Fri 14 February 2025 • 20.15
PROGRAMME
conductor Tarmo Peltokoski
Isolde Miina-Liisa Värelä
Tristan Andreas Schager
Brangäne Martina Dike
König Marke Stephen Milling
Melot Allen Boxer
Lighting Design Paul van Laak
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Tristan und Isolde (1857–1859)
• Prelude Act I
• Act II (concert version)
Concert ends at around 21.45
Most recent performance by our orchestra: Sep 2007, conductor Valery Gergiev
One hour before the start of the concert, Emanuel Overbeeke will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: Photo Casey Horner (Unsplash)
Tristan and Isolde or The End of the Song: painting (1902, fragment) by Edmund Leighton
The tale
The tale of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde is based on an age-old legend. Mark, King of Cornwall, is embroiled in a power struggle with Ireland. His nephew and heir to his throne, Tristan, has killed the Irish hero Morholt, but is himself wounded by Morholt’s poisonous sword. The only person who can cure him is the Irish princess, Isolde, Morholt’s betrothed. Tristan visits Isolde in disguise, but she sees through his deception and is captivated by his gaze. They fall passionately in love, but neither will admit to this passion. Restored to health, Tristan heads homewards. He returns later to collect her, not for himself, but as a bride for King Mark.
Act I opens with their journey by sea to Cornwall. Isolde feels betrayed and demands that she and Tristan share a toast of reconciliation before their arrival. She intends that they should die together, but the poison has been replaced with a love potion, and they profess their love for each other. Act II begins on a summer’s night in front of the royal palace, where Isolde now lives as the wife of Mark. Tristan’s friend Melot has organised a hunt for the king to allow the lovers time for a secret assignation. However, Isolde’s trusted maid, Brangäne, is suspicious. The pair ignore her warnings and instead spend time totally absorbed in each other’s company, until the moment that King Mark returns and witnesses the act of adultery. The king is shocked, unable to imagine that his beloved nephew Tristan has betrayed him. Tristan declares that he belongs in a different world and asks Isolde to follow him into ‘the wondrous realm of night’. He then falls on Melot’s sword.
In Act III, a fatally wounded Tristan returns to his homeland where he dies at the moment that Isolde arrives to join him. Isolde then blissfully unites with Tristan in death. King Mark, who has arrived to forgive them both, is too late.
The most beautiful of dreams
Richard Wagner regarded his composition of Tristan as something of a light diversion from his magnum opus The Ring of the Nibelung, which had held him in its thrall for many years.
In 1857, mid-way through his work on the four-part Ring, Wagner bids a temporary farewell to his Germanic world of dwarves and gods. Following completion of The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie and two acts of Siegfried, he would spend a couple of years in symphonic exploration of an old Celtic love story. To replenish his bank account, it needed to be a marketable opera, with not too many characters, simple staging, and relatively modest size of orchestra. These aims were not entirely successful, although the composer himself described this work as his most musical of works. And it would lead the way for the atonal music developed through the twentieth century.
Muse
Wagner first mentions his plans in a letter to Franz Liszt dated December 1854: ‘Since I have never been able to experience true love in my life, I wish to create a monument to this most beautiful of dreams, in which love is all-encompassing from beginning to end: I have an idea for a Tristan and Isolde in mind, my least complicated, but most full-bloodedly musical brainchild.’ His marriage to Minna had not been without problems. He was living with her in exile in Zurich, where they received financial support from wealthy silk-merchant Otto Wesendonck. He began a romantic liaison
with Otto’s wife Mathilde, a poet, to which Otto, in the service of art, turned a blind eye. In this way, Mathilde became the muse for his new opera. Wagner began composing musical sketches for the love duet even before writing the libretto in September 1857. He presented the libretto, as was his habit, to a select company. Both Minna and Mathilde hung on to his every word, as did Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt and new bride of Hans von Bülow, Wagner’s favourite conductor. Wagner begins composing the opera in the sequence in which it plays out, starting with the Vorspiel, and he is so convinced by his work that he sends each completed act to the printer before beginning the next. Minna appears to throw a spanner in the works when she intercepts a love letter from her husband to Mathilde, and makes an end of the secretive affair. Meanwhile Richard, who has progressed with the composition as far as the love duet, journeys alone to the Palazzo Giustiniani in Venice, where over a period of seven months he would complete the remainder of Act II.
The Tristan chord
Before Wagner had finished the opera, Von Bülow conducted the first performance of the Prelude in Prague, and introduced the music world to a new musical idiom. The composer remarked on how strange it felt to the musicians, when a few months later he conducted the work himself in Paris: ‘This small prelude was so unconventionally new for the musicians that I had to guide them from note to note, like discovering gemstones in a mine shaft.’ To help the audience, he provides
an explanation along with the music. He describes an unsatiable desire, ‘from the first shy confession, the tenderest rapture following anxious sighing, hopes and doubts, laments and desires, pleasures and pains, leading to the most overwhelming urge, the most powerful effort, to open the boundlessly yearning heart to an ocean of endless love.’
This magical opening, the celebrated ‘Tristan chord’, is a repeated motif that plays a key role in the opera. It appears, for example, in Tristan’s response to the reproaches of his uncle towards the end of Act II. The answer is heard more in the orchestra than in the sung text, which is typical for this opera, where the story plays out, essentially, within the protagonists’ innermost beings. Accordingly, the leading role is given to the orchestra. In a letter to Mathilde, Wagner expresses his happiness about this second act. He especially praises the organic structure of the love duet, containing the alarm raised by Brangäne in the Wachterlied, as ‘Art of Transition’. Especially original is the transition from the sound of hunting horns in ‘Hörst du sie noch?’ to the sounds of nature in clarinets and strings. Wagner again gives a prominent role to the bass clarinet, especially in the great monologue of King Mark, as he had cautiously adopted for Wotan earlier in The Valkyrie.
Unplayable
This exceptional composition was undoubtedly a high point in Wagner’s body of work, but its difficulty for performers in those times would hamper the sales that the composer had intended. Various theatres applied for the score
as soon as it was completed in 1859, but even in Vienna the performers threw in the towel after seventy rehearsals. The opera earned a reputation as being unplayable. It seemed miraculous at the time that it did indeed succeed when, in Munich in 1865, the gauntlet had been taken up by conductor Von Bülow and married couple Ludwig and Malwina Schnorr von Carolsfeld singing the title roles. Even then, there were problems: the premiere had to be delayed whilst Malwina recovered from problems with her voice, whilst the
‘I had to guide my people from note to note, like discovering gemstones in a mine shaft’
singer playing Tristan actually died himself. But at least there had been four performances. Wagner could consider himself happy. Not least because he had also become a father. On the first day of rehearsals Cosima had given birth to Isolde, officially the daughter of the Von Bülows, although by then Cosima had been in a relationship with Wagner for over a year. It is with Cosima that Wagner would grow old, and it is Cosima who, after his death, as head of the Wagner clan would for decades more protect the quality of the performances of Tristan and Isolde, a work that would gradually become a standard in the repertoires of the world’s great opera houses.
Eelco Beinema
Miina-Liisa Värelä • soprano
Born: Helsinki, Finland
Education: opera aan de Sibelius-Academie (Helsinki), aanvullende studie bij Dale Fundling
Awards: Internationaal Belvedere Zangconcours Wenen (2010), Bayreuth-stipendium (2014)
Breakthrough: 2011, als solist in Mahlers Tweede symfonie tijdens het Helsinki Festival
Subsequently: opera: Färberin in Die Frau ohne Schatten (Verbier Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Semperoper Dresden, Berliner Philharmoniker, Festspiele Baden Baden), Isolde in Tristan und Isolde (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Glyndebourne Festival), Ortud in Lohengrin (Bayreuther Festspiele) euther Festspiele)
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Tarmo Peltokoski • conductor
Born: Vaasa, Finland
Current position: Principal Guest Conductor
Rotterdam Philharmonic, Music Director Latvia
National Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie
Bremen, Music Director Designate Orchestre
National du Capitole de Toulouse and Hong Kong
Philharmonic
Education: piano at Kuula College (Vaasa) and the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), conducting with Jorma Panula, Sakari Oramo, Hannu Lintu and JukkaPekka Saraste
Guest appearances: Toronto Symphony Orchestra, RSO Berlin, SWR Symphonieorchester, Göteborgs Symfoniker, Los Angeles Philharmonic, i.a.
Andreas Schager • tenor
Born: Rohrbach an der Gölsen, Austria
Education: Wiener Singakademie, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien
Breakthrough: 2013, role debute as Siegfried at Staatsoper Unter der Linden, Berlin, Teatro alla Scala, Milan and BBC Proms, London
Subsequently: Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayreuther Festspiele, Metropolitan Opera New York; Wiener Symphoniker, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Münchner Philharmoniker, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Photo: Peter Meisel
Photo: Illusia
Photo: Flo Huber
Stephen Milling • bass
Born: Copenhagen, Denmark
Education: Royal Danish Conservatory, Copenhagen
Start international career: ensemble member Royal Danish Opera (1994-2012)
Specialisation: roles in the operas of Richard Wagner
Other roles: Rocco and Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio, Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Philip II in Verdi’s Don Carlos, Padre Guardiano in Verdi’s La forza del destino, Prins Gremin in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Concerts: Verdi’s Messa di requiem, Berlioz’ Les Troyens
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2022
Martina Dike • mezzo-soprano
Born: Ängelholm, Sweden
Education: voice in Stockholm at the Royal Academy of Music and the Opera Academy
Breakthrough: 2008: Bayreuth debut as Fricka in Die Walküre
Subsequently: Wagner roles on the major European podia: Ortrud in Lohengrin (Greek National Opera, Nuremberg State Theatre), Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde (Stockholm, Frankfurt, Essen, Antwerp, Dijon), Fricka in the Ring des Nibelungen, Venus in Tannhäuser, Kundry in Parsifal; operas by Verdi (Aida, Don Carlos), Strauss (Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier) and others Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Allen Boxer • Baritone
Born: Cincinnati (Ohio), USA
Education: voice at the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia
Start international career: 2011, as a member of the Semperoper Junges Ensemble
Subsequently: roles at the Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin, Dutch Touring Opera, Opéra de Dijon, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Wexword Festival Opera, Teatro Regio di Parma, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opéra de Lyon in operas by Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, Zemlinsky, Korngold, Debussy, Mozart and others
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2025
Photo: Mats Bäcker
Photo: Rune Evensen
Photo: Aurelien Audy
Musicians Agenda
Music for Breakfast nr. 3
Sun 2 March 2025 • 10.30
Trattoria Sophia
Musicians and programme: rpho.nl
Fri 7 March 2025 • 20.15
Sun 9 March 2025 • 14.15
conductor Han-na Chang
bassoon Lola Descours
Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
Jolivet Basson Concerto
Ravel Boléro
Prokofjev Symphony No. 5
Proms: Spring Is in the Air
Sat 15 March 2025 • 20.30
violin/leader Ilya Gringolts
Westhoff Imitazione delle campane
C.Ph. E. Bach Sinfonia in G major
Piazzolla Cuatro estaciones Porteñas
Vivaldi The Four Seasons: Winter Vivaldi Violin Concerto in D minor, RV 237
Sun 16 March 2025 • 14.15
conductor Roderick Cox
piano Alexander Gavrylyuk
Strauss Don Juan
Grieg Piano Concerto
Dawson Negro Folk Symphony
Fri 21 March 2025 • 20.15
conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin
soprano Angel Blue
Strauss Vier letzte Lieder
Bruckner Symphony No. 3
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Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, concertmaster
Tjeerd Top, concertmaster
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Giulio Greci
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Killian White
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Robert Franenberg
Harke Wiersma
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/Piccolo
Beatriz Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Freitas
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Adrián Martínez
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass Trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Hendrik-Jan Renes
Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Harp Albane Baron