Agnes Mathilde Wesendonck (née Luckemeyer; 23 December 1828 – 31 August 1902) was a German poet and author. The words of five of her verses were the basis of Richard Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder; the composer was infatuated with her, and his wife Minna blamed Mathilde for the break-up of their marriage.
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👉 Mathilde Wesendonck in the context of Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde), WWV 90, is a music drama in three acts by Richard Wagner set to a German libretto by the composer, loosely based on the medieval 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. First conceived in 1854, the music was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered at the Königliches Hoftheater und Nationaltheater in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting. While performed by opera companies, Wagner preferred the term Handlung (German for "plot" or "action") for Tristan to distinguish its structure of continuous narrative flow ("endless melody") as distinct from that of conventional opera at the time which was constructed of mundane recitatives punctuated by showpiece arias, which Wagner had come to regard with great disdain.
Wagner's composition of Tristan und Isolde was inspired in part by the philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer, as well as by his relationship with his muse Mathilde Wesendonck. The opera, which explores existential themes such as that of mankind's insatiable striving and the transcendental nature of a love beyond death, incorporates spirituality from Christian mysticism as well as Vedantic and Buddhist metaphysics, subjects that also interested Schopenhauer. As such, Wagner was one of the earliest Western artists to introduce concepts from the Dharmic religions into their works.