Trippin in Tristan Part 2 /2: Siegfried Jerusalem’s Brilliant Blunder (and why it is so precious)
alright fellow nerds, this is something I’ve been wanting to share for a long time. *cue powerpoint*
This event happens in the filmed 1995 Bayreuth Tristan, and it involves other key players Waltraud Meier and Daniel Barenboim.
We are at the climax of the love duet. The second to last one, to be precise. Just a few minutes prior, Jerusalem already made several slips. He repeated a lyric thrice. He took a hasty breath in the middle of a phrase, leaving out a note. Not like anyone really cares. He sounds great. Meier sounds great. Their voices go really well together.
This is the original score(piano transcription for easier readability).
Everyone’s attention is on Meier as she does her “endlos” drop (5th down) followed by a breathtaking leap(octave up) upwards to “ewig”. But wait.
Tristan’s lyric order should have been “endlos, ewig, ein-bewusst”. Instead of the open vowel of “endlos”, Jerusalem hit the right note but on the closed vowel in “ewig”. Now he’s stuck on the wrong lyric, thinking about what to do.
He could flip the first two lyrics and keep the notes intact. “endlos” and “ewig” have the same amount of syllables. But in the moment, he decides to both flip the lyrics and improvise.
He holds “ewig” until the right chord changes in the orchestra. Now, he does the unexpected(or is it the expected?).
He sings “endlos” with the same rhythm and interval pattern as Meier.
Well, nearly. Being the experienced musician that he is, he chooses the same notes as the chord in the orchestra. Instead of the octave jump, he aims a little higher to land at the right note he’s supposed to hit(it’s a 9th).
All the while, clever Barenboim in the pit is holding the orchestra out, waiting for him to hit the high “ein-” in the next word. Meier too holds just a tiny bit longer on her note.
Jerusalem hits his note. The orchestral wave is unleashed right after, and Meier shifts a note down as written to harmonize. Everyone is in bliss, and everything goes back to normal.
But hold on. Hold your horses. We need to rewind that mistake a million times.
Here is the incorrect version, starting from the beginning of the final build-up: https://youtu.be/lQNcTYVlcEg?t=2260
Here is what the climax is supposed to sound like with the same two singers and conductor: https://youtu.be/Q14GHL1C21o?t=407. (ignoring Jerusalem’s voice crack at the very end if you listen long enough)
This recording of the duet was the first one I heard in its entirety. When I looked for other versions of this duet, I was confused why the ending didn’t sound right. I eventually realized that Jerusalem made a mistake. *shocked pikachu face*
I love it though. *cries in the corner because there’s only one recording*
So what makes the mistake+improv so good imo? “I’ve got a little list”
1. It’s cute. He’s basically following Meier’s lead.
2. It’s extremely satisfying to our ears and brains. Isolde’s high jump is already amazing, and now we get Tristan’s high jump too? Heck yeah.
3. It makes the entire climax more powerful. It really reminds me of a beat drop. There’s a last second push to the top that was not there in the original score. Even Barenboim realizes this and does some rubato so the wave comes after Jerusalem’s high note instead of directly on top of it.
And now we come to the most important reason.
Let us zoom out to the big picture. Tristan, Isolde, and the orchestra are three players in this drama. In this moment, what does the orchestra represent?
There is no right answer here. My personal interpretation is that it is waves of desire, waves of tragic narrative that T&I are treading water in. When they drown, they give up the battle, succumbing to nature and the storyteller’s whim.
Notice how in the original score, it is only Isolde who leads the buildup and breaks free from the waves at the climax, jumping an octave. All of Tristan’s notes hide lower within the waves, functioning more as harmony than an independent melodic line. When he does get his high note, it is exactly when the orchestral wave reaches its peak, so he never quite escapes.
This is not normal. For the past half hour, we’ve been watching Tristan und Isolde singing together. Their vocal lines overlap, dancing circles around each other. When one person calls, the other person answers. To have Isolde and Tristan separated at such a crucial moment is jarring.
To me, this is foreshadowing.
Perhaps it means that they will not die together. Perhaps it means Tristan will die first. Perhaps it means only Isolde will get a Liebestod.
It is clear though that there is a border that separates Tristan and Isolde during the climax. They are not meant to be.
Now let’s think about Jerusalem’s improv version.
Isolde escapes first. Tristan joins her with his own high note.
They are floating together, watching the giant wave of orchestra about to crash and envelop them. Even if it’s for a split second, Wagner’s foreshadowing language tells all.
To put it plainly,
4. It paints a non-existent happy ending.
And that’s what makes it beautiful.
