Circular Form in the "Tristan" Prelude

Abstract

The music of the Prelude to Tristan und Isolde is in constant transformation, projecting a seemingly unbroken arc of intensification followed by release. It thus seems to defy traditional formal analysis, which aims to articulate music into discrete units with clearly differentiated functions. Yet the Prelude, despite its continuously developmental nature, is characterized by constant repetition of only three formal units, which are subjected to significant surface variation but retain their underlying melodic, harmonic, and linear identities. The article analyzes how this process, which would seem to be overly segmental, is reconciled with the ongoing quality of the music. It examines first the circular arrangement of the three repeating units, along with their relation to five brief passages that occur but once; it then analyzes the circularly repeating harmonic-linear pattern they project. It also considers how the Prelude's formal units differ from traditional ones in that they are designed to emerge out of those preceding them and flow into those that follow, avoiding strong segmentation. The music is thus revealed to have a unique, yet easily comprehensible, overall tonal and formal design that supports, rather than contradicts, its evolutionary nature.

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