Richard Wagner

A Gay Reading of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde?

by Joseph Nachman

In most recordings or filmed productions of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde , King Marke, Isolde's husband, is a pathetic figure - the poor betrayed husband who doesn't have a clue - and his part, a fifteen minutes long soliloquy, comes across as whine at least ten minutes too long. But not so in the 1999 Met production conducted by James Levine and featuring Ben Heppner and Jane Eaglen in the leads: René Pape's portrayal made King Marke as

How King Marke Found Sir Tristan by Aubrey Beardsley

compelling a figure as Tristan or Isolde. Gone was the whine, and instead we could hear a bewildered and impassionate grieving not only over betrayed trust and friendship, but also over love betrayed: his love for Tristan! The production subtly hinted to the fact that everyone, except perhaps Brangaene, was in love with Tristan: it goes without saying that his constant companion Kurwenal may harbour deeper feelings than simple camaraderie, and the fact that his friend, Melot, turns against him and stabs him - why, isn't that the fury of a man's love scorned?

This gay interpretation of Tristan is by no means new. The source of this interpretations is the supposed romantic relationship between king Ludwig II of Bavaria and Wagner. There is plenty of evidence to support such a view: as soon as he ascended the throne the 18 year

King Ludwig II

old king brought Wagner to Munich where he treated him as a royal favourite, lavishing on him money and gifts and listening to his advice, which Wagner dispensed liberally on any subject, including politics. In fact so strong seemed Wagner's ascendancy over the king, and so extravagant the sums of money the king awarded him that soon the wags nicknamed Wagner "Lolus", an allusion to Lola Montez, the all-powerful mistress of the king's grandfather. And the - most important - there is the correspondence between Wagner and Ludwig, whose exalted tone and language suggests very romantic feelings. However, tempting as it may be to infer love between the two, this evidence, which is after all circumstantial, has to be treated with some caution. As far as Ludwig goes it is indeed quite probable that his feelings for Wagner went beyond the admiration he had for his musical genius; after all, it

Wagner

is a fact that king

King Ludwig II

Ludwig was homosexual. Wagner's response though is quite a bit more complex, and to interpret it one has to recall the circumstances under which his friendship with the king began. When Ludwig sent for Wagner, he was rescuing from his worst crisis: more in debt then ever, not knowing where to flee his creditors, still smarting from the fiasco of the Paris production of Tannhäuser, and seriously considering suicide. Ludwig obviously appeared as a deus ex machina, a white knight in a shiny armour, and Wagner was, for once, genuinely grateful; and considering the king was young and adored Wagner, there was also some affection in return. Therefore the tone of Wagner's letters to Ludwig is indicative of deep affection born out of gratitude, rather than romantic love. On top of that there is also a good deal of flattery, because Wagner, normally an arrogant bully (he had a very flawed personality, about which much has been written) could be quite the sycophant when it suited his ends, and with regards to king Ludwig he obviously knew on which side his bread was buttered. All this does not exclude the possibility of love, but in the light of the circumstances the probability of this being the case is not very high.

King Marke and All His Barons Came Out To Meet Him by Arthur A. Dixon

So, to come back to Tristan - is the gay interpretation justified? To answer this question, one has to examine, again, the circumstances in which the opera was composed, as well as Wagner's character. Tristan und Isolde is the artistic expression of Wagner's emotional turmoil caused by his very passionate (though in all probability never consumed) love affair with the Mathilde Wesendonck, the wife of one of his benefactors, who gave him asyl in his home near Zurich; as such the character of Tristan is to a large extent about Wagner himself. Now one of Wagner many flaws was an ego as large as his artistic genius, about which he never had the slightest doubt. Consequently he fully expected to be adored and idolized by his friends, who had always to be ready with their time, money, houses, wives and daughters to create the conditions he deemed necessary to allow to fulfil his genius. He could never comprehend, and often took it as a personal affront, any desire of independence, let alone dissent, from his friends. Therefore interpreting the feelings of King Marke and Kurwenal (and perhaps even Melot) for Tristan as love is justified to the extent as it is understood as one-way adoration.



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