The Tristan chord and Wagnerian chromaticism

The chord

The Tristan chord is the first chord of the Prelude to Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (composed 1857–59, first performed in Munich in 1865). Notes (from the bottom): F – B – D# – G#. Enharmonically it is equivalent to a half-diminished chord: F – Ab – Cb – Eb (Fø7). Above the bass F it contains an augmented fourth (B), an augmented sixth (D#), and an augmented ninth (G#).

The context (first 3 bars, implied A minor)

• The cellos play A (upbeat) and then F – E – D#.
• On the D# the chord F – B – D# – G# arrives.
• The oboe rises G# – A – A# – B.
• The music arrives at E7 (E – G# – D – B): the dominant of A minor, which however does not resolve to A. The Prelude repeats the gesture several times, transposing it, continually postponing the resolution.

The interpretations

There is no agreement on “what it is.” The main readings:

• French sixth (F – B – D# – A) with G# as an appoggiatura to A: a predominant in A minor going to V7 (Benward–Saker, Lerdahl).
• Augmented sixth on F (F – A – D#), with the other notes as ornaments (Alfred Lorenz).
• V/V with root B (Piston, Schoenberg).
• Half-diminished chord (Fø7) with a subdominant function.
• Hybrid chord (“Zwitterakkord,” Mayrberger, 1878).
• Atonal set 4–27 (Allen Forte).

The very fact that it admits so many readings is its meaning: it is the emblem of tonal ambiguity.

The techniques of Wagnerian chromaticism

• Long, chromatic appoggiaturas that become part of the harmony (the oboe’s G# → A).
• Unresolved dominants or dominants resolved deceptively: constant tension (“longing” without fulfillment).
• Voice leading by semitone: chords change by moving one or two voices by a half step.
• Half-diminished and diminished chords used as enharmonic hinges for modulating.
• Endless melody (unendliche Melodie): phrases that never cadence cleanly.
• Leitmotif: harmonic-melodic motifs associated with characters and ideas, constantly transformed.

The definitive resolution comes only at the end of the opera (the Liebestod), which closes in B major: over four hours after the first chord.

Legacy

• Debussy quotes it parodically in Golliwogg’s Cakewalk (Children’s Corner); Berg quotes it in the Lyric Suite.
• Bernard Herrmann makes explicit use of it in Vertigo (1958); Lars von Trier uses the Prelude in Melancholia (2011).
• Leonard Bernstein, in The Unanswered Question (1973), sees in Tristan the point where tonal ambiguity reaches its limit, paving the way for Schoenberg.

How to use it today

• A half-diminished chord going to a dominant without resolving creates cinematic tension: Fø7 → E7 → (silence) → Fø7 → E7, transposed up a minor third on each repetition.
• In a minor ii–V (Bø7 – E7 – Am) try moving the ii to Fø7 (the enharmonic of the Tristan chord): same function, more “Romantic” color.

Producer exercise

1. String ensemble at 60 BPM: cello A (upbeat) – F – E – D#; then the chord F – B – D# – G#; oboe G# – A – A# – B over E7.
2. Repeat the figure a minor third higher (as Wagner does) without ever resolving to Am.
3. At the end, after 16 bars of tension, finally resolve to A major (Picardy third): feel the power of the postponed resolution.

Related topics

Augmented sixth chords, diminished seventh chord, chromatic voice leading, omnibus progression, Schoenberg (introduction), ambiguity and expectation (Bernstein).