A Schenkerian Reading of an Excerpt from Tristan und Isolde

Abstract

The article applies the concepts and techniques of Schenkerian analysis to a relatively long and integral excerpt from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the english horn solo from Act III. The result is an analytical sketch that displays “foreground” and “middleground” patterns as they contribute to the total structure, providing continuity and linear contexts for Leitmotifs as well as for micro-motives that appear to characterize the solo melody and that penetrate other parts of the music as well. Throughout the excerpt, the instantiation of such paradigms as middleground linear progressions and foreground unfoldings leads to the conclusion that Schenker's approach to analysis illuminates the music in effective ways and suggests that Wagner's oeuvre may be more amenable to that approach than has previously been thought to be the case.