

Characters:
King Marke, King of Cornwall (bass)
Tristan, his nephew (tenor)
Isolde, Irish princess (soprano)
Brangane, her servant (mezzo-soprano)
Kurwenal, servant of Tristan (baritone)
Melot, friend of Tristan (tenor)
Young Sailor (tenor)
Shepherd (tenor)
Helmsman (baritone)
Chorus: sailors, retinue.

The action takes place on the deck of a ship, in Cornwall and Brittany.

Time period: early Middle Ages.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The legend of Tristan and Isolde is of Celtic origin. It probably came from Ireland and enjoyed wide popularity in all countries of medieval Europe, spreading in many versions (its first literary adaptation - the Franco-Breton novel - dates back to the 12th century). Over the centuries, it has acquired various poetic details, but the meaning remains the same: love is stronger than death. Wagner interpreted this legend differently: he created a poem about a painful all-consuming passion, which is stronger than reason, a sense of duty, family obligations, which overturns the usual ideas, breaks ties with the outside world, with people, with life. In accordance with the composer's plan, the opera is marked by unity of dramatic expression, enormous tension, and tragic intensity of feelings.

Wagner loved Tristan very much and considered it his best composition. The creation of the opera is associated with one of the most romantic episodes of the composer's biography - with his passion for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of a friend and patron, who, despite her ardent love for Wagner, managed to subordinate her feelings to duty to her husband and family. Wagner called “Tristan” a monument to the deepest unrequited love.

The autobiographical nature of this opera helps to understand the composer’s unusual interpretation of the literary source. Wagner became acquainted with the legend of Tristan and Isolde back in the 40s; the idea for the opera arose in the fall of 1854 and completely captured the composer in August 1857, forcing him to interrupt work on the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”. The text was written in one impulse, in three weeks; Composing music began in October.

The work was carried out with long interruptions; the opera was completed in 1859. The premiere took place on June 10, 1865 in Munich.

PLOT

For a long time, King Mark of Cornwall paid tribute to Ireland. But the day came when, instead of tribute, the Irish received the head of their best warrior - the brave Morold, killed in a duel by King Mark's nephew, Tristan. The murdered man's fiancée, Isolde, swore eternal hatred for the winner. One day, the sea carried a boat with a mortally wounded warrior to the shores of Ireland, and Isolde, taught by her mother in the art of healing, began to treat him with magic potions. The knight called himself Tantris, but his sword gave away a secret: it had a notch, which was matched by a steel fragment found in Morold’s head. Isolde raises her sword over the enemy’s head, but the pleading gaze of the wounded man stops her; suddenly Isolde realizes that she loves Tristan. Having recovered, Tristan left Ireland, but soon returned again on a richly decorated ship - to marry Isolde to King Mark in order to end the enmity between their countries. Submitting to the will of her parents, Isolde gave her consent, and so they sailed to Cornwall. Isolde, offended by Tristan's coldness, showers him with ridicule. Unable to bear his indifference, Isolde decides to die with him; she invites Tristan to share the cup of death with her. But the faithful Brangena, wanting to save her mistress, pours a love drink instead of the drink of death. Tristan and Isolde drink from the same cup, and an invincible passion overcomes them. Under the joyful cries of the sailors, the ship lands on the shores of Cornwall, where King Mark has long been waiting for his bride.

Under the cover of night, lovers secretly meet in the garden near Isolde’s chambers. Today Tristan was delayed by the hunt - the horns of the royal retinue are heard not far away, and Brangena hesitates to give the conventional sign - to put out the torch. She warns Isolde that Melot is watching them, but Isolde is far from suspicious: for her, he is Tristan’s faithful friend. Unable to wait any longer, Isolde extinguishes the torch herself. Tristan appears, and passionate confessions of lovers are heard in the darkness of the night. They glorify darkness and death, in which there are no lies and deceit that reign in the light of day; Only night stops separation, only in death can they unite forever. Suddenly King Mark and his courtiers appear. They were brought by Melot, who had long been tormented by passion for Isolde. The king is shocked by the betrayal of Tristan, whom he loved like a son, but the feeling of revenge is unfamiliar to him. Tristan tenderly says goodbye to Isolde, he calls her with him to the distant and beautiful land of death. The indignant Melot draws his sword, and the seriously wounded Tristan falls into the arms of his servant Kurwenal.

The faithful Kurwenal took Tristan from Cornwall to his ancestral castle of Careol in Brittany. Seeing that the knight did not regain consciousness, he sent the helmsman with a message to Isolde. And now, having prepared a bed for Tristan in the garden at the castle gates, Kurvenal intensely peers into the deserted expanse of the sea - will a ship carrying Isolde appear there? From afar one can hear the sad melody of the shepherd's pipe - he, too, is waiting for the healer of his beloved master. The familiar chant makes Tristan open his eyes. He has difficulty remembering everything that happened. His spirit wandered far away, in a blissful country where there is no sun - but Isolde is still in the kingdom of day, and the gates of death, which had already slammed behind Tristan, opened wide again - he must see his beloved.

In his delirium, Tristan imagines an approaching ship, but the sad melody of the shepherd again brings him back to reality. He plunges into sad memories of his father, who died without seeing his son, of his mother, who died at his birth, of his first meeting with Isolde, when, as now, he was dying from a wound, and of the love potion that doomed him to eternal life. flour. Feverish excitement deprives Tristan of strength. And again he imagines an approaching ship. This time he was not deceived: the shepherd gives good news with a cheerful tune, Kurvenal hurries to the sea. Left alone, Tristan rushes about on the bed in excitement and tears off the bandage from the wound. Staggering, he goes to meet Isolde, falls into her arms and dies. At this time, the shepherd reports the approach of the second ship - Mark arrived with Melot and the soldiers; Brangene's voice is heard calling Isolde. Kurwenal rushes to the gate with a sword; Melot falls, struck by his hand. But the forces are too unequal: the mortally wounded Kurwenal dies at the feet of Tristan. King Mark is shocked. Brangena told him the secret of the love potion, and he hurried after Isolde in order to unite her with Tristan forever, but he sees only death around him. Detached from everything that is happening, Isolde fixes her gaze on Tristan’s body; she hears the call of her beloved; with his name on her lips she dies.

MUSIC

"Tristan and Isolde" is the most original of Wagner's operas. There is little external action or stage movement in it - all attention is focused on the experiences of the two heroes, on showing the shades of their painful, tragic passion. Music, full of sensual languor, flows in a non-stop stream, without being divided into separate episodes. The psychological role of the orchestra is extremely great: for revealing the emotional experiences of the characters, it is no less important than the vocal part.

The mood of the entire opera is determined by the orchestral introduction; here brief motives continuously replace each other, sometimes mournful, sometimes ecstatic, always tense, passionate, never giving peace. The introduction is open-ended and goes directly into the music of the first act. The motives of the introduction permeate the orchestral fabric of the first act, revealing the state of mind of Tristan and Isolde. They are contrasted with song episodes that serve as the background of a psychological drama. This is the song of the young sailor “Looking at the Sunset” that opens the act, sounding from afar, without orchestral accompaniment. Kurvenal’s ironic song, taken up by the chorus “So tell Isolde,” is energetic and courageous. The central characteristic of the heroine is contained in her long story “On the sea, a boat, driven by a wave, sailed to the Irish rocks”; there is anxiety and confusion here. Similar sentiments mark the beginning of the dialogue between Tristan and Isolde, “What will be your order?”; at the end of it the motives of love longing sound again.

In the second act, the main place is occupied by the huge love duet of Tristan and Isolde, framed by scenes with Brangena and King Mark. The orchestral introduction conveys Isolde’s impatient animation. The same mood prevails in the dialogue between Isolde and Brangena, accompanied by the distant roll call of hunting horns. The scene with Tristan is rich in contrasts of experiences; its beginning speaks of the stormy joy of a long-awaited meeting; then memories arise of the suffering experienced in separation, curses on the day and light; the central episode of the duet is wide, slow, passionate tunes glorifying night and death: the first - “Come down to earth, night of love” with a flexible, free rhythm and tense-sounding unstable melody - was borrowed by Wagner from what he wrote in the year he began work on “Tristan” romance "Dreams" to the words of Mathilde Wesendonck. It is complemented by Brangena's call - a warning of danger - here the composer revives the form of “morning songs”, beloved by medieval troubadours. One of Wagner’s best melodies - “So, let us die in order to live forever” - is colorful, endlessly unfolding, directed upward.

A big build up leads to a climax. In the final scene, Mark’s mournful, nobly restrained complaint stands out: “Did you really save? Do you think so? and a small chanted farewell to Tristan and Isolde “In that distant land there is no sun on high,” where echoes of a love duet are heard. The third act is framed by two extended monologues - the wounded Tristan at the beginning and the dying Isolde at the end. The orchestral introduction, using the melody of the romance “In the Greenhouse” with lyrics by Mathilde Wesendonck, embodies Tristan’s sorrow and longing. As in the first act, the painful emotional experiences of the characters are shaded by clearer song episodes. This is the sad tune of the English horn (shepherd's pipe), which opens the action and returns repeatedly in Tristan's monologue; such are Kurvenal's energetic speeches, accompanied by a march-like orchestral theme. They are contrasted by Tristan’s brief remarks, spoken as if in oblivion. The hero's long monologue is based on sudden changes in mood. It begins with the mournful phrases “Do you think so? I know better, but you can’t know what,” where echoes of his farewell to Isolde from the second act are heard. Gradually, the drama increases, despair is heard in Tristan’s speeches, suddenly it is replaced by joy, stormy jubilation, and again hopeless melancholy: “How can I understand you, an old, sad tune.” Then light lyrical melodies follow. The dramatic turning point of the act is the cheerful playing of the English horn. At the moment of Tristan's death, the theme of love longing that opened the opera is repeated again. Isolde’s expressive complaint “I’m here, I’m here, dear friend” is full of dramatic exclamations. She prepares the final scene - the death of Isolde. Here the melodic melodies of the love duet of the second act develop widely and freely, acquiring a transformed, enlightened ecstatic sound.

TRISTAN AND IZOLDA

Stage action in three acts

Characters:

Sailors, knights and squires.

The action takes place on the deck of a ship, in Cornwall and Brittany.

Time period: early Middle Ages.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The legend of Tristan and Isolde is of Celtic origin. It probably came from Ireland and enjoyed wide popularity in all countries of medieval Europe, spreading in many variants (its first literary adaptation - the Franco-Breton novel - dates back to XII century). Over the centuries, it has acquired various poetic details, but the meaning remains the same: love is stronger than death. Wagner interpreted this legend differently: he created a poem about a painful all-consuming passion, which is stronger than reason, a sense of duty, family obligations, which overturns the usual ideas, breaks ties with the outside world, with people, with life. In accordance with the composer's plan, the opera is marked by unity of dramatic expression, enormous tension, and tragic intensity of feelings.

Wagner loved Tristan very much and considered it his best composition. The creation of the opera is associated with one of the most romantic episodes of the composer's biography - with his passion for Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of a friend and patron, who, despite her ardent love for Wagner, managed to subordinate her feelings to duty to her husband and family. Wagner called “Tristan” a monument to the deepest unrequited love. The autobiographical nature of this opera helps to understand the composer’s unusual interpretation of the literary source.

Wagner became acquainted with the legend of Tristan and Isolde back in the 40s; the idea for the opera arose in the fall of 1854 and completely captured the composer in August 1857, forcing him to interrupt work on the tetralogy “The Ring of the Nibelung”. The text was written in one impulse, in three weeks; Composing music began in October. The work was carried out with long interruptions; the opera was completed in 1859. The premiere took place on June 10, 1865 in Munich.

MUSIC

"Tristan and Isolde" is the most original of Wagner's operas. There is little external action or stage movement in it - all attention is focused on the experiences of the two heroes, on showing the shades of their painful, tragic passion. Music, full of sensual languor, flows in a non-stop stream, without being divided into separate episodes. The psychological role of the orchestra is extremely great: for revealing the emotional experiences of the characters, it is no less important than the vocal part.

The mood of the entire opera is determined by the orchestral introduction; here brief motives continuously replace each other, sometimes mournful, sometimes ecstatic, always tense, passionate, never giving peace. The introduction is open-ended and goes directly into the music of the first act.

The motives of the introduction permeate the orchestral fabric of the first act, revealing the state of mind of Tristan and Isolde. They are contrasted with song episodes that serve as the background of a psychological drama. This is the song of the young sailor “Looking at the Sunset” that opens the act, sounding from afar, without orchestral accompaniment. Kurvenal’s ironic song, taken up by the chorus “So tell Isolde,” is energetic and courageous. The central characteristic of the heroine is contained in her long story “On the sea, a boat, driven by a wave, sailed to the Irish rocks”; there is anxiety and confusion here. Similar sentiments mark the beginning of the dialogue between Tristan and Isolde, “What will be your order?”; at the end of it the motives of love longing sound again.

In the second act, the main place is occupied by the huge love duet of Tristan and Isolde, framed by scenes with Brangena and King Mark. The orchestral introduction conveys Isolde’s impatient animation. The same mood prevails in the dialogue between Isolde and Brangena, accompanied by the distant roll call of hunting horns. The scene with Tristan is rich in contrasts of experiences; its beginning speaks of the stormy joy of a long-awaited meeting; then memories arise of the suffering experienced in separation, curses on the day and light; the central episode of the duet is wide, slow, passionate tunes glorifying night and death: the first - “Come down to earth, night of love” with a flexible, free rhythm and tense-sounding unstable melody - was borrowed by Wagner from what he wrote in the year he began work on “Tristan” romance "Dreams" to the words of Mathilde Wesendonck. It is complemented by Brangena's call - a warning of danger - here the composer revives the form of “morning songs”, beloved by medieval troubadours. One of Wagner’s best melodies - “So, let us die in order to live forever” - is colorful, endlessly unfolding, directed upward. A big build up leads to a climax. In the final scene, Mark’s mournful, nobly restrained complaint stands out: “Did you really save? Do you think so? and a small chanted farewell to Tristan and Isolde, “In that distant land there is no sun on high,” where echoes of a love duet are heard.

The third act is framed by two extended monologues - the wounded Tristan at the beginning and the dying Isolde at the end. The orchestral introduction, using the melody of the romance “In the Greenhouse” with lyrics by Mathilde Wesendonck, embodies Tristan’s sorrow and longing. As in the first act, the painful emotional experiences of the characters are shaded by clearer song episodes. This is the sad tune of the English horn (shepherd's pipe), which opens the action and returns repeatedly in Tristan's monologue; such are Kurvenal's energetic speeches, accompanied by a march-like orchestral theme. They are contrasted by Tristan’s brief remarks, spoken as if in oblivion. The hero's long monologue is based on sudden changes in mood. It begins with the mournful phrases “Do you think so? I know better, but you can’t know what,” where echoes of his farewell to Isolde from the second act are heard. Gradually, the drama increases, despair is heard in Tristan’s speeches, suddenly it is replaced by joy, stormy jubilation, and again hopeless melancholy: “How can I understand you, an old, sad tune.” Then light lyrical melodies follow. The dramatic turning point of the act is the cheerful playing of the English horn. At the moment of Tristan's death, the theme of love longing that opened the opera is repeated again. Isolde’s expressive complaint “I’m here, I’m here, dear friend” is full of dramatic exclamations. She prepares the final scene -death of Isolde. Here the melodic melodies of the love duet of the second act develop widely and freely, acquiring a transformed, enlightened ecstatic sound.

Artistic features and specificity of the genre in the novel “Tristan and Isolde”

General concept of the novel about Tristan and Isolde

The Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde was known in large quantities adaptations in French, but many of them perished, and only small excerpts survived from others. By comparing all the French editions of the novel about Tristan, fully or partially known to us, as well as their translations into other languages, it turned out to be possible to restore the plot and general character of the most ancient, not extant before us, the French novel (mid-12th century), to which all these editions go back.

Tristan, the son of a king, lost his parents as a child and was kidnapped by visiting Norwegian merchants. Having escaped from captivity, he ended up in Cornwall, at the court of his uncle King Mark, who raised Tristan and, being old and childless, intended to make him his successor. Tristan became a brilliant knight and rendered many valuable services to his adopted relatives. One day he was wounded by a poisoned weapon, and, not finding a cure, in despair he gets into a boat and sails at random. The wind carries him to Ireland, and the queen there, knowledgeable in potions, does not know that Tristan killed her brother Morolt ​​in a duel, heals him. Upon Tristan’s return to Cornwall, the local barons, out of envy of him, demand that Mark marry and give the country an heir to the throne. Wanting to talk himself out of this, Mark announces that he will marry only the girl who owns the golden hair dropped by a flying swallow. Tristan goes in search of the beauty. He again sails at random and again ends up in Ireland, where he recognizes the royal daughter, Isolde Golden-haired, as the girl who owns the hair. Having defeated the fire-breathing dragon that devastated Ireland, Tristan receives Isolde's hand from the king, but announces that he himself will not marry on her, and takes her as a bride to his uncle. When he and Isolde are sailing on a ship to Cornwall, they mistakenly drink the "love potion" that Isolde's mother gave her so that she and King Mark, when they drink it, will forever bound by love Tristan and Isolde cannot fight the passion that has gripped them, from now on until the end of their days they will belong to each other. Upon arrival in Cornwall, Isolde becomes Mark's wife, but passion forces her to seek secret meetings with Tristan. The courtiers try to track them down but to no avail, and the generous Mark tries not to notice anything. In the end, the lovers are caught, and the court sentences them to execution. However, Tristan manages to escape with Isolde, and they for a long time wandering in the forest, happy with their love, but experiencing great hardships. Finally, Mark forgives them on the condition that Tristan goes into exile. Having left for Brittany, Tristan marries, seduced by the similarity of names, to another Isolde, nicknamed the White-handed. But immediately after the wedding, he repents of this and remains faithful to the first Isolde. Languishing in separation from his sweetheart, he comes to Cornwall several times in disguise to secretly see her. Mortally wounded in Brittany in one of the skirmishes, he sends a faithful friend to Cornwall to bring him Isolde, who alone can heal him; if successful, let his friend set out a white sail. But when the ship with Isolde appears on the horizon, the jealous wife, having learned about the agreement, orders Tristan to be told that the sail on it is black. Hearing this, Tristan dies. Isolde comes up to him, lies down next to him and also dies. They are buried, and that same night two trees grow from their two graves, the branches of which are intertwined.

The author of this novel quite accurately reproduced all the details of the Celtic story, preserving its tragic overtones, and only replaced almost everywhere the manifestations of Celtic morals and customs with features of French knightly life. From this material he created a poetic story, permeated with general feeling and thought, which captured the imagination of his contemporaries and caused a long series of imitations.

The success of the novel is due mainly to the special situation in which the characters are placed and the concept of their feelings. In the suffering that Tristan experiences, a prominent place is occupied by the painful consciousness of the hopeless contradiction between his passion and the moral foundations of the entire society, which are obligatory for him. Tristan is tormented by the knowledge of the lawlessness of his love and the insult that he inflicts on King Mark, endowed in the novel with traits of rare nobility and generosity. Like Tristan, Mark himself is a victim of the voice of feudal-knightly “public opinion.” He did not want to marry Isolde, and after that he was by no means prone to suspicion or jealousy towards Tristan, whom he continues to love as his own son. But all the time he is forced to yield to the insistence of the informers-barons, who point out to him that his knightly and royal honor is suffering, and even threaten him with rebellion. Nevertheless, Mark is always ready to forgive the guilty. Tristan constantly remembers this kindness of Mark, and this makes his moral suffering even worse.

Both this first novel and other French novels about Tristan caused many imitations in most European countries - in Germany, England, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy and other countries. Their translations into Czech and Belarusian are also known. Of all the adaptations, the most significant is the German novel by Gottfried of Strasbourg (early 13th century), which stands out for its subtle analysis of the emotional experiences of the heroes and masterful description of the forms of knightly life. It was Godfrey's Tristan that most contributed to the revival in the 19th century. poetic interest in this medieval plot. It served as the most important source for Wagner's famous opera Tristan and Isolde (1859).

The Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde has been known in many adaptations. Among the oldest are fragments of poems that have come down to us, the action of which takes place in the lands of Cornwall, Ireland, and Brittany. In the prehistory of Tristan, there is a legend about his father, who died defending his land, about his mother who died of grief at the birth of her son, whose very name, Tristan, means “sad” (triste).

The novel about Tristan and Isolde was the most beloved and for three hundred years the most widespread in medieval Europe. His first poetic adaptations date back to the 12th century and are associated with the traditions of Celtic folklore. From France, the plot “migrates” to German, English, Spanish, Polish, and Norwegian literature. This story was even heard in Greek and Belarusian. Parents called their children Tristan and Isolde, despite the absence of these names in the calendar. Like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde are synonymous lovers. Episodes of their tragic lives pass from manuscripts to ancient tapestries, woven copra, painted goblets, palace frescoes, paintings. More than one generation of boys and girls of different classes learned the culture of feeling from this example.

And yet, despite the truly popular sympathy, none of the parchments conveyed to us the entire plot of the novel. It had to be restored from individual parts, episodes, and fragments of text from the 12th-13th centuries. This was done at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries by the French philologist Joseph Bedier.

Compared to the epic poem, the novel is striking in its whimsical plot. The presentation of the story of the fatal love of Tristan and Isolde is hindered by numerous obstacles that lovers must overcome with fidelity, devotion, and even cunning. Knight Tristan, a vassal of King Mark of Cornwall, wooed the Irish princess Isolde the Blonde for him. Mutual love makes their lives a chain of continuous joys and torments.

Episodes of the novel depict to us the life of the Middle Ages with almost visible concreteness. The author notes with particular pleasure a job well done - strong and beautiful buildings made of hewn and firmly folded stones, the skillful harp playing of a Welsh juggler, the sailor's ability to read the stars. He admires any skill. And although Tristan is brave and valiant in feats of arms, he resorts to them more out of necessity than out of desire. The pictures of war are sad. When Tristan arrives in Brittany, he sees devastated fields, villages without inhabitants, destroyed fields. The hermit, to whom he turns with a question about the causes of the disaster, replies that the country, once rich in arable land and pastures, has been devastated by the knights of the neighboring count, and adds bitterly: “Such is war.”

Love is the main motive of the novel. Numerous definitions of love are scattered on its pages: it is “passion, burning joy and endless melancholy and death”, it is “the heat of a fever”, “a path without return”, it is “a desire that attracts uncontrollably, like a horse that has bitten the bit”, it is a “wonderful a garden about which songs are spoken to the sounds of a harp”, this is “a blissful country of the living”... And perhaps the most powerful thing in the novel is that love appears in it as a great miracle. In the literal, simplest sense, this is a miracle of a magical drink. When Tristan asks Isolde’s hand for his uncle King Mark, the princess’s mother, seeing her off on a long journey, entrusts the maidservant Brangien with a jug of love potion: “Girl,” she tells her, you will follow Isolde to the country of King Mark; you love her with true love. Take this jug and hide it so that no one’s eyes can see it and no one’s mouth will touch it. But when the wedding night comes, pour this herbal wine into a goblet and present it to King Mark and Queen Isolde so that they drink together. Yes, see, my child, that after them no one tastes this drink, for such is its power that those who drink it together will love each other with all their feelings and all their thoughts forever, both in life and in death.”

Having tasted this potion on the ship on a hot afternoon, Tristan and Isolde forget everything in the world. Here we see a naive trick of a medieval author, trying to reconcile the natural right to love with the still strong concept of the feudal duty of a vassal to the master, of the bride and wife to the legal spouse. The heroes of the novel seem to be relieved of responsibility for the lies and treason they commit. The magic drink allows them to remain right and noble in front of the right and noble King Mark, who is fatherly attached to Tristan.

But, reading the novel, we notice the emergence of a feeling of love among young people much earlier than they find themselves on the ship. In Ireland, where Tristan sails to defeat a fire-breathing dragon, Isolde falls in love with Tristan from the first meeting. And it is not at all surprising that on the open sea, where calm overtakes and delays the ship, they can no longer resist love: “Isolde loved him. She wanted to hate him; did he not neglect her in an insulting way? She wanted to hate him, but could not... Brangien watched them with alarm, saw that they were refusing all food, all drink, all consolation, that they were looking for each other, like blind people who groped for each other. Unhappy ones! They languished apart, but suffered even more when, having come together, they trembled before the horror of the first confession.”

The lovers realize the illegitimacy and tragic hopelessness of their love. However, this feeling also gives their feeling a shade of self-sacrifice, a willingness to pay for love not only with everyday well-being, but also with life. For all the ambiguity of the situation in which the heroes find themselves, forced to constantly invent tricks in order to meet, their passion is not at all similar to the banal intrigue of clever lovers. This is precisely passion - an all-consuming and destructive feeling. The medieval author was already excellent at depicting its properties; the suffering of love is painful and at the same time attractive.

Deep penetration into the psychology of love is a property of real literature and the novel as a genre.

Today it may seem surprising how an artist of the 12th century was able to understand and depict the vicissitudes of passion. Self-sacrifice in it can coexist with selfishness, and after loyalty comes the temptation of betrayal. So, Tristan, wandering the seas and countries and not receiving any news from Cornwall, comes to gloomy thoughts: “I am tired and tired. My lady is far away, I will never see her. Why didn't she send me everywhere for two years? The magic dog's rattle had its effect. Isolde forgot me. Will I never forget the one who loved me? Will I really not find anyone who would heal my grief?

It was these doubts, and not selfish calculations or a new feeling, that dictated Tristan’s rash decision to accept the proposal of the ruler of the country he liberated and marry his daughter, who bears the same name as his love:

“- Friend, I don’t know how to express my love to you. You saved this country for me, and I want to thank you. My daughter, Blonde Isolde, comes from a line of dukes, kings and queens. Take it, I give it to you.

“I accept it, sir,” replied Tristan.”

Warned in advance, we prepare for the fact that Tristan will never be able to cheat on his only beloved. On the day of a magnificent wedding, he looks longingly at a ring made of green jasper - a gift from Blonde Isolde. Having made his beautiful wife unhappy, he himself is even more unhappy. Dying more from melancholy than from the wounds received in battle, he calls his Isolde to him. A reliable friend goes to find her in distant Cornwalls. By agreement with Tristan, he must raise white sails if Isolde agrees to sail to Tristan, and black sails if she is not on the ship. But Tristan's wife Isolde Blonde hears the agreement and plans revenge. “Women’s anger is dangerous,” the author laments, “everyone should beware of it!” How stronger woman loved, the more terrible she takes revenge. A woman's love is quickly born, her hatred is quickly born, and, once ignited, hostility persists more stubbornly than friendship. Women know how to moderate their love, but not their hatred.”

Isolde Blonde deceives Tristan - she says that the ship is sailing under black sails. And Tristan can no longer “hold on to his life”; he dies. Isolde, who came ashore, also dies of grief for her beloved. King Mark transports the bodies of the lovers to Cornwall and orders them to be buried in two graves. However, at night, a thorn bush fragrant with flowers grows from Tristan’s grave and goes into the bed of Blonde Isolde. They try to destroy him three times, but in vain. This is how the novel affirms in poetic form the idea that love conquers death.

What makes the novel about Tristan and Isolde immortal is its great ideas:

Natural love is stronger than human laws;

Love is stronger than death.

A magic drink and a green branch connected the graves of Tristan and Isolde - fantastic images carrying deep philosophical meaning.

The novel “Tristan and Isolde” is not the only classic work of the Middle Ages. And other images of knightly literature entered the treasury of world culture. In a chivalric romance, different currents merged, like in a river flow. Antiquity, Christianity, paganism, and feudal mentality are intricately intertwined in the plots. Accurate ethnographic writings coexist with fantasy. Unnamed “collective” authors of ancient legends - with the names of the creators having a biography. It is important for us to emphasize that the chivalric romance developed as a genre during the late Middle Ages. He has his own types of plotting, his own laws and world (this is the plot of passion and the plot of adventure), his own novelistic thinking that accepts MIRACLE as the possibility of a “meeting” of the material and transcendental worlds, eternal time and expanding space, his own set of famous images, stylistics, language.

The courtly novel is divided into three main cycles in accordance with the three types of plots they develop: ancient, Breton (Arthurian cycle, novels about the Holy Grail, Tristan and Isolde) and Byzantine-Oriental.