Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde": An Essay on the Wagnerian Drama — Reading Notes

The Spectacular versus the Moral

Hight draws a sharp distinction between two kinds of drama: one that depends on 'the play of human actions for their own sakes' and another where interest centres on 'the motives or characters of the actors.' He places Gottfried von Strassburg's epic in the first category, calling it 'entirely spectacular' and describing its heroes as 'wooden, soulless puppets' sufficient only as long as they act and react. Wagner, by contrast, is said to have gone to the opposite extreme, composing a work 'so entirely musical that it makes the impression of a gigantic symphony.'

This contrast is grounded in Hight's broader theory of character: he defines character as 'another name for his permanent will, the abiding metaphysical side of his being,' and asserts that music is its most direct expression, while words serve the logical intellect. For Hight, Wagner's drama is not a story of adultery—a notion he says prevails among those who have not closely studied the text—but a moral drama centred on a noble soul striving against adversity.

Wagner's Debt to Gottfried

Hight provides several specific instances where Wagner's text draws on Gottfried's epic, though he notes that many references 'which are obscure in Wagner are explained in Gottfried's epic.' He cites the circumstances of Tristan's first visit to Isolde in Ireland, including 'the splinter in Morold's skull,' and notes that even the description of the boat as 'klein und arm' is accounted for in Gottfried (line 7424). He also mentions Brangäne's distress and remorse after the philtre trick, and the play on the name 'Tantris' for 'Tristan.'

However, Hight is careful to distinguish Wagner's treatment from Gottfried's. He points out that Tristan's motives for insisting on Marke's marriage differ: in Wagner, Tristan acts from political motives—'the only possible means of obtaining tranquillity for his distracted country'—whereas in Gottfried he acts 'under fear of assassination.' This comparison serves Hight's larger argument that Wagner transformed the spectacular epic into a character-driven moral drama.

The Hero's Necessary Flaws

Hight argues that for a dramatic hero to be poetically interesting, he need not be faultless, but must be 'intensely human, both in its virtues and in its defects.' He quotes Goethe's 'Es irrt der Mensch so lang er lebt' and adds his own maxim: 'It is not the finding of truth, but the honest search for it that profits.' The proper subject of tragedy, he writes, is 'the spectacle of a noble soul striving against adversities and often failing, but never crushed.'

This view directly informs his reading of Wagner's Tristan. Hight insists that the hero must be truthful—'we must not be always on the watch to find him out unawares, as in actual life.' He does not elaborate on how Tristan meets this standard, but the implication is clear: Wagner's drama, properly understood, is not about illicit love but about a character whose moral struggle elevates him above mere incident. Hight's analysis thus frames the opera as a tragedy of character rather than of plot.

Hight's essay is best read as a companion for those who have already encountered Wagner's opera and want to understand its intellectual underpinnings. His refusal to condense Wagner's own writings means that readers should turn directly to Wagner's prose works for the composer's full argument. Hight's value lies in his clear, opinionated framing of the debate between spectacular and moral drama, and in his specific comparisons to Gottfried's epic—comparisons that illuminate Wagner's choices without pretending to exhaust them.

It’s funny how a book can sit with you long after you’ve put it down, like a quiet hum you can’t quite place. That’s what Hight’s essay on Wagner did—not the plot, but the motives beneath it. It reminded me of how Old Scores and New Readings: Discussions on Music & Certain Musicians — Story, Setting & Ideas stays with me too, less about notes, more about the people hearing them.