Laurence Le Diagon-Jacquin, Isoldens Liebestod: Death or Transfiguration?

Liszt consistently promoted Wagner’s work through more or less faithful transcriptions of it. One such piece, Isoldens Liebestod, is problematic: Liszt follows the Wagnerian model by and large but changes the title. Wagner had entitled his orchestral prelude Isoldes Verklärung (Transfiguration). Why did Liszt not keep Wagner’s title? By calling the finale of Act III Transfiguration Wagner shows that Isolde symbolises for him the passage to the “Nirvana” of Buddhist tradition, while for a Christian, the only possible transfiguration is that of Christ. Thus Liszt cannot consider Isolde’s death as transfiguration. However, both artistic conceptions ultimately have the lovers reunited, in Nirvana for Wagner and in Paradise for Liszt.

Share