"The most erotic music ever com-posed." This was how one critic described Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde", which in 2015 marks the 150th anniversary of its first performance. The work is divisive. Many 19th-century critics thought little of it; some even mocked it. But it had an enormous impact, ushering in the move towards atonality that found its most extreme expression in the work of composers like Arnold Schoenberg. Today it is the most famous opera by Germany's most famous opera composer. But why all the fuss? The opera traces the story of two lovers, Tristan and Isolde (painted above by August Spiess in 1881), who fall madly in love after drinking a potion. The plot is forgettable; the music is not. The magic starts with the prelude, a ten-minute musical introduction that structures the rest of the piece. The opening chord, known to music buffs as the "Tristan chord", shocked the 19th-century listeners who heard it first.
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机译：“有史以来最色情的音乐。”这就是评论家对理查德·瓦格纳（Richard Wagner）的“特里斯坦与伊索尔德（Tristan and Isolde）”的描述，这是2015年标志着其首次演出150周年。这项工作是分裂性的。许多19世纪的批评家对此一无所知。有些甚至嘲笑它。但是它产生了巨大的影响，引领了无调性的发展，这种无调性在诸如阿诺德·勋伯格（Arnold Schoenberg）之类的作曲家的作品中得到了最极端的体现。如今，它已成为德国最著名的歌剧作曲家最著名的歌剧。但是为什么大惊小怪呢？歌剧追溯了两个恋人，特里斯坦（Tristan）和伊索尔德（Isolde）的故事（1881年奥古斯特·斯皮斯（August Spiess）在上面绘画），他们在喝了魔药后疯狂地坠入爱河。情节令人难忘；音乐不是。魔术从前奏曲开始，前十分钟的音乐介绍构成了乐曲的其余部分。开头的和弦被音乐迷称为“ Tristan和弦”，这让19世纪的听众震惊。
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