Liebestod

Liebestod (German, "Love death") is the title of the final, dramatic aria from the opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. When used as a literary term, liebestod (from German Liebe, love and tod, death) refers to the theme of erotic death or "love death" meaning the two lovers' consummation of their love in death or after death. Two-sided examples include Pyramus and Thisbe, Tristan und Isolde, Romeo and Juliet, and to some degree Wuthering Heights. One-sided examples are Porphyria's Lover and The Sorrows of Young Werther. The joint suicide of Heinrich von Kleist and lover Henriette Vogel is often associated with the liebestod theme.

Note: Wagner originally called the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde the Liebestod; he referred to the final aria in a concert version with no singer as the Verklaerung (meaning transfiguration). Modern usage is to use Liebestod to refer to the final aria, as in this article.

The aria opens with the line "Mild und Leise", which means "fair and gentle" in German. It is considered the climactic moment of the opera, ending the opera as Isolde sings over Tristan's body.

German	Translation in English
Mild und leise wie er lächelt, wie das Auge hold er öffnet --seht ihr's, Freunde? Seht ihr's nicht? Immer lichter wie er leuchtet, stern-umstrahlt hoch sich hebt? Seht ihr's nicht? and ends ertrinken, versinken, - unbewusst, - höchste Lust!	Softly and gently how he smiles, how his eyes fondly open --do you see, friends? do you not see? how he shines ever brighter. Star-haloed rising higher Do you not see? to drown, to founder - unconscious - utmost joy!

Adaptations

Mild und Leise is also the title of an 18-minute synthesized composition by Paul Lansky, made in 1973 on an IBM 360 mainframe. Parts of it became the foundation for Radiohead's song "Idioteque".

References

• Elisabeth Bronfen, Liebestod und Femme fatale. Der Austausch sozialer Energien zwischen Oper, Literatur und Film, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2004. ISBN 3-518-12229-0