Wagner and Buddhism

How did Wagner’s interest in Buddhism influence the writing of ‘Tristan and Isolde’?
Tristan and Isolde is well known for its sheer length, sensual themes and musical sophistication, although few
people are aware of Wagner’s interest in Buddhism and how this affected his writing. He was exposed to Buddhist
ideas through the work of philosopher Schopenhauer who believed in a slightly nihilistic (and misinterpreted)
view of Buddhism, that as soon as we overcome the desire to live, we have reached salvation (or Nirvana).
Wagner found this idea very compelling and decided to express it in some of his works including Die Sieger, which
was never finished and Parsifal along with Tristan and Isolde. Cosima Wagner, the second wife of Richard Wagner
said in her diary “The suicide of two lovers, which touches me, brings from R. the remark: ‘It is in fact the highest
affirmation of the will -- they would rather not live than not find satisfaction. Why do they not defy all the
obstacles? This shows that the tendency toward suicides is something preordained; here one could call it a deep
insight, in the sense approximately of: What help would it be to us to overcome all obstacles? For such cases
there should be convents, such as the Buddhists have, in which complete resignation as well as complete
togetherness would be possible. But our civilization offers nothing.’ ”¹ This interest in Buddhism began when
Wagner moved to Switzerland.
In 1849, Wagner escaped to Zurich at the age of 36 after almost being arrested due to his involvement with the
May uprising in Dresden. At this time, there were uprisings taking place all over Europe as a result of the
autocratic political structure that was in place at the time. The Revolutions of 1848, also known as the ‘Spring of
Nations’ remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in European history. These uprisings were a fight for
nationalism as many countries wanted to become their own independent national states and remove the feudal
system that was in place. Although Wagner only played a minor role in the Dresden uprising, warrants were
issued for the revolutionaries' arrest so he fled. First travelling to Paris but soon settling in Zürich with his friend
Alexander Müller. Here he stayed for almost 10 years and this became known as the “most formative period of
his career”². During his time in Zurich, Wagner made the transition from being an employed conductor and
composer to a freelance writer and composer. For the first few years of his time in Zürich most of Wagner’s
published output was a set of essays written about Opera. One of these featured his idea of opera as
‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ which is a unification of various arts such as music, poetry, drama, visual arts and dance.
Wagner felt that some of the Greek tragedies, more specifically Aeschylus were the best examples of complete
artistic union and he believed that since then (beginning with Euripides) the arts had drifted further and further
apart which he considered to be catastropic. He coined the term ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ as he aimed to unify the arts
once again.
1. Cosima Wagner, Cosima Wagner's Diaries, trans. Geoffrey Skelton (Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd., London. 1978)
2. “Zurich exile shaped Wagner’s genius”, swissinfo.ch, July 16, 2008, accessed May 5th, 2016, http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/zurich-exile-shaped-wagner-s-
creative-genius/6794906
3. Paul Doolan, “Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde”, Wagner in Zurich (blog), Feb 28th, 2010, accessed, May 1st 2016,
http://www.pauldoolan.com/2010/02/wagner-and-buddha-tristan-and-isolde.html
4. Richard Guhr, “Schopenhauer, Wagner and Nirvana”, Wagner and Buddhism, Oct 31st, 2015, accessed May 3rd, 2016, http://www.monsalvat.no/india.htm
5. Virginia Opera, Study guide 2004-2005, page 3
6. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde
7. Dr Tony Page, “The non-self and the true-self in the Buddha’s teaching”, Holisticshop, 2004, accessed May 5th, 2016,
http://www.holisticshop.co.uk/articles/mahaparinirvana-sutra-buddha
9. Wagner and Buddhism, Bibliore April 11, 2011, accessed May 3rd 2016, https://bibliolore.org/2011/04/11/wagner-and-buddhism/
10. Sandra Shapshay, “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”, Stanford Encyclopedia for Philosophy, May 9,2012, accessed May 5th, 2016,
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schopenhauer-aesthetics/
11. Shapnay “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”

While in Zürich, Wagner developed an interest in Buddhist ideologies. This interest was stimulated by Arthur
Schopenhauer’s ‘The World as Will and Representation’ which was introduced to Wagner in 1854 by poet Georg
Herwegh. Schopenhauer was one of the first philosophers to integrate Eastern thoughts into his writings and
Wagner felt he could easily relate to the somewhat pessimistic idea of “detaching oneself from desire through the
act of renunciation.”³ This interest in Buddhism was not a temporary thing and was something that Wagner kept
until his death in 1883. It has been more recently discovered that Schopenhauer’s knowledge of Buddhism was
not entirely accurate. In particular his affinity to the state of ‘Nirvana’. “Schopenhauer's philosophy regarded the
will (to live) as fundamental, and advocated the denial of the will-to-live as the path of deliverance.”⁴ Due to
Wagner living a somewhat unfulfilled life he found himself easily relating to this idea. In particular the idea of
renouncing sexual desires. Wagner, although already married to Minna Planer, had been involved in many affairs
and at this point was involved in an increasingly erotically charged affair with Mathilde Wesendonck who was the
wife of his benefactor. This affair and Wagner’s newfound interest in Schopenhauer’s theories led to the writing
of Tristan and Isolde.
‘Tristan and Isolde’ is known by many as one of the greatest operas ever written and is regarded as the pivot in
the move from conventional harmony and tonality. It is also notable for its use of harmonic suspension—a device
used to create musical tension by exposing the listener to a series of prolonged unfinished cadences. The most
prominent example of the dissonance used is the ‘Tristan chord’ which is first found in the very opening of the
prelude. The first chord heard uses 2 dissonances and the chord this then moves to resolves only one of these
dissonances. Thus creating a resolution that is not completely resolved. This chord, as well as being universally
known as the Tristan chord, is sometimes called the ‘Nirwana’ chord. This chord was actually taken and used in an
‘orchestral phantasy’ called Nirwana, written by a follower and friend of Wagner, Hans von Bülow. The rest of the
opera then proceeds to carry on with dissonances and few resolutions, with the harmonies of the prelude not
being resolved until Isolde’s Liebstod in act three. The lack of resolutions parallel the ongoing desire and longing
between Tristan and Isolde which isn’t satisfied until act three, hence the resolving of the first cadence at this
time. The prelude introduces eight key motifs for example: longing, grief, love potion and death potion. These
motifs are used throughout the opera as “the story unfolds and the underlying emotions and motives of the
characters are brought to bear.”⁵ Although originally a medieval, Germanic tale, Tristan and Isolde is infused with
Buddhist ideas. In the music alone there is a prolonged desire that isn’t satisfied, linking to the Buddhist teaching
of letting go of worldly desires because they cannot satisfy. Tristan and Isolde, endeavour to achieve redemption

(or nirvana) by escaping the day and meeting only at night, a metaphor for the Buddhist act of
renunciation/detachment. To begin with, the pair live in a world of daylight and illusion which, in typical Buddhist
style, is the source of all pain. Tristan and Isolde only being able to experience each other at night alludes to the
“Buddhist realm of non-self”⁶. “The physical body, feelings, thoughts, impulses, and ordinary consciousness are
labelled as "non-Self"”⁷. Meeting at night represents them letting go the illusion of their physical selves and living
only as souls together. The end of the opera sees Isolde singing the Liebstod, which translated means love-death
(appropriately named as she dies due to her overwhelming love for Tristan who is now dead). She feels there’s no
point to life without Tristan. “Her words must constitute one of the first times that Buddhist thought speaks in
western art:
In the surging swell
in the ringing sound,
in the vast wave
of the world’s breath –
to drown,
to sink
unconscious –
Supreme bliss.”⁸
Wagner’s interest in Buddhism during what is known as the peak of his career has inspired composer Jonathan
Harvey to write an opera based on Wagner’s passions called ‘Wagner Dream’ which links his interest with his last
days in Venice. The opera was translated by academics into the ancient language of Pali, spoken by Buddha, to
make the piece as culturally significant as possible.
Parsifal, which Wagner began working on in April 1857 but didn’t finish until 25 years later, is more overtly based
in Buddhist ideologies. The story comes from the epic poem ‘Parzifal’ written by Wolfram von Eschenbach.
Although the original story does not include Buddhist themes, Wagner adapted the tale to suit his interests at
that time. The fundamental character which is used to display these ideologies is Kundry. She can be seen as the
personification of desire, which aforementioned is a key aspect of Buddhism. “Kundry appears in three forms in
Parsifal; these correspond to the three forms of desire in Buddhism. This interpretation aligns the work’s

Christian, pagan, and Buddhist symbolism as an expression of the inner way that is shared by all who tread the
path of religious mysticism.”⁹ Wagner paused work on Parsifal to write Tristan and Isolde so the 10 years spent he
spent in Zurich was almost entirely dedicated to writing with Buddhist themes. Die Sieger, which didn’t make it
past a draft, was another opera that explicitly linked to Buddhism and was inspired by legends Wagner had read
in Eugene Bernouf’s ‘Introduction to the History of Buddhism’ written in 1844. The sketch for this opera showed
Prakriti, a Chandala maiden going to visit Buddha in the hope that he can create a union between her and the
man she loves, Ananda. This opera would have perhaps been the most unashamedly and openly Buddhist piece of
writing that Wagner had produced had it made it past the initial stages of the sketch.
One aspect of Schopenhauer’s philosophies, that somewhat contradict Wagner’s aims for his operas, is the fact
that he saw music as the highest, most important form of the arts, specifically Classical and Romantic music
without words. He believed that they were truly insightful and allowed us to be “closer to the essence of the
world as will”¹⁰. Although Wagner clearly had a passion for music, his ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ operas wanted to
achieve a union of the arts opposed to a hierarchy. Schopenhauer “argued that music has a truly exceptional
status among the arts and uniquely reveals the essence of the “in itself” of the world.”¹¹ Reading this, reassured
Wagner that writing music was not going to lead him astray from reaching enlightenment.
Even though Wagner sought a union between the arts, I think the impact of Schopenhauer’s theory of the
supremacy of music led Wagner to tilt the expressive balance of musical drama towards music: it seems to me his
leitmotifs ceased to remain identifiable with their sources but worked with greater psychological complexity, in
the manner of free association. In Tristan and Isolde, the Buddhist themes can be found alone, and primarily in
the music. This is due to the ongoing suffering, caused by unresolved dissonances, the reaching of enlightenment
when the chords finally resolve and the themes of night and day representing illusion and non-self. It is very clear
that Wagner used first hand experiences, and his second hand knowledge of Buddhism through Schopenhauer’s
writings to define the whole of his opera from characters, to plot and to the music and these things have helped
him create one of the worlds most significant and influential operas of all time: Tristan and Isolde.

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How did Wagner’s interest in Buddhism influence the writing of ‘Tristan and Isolde’?

5. Virginia Opera, Study guide 2004-2005, page 3

6. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

8. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

11. Shapnay “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”

5. Virginia Opera, Study guide 2004-2005, page 3

6. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

8. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

11. Shapnay “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”

In the surging swell

in the ringing sound,

in the vast wave

of the world’s breath –

Supreme bliss.”⁸

5. Virginia Opera, Study guide 2004-2005, page 3

6. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

8. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

11. Shapnay “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”

5. Virginia Opera, Study guide 2004-2005, page 3

6. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

8. Doolan, Wagner and Buddha, Tristan and Isolde

11. Shapnay “Shopenhauer’s Aesthetics”

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