Synopsis for Tristan and Isolde

ACT I

Against her will, Isolde is being delivered across the sea by the knight Tristan to the court of King Marke of Cornwall, whom she is to marry. Angered by a sailor’s mocking song about a wild Irish maid, Isolde sends her servant Brangäne to summon Tristan. Brangäne goes to Tristan on deck but he refuses Isolde’s call—he must help bring the boat to shore. His attendant Kurwenal further replies that Tristan was the victor against Ireland and the Irish princess has no right to make demands on him. He sings a jeering song about Morold, Isolde’s former betrothed who was slain by Tristan in battle.

Brangäne takes these replies to Isolde who angrily recalls how she once healed the wounded Tristan rather than exact her rightful vengeance on him. Isolde also complains of the private shame she must endure, for she loves the man who killed her betrothed and is now bearing her to marry the foreign king. When Brangäne points to the love potion Isolde’s mother has sent to ensure the happiness of the marriage, Isolde turns instead to a potion that brings death.

Land is sighted and Kurwenal comes to tell Isolde to prepare herself to meet the King. She demands to see Tristan who arrives, hiding his love for Isolde. After much hesitation, he agrees to share a drink of atonement with her and Isolde signals Brangäne to prepare the death potion, but she brings the love potion instead. As the ship lands, Isolde and Tristan drink, each expecting to die. Instead, the two suddenly discover not death but love. Their embrace is interrupted as the sailors hail King Marke who has come to meet his bride.

ACT II

On a summer night in the torch-lit garden outside King Marke’s castle, Brangäne and Isolde listen as the horns of the King’s hunting party recede in the distance. Isolde is waiting impatiently for Tristan to come to her while the King is away. Brangäne warns her that she suspects this hunting party is a trick devised to entrap them. But Isolde insists that the torch be extinguished; a prearranged signal to Tristan that it is safe to approach. When Brangäne tries to dissuade her, Isolde throws the torch to the ground herself.

Soon Tristan appears in the darkness and the lovers unite while Brangäne keeps a lookout. Throughout the night, they are so lost in each other that they do not hear Brangäne’s warning of the approaching dawn. Only her scream of terror and Kurwenal’s hurried warning can penetrate their rapture, but it is too late. The King and his men suddenly appear, and Marke bitterly reproaches Tristan, the man he trusted above all others. Tristan has no reply. He turns to Isolde and asks her to accompany him to the “land of night” where he must go. Melot draws his sword at this insult to his King; Tristan leaps to the challenge only to deliberately let himself be run through.

ACT III

At Tristan’s castle in Brittany, the fatally wounded Tristan lies on a bank of earth overlooking the sea. Kurwenal is with him and bids a shepherd keep watch on the sea for ships and to pipe a merry tune should he see any. Tristan finally awakens and feverishly calls for Isolde. Kurwenal explains that he has sent for her to work her magic cures. Tristan soon imagines that he can see her ship. Kurwenal doubts this but suddenly, as the shepherd’s tune becomes merry, he runs to the watchtower where he sees and describes the approaching sails before going to the shore to welcome Isolde.

Tristan struggles to his feet, tearing at his bandages—knowing that “she who can close his wounds forever” is coming. Frantic, Tristan falls and dies in Isolde’s arms.

The shepherd tells Kurwenal that another ship has appeared carrying Melot, King Marke, and Brangäne. Kurwenal fiercely attacks, killing Melot, but is himself mortally wounded. He sinks to the earth near Tristan as Marke and Brangäne try to tell him that it is all a mistake, that they come in peace. As Marke weeps over the body of Tristan, Brangäne explains that she told the King about the potion and he has come to forgive Isolde and unite her with her lover. But Isolde can see only Tristan, and, in her song of farewell, she sees him transfigured, and the two lovers are united at last in death.