At left: Tristan and Isolde

Forbidden love is always so delicious. The ego constantly wants what it can't have which makes forbidden love seem like the key to salvation.

If only Tristan and Isolde could be together, they would be saved. If only Wagner and Mathilde Wesendonck could be together, they would happy.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's a theme we never tire of. However, we never seem to realize it is doomed to fail. First of all, forbidden love isn't love at all. More accurately it is an addictive sentimentality.

Salvation lies within. We must, "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling."

To Wagner's credit, he was looking for a woman with whom he could collaborate. He was looking for more than a muse. He seems to have found that in Liszt's illegitimate daughter Cosima but that's a different story.

The story of Tristan and Isolde is very similar to that of Guinevere and Lancelot. Tristan and Isolde is thought to be the basis of the Arthurian tale.

We can see that the three principal characters of Tristan, his uncle King Marke, and Isolde (Marke's bride) all have love and affection for each other. Much the same as Lancelot, Arthur, and Guinevere. It's possible to see Wagner, Otto Wesendonck (his patron), and Mathilde playing these same roles.

Wagner seems to have despaired of ever finding redeeming love and wrote Tristan as a way to sublimate his longing into art.

We must remember that almost all of Wagner's operas are about a woman redeeming a man. However, the man is rarely redeemed and often times both the woman and man are destroyed in the process.

It is likely that Wagner saw Mathilde Wesendonck as a savior but she was married to a wealthy man who was currently paying Wagner's bills. She was forbidden which made her seem all the more powerful and sacred.

The ability to take these personal circumstances and turn them into Tristan und Isolde is what makes Wagner an artist of the highest level.

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