When writing about Tristan, I failed to mention how deadly the second act is.

Conductors Felix Mottl and Joseph Keilberth both collapsed and subsequently died while conducting the second act.

Mottl was a respected conductor and composer. His orchestration of Wagner's Wessendonck Lieder is the one most often used today. Mottl composed three operas none of which is still performed.

When Mottl collapsed, it was during his 100th performance of Tristan. After collapsing on the podium from a heart attack he died 11 days later in the hospital. The performance was in Munich in 1911.

67 years later in the same exact spot, Joseph Keilberth collapsed. Perhaps it was Munich instead of Tristan that did these two in?

Von Karajan used to monitor his heart rate during the second act of Tristan and reported it as getting dangerously high.

It isn't just the physical impact of performing this music, it's the emotional stress of sustaining the amorous tension in the music.

Some think Wagner over did it with the second act love duet. As one British critic put it, "One begins to wish they would just 'get their leg-over'."

If you don't know what getting your leg-over means, here's a link. http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/l.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch3o0qV6TiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkrGhpKZN6o&feature=related