Declarations of love live at the heart of two Romantic masterpieces. Tristan and Isolde, with its endless longing and deep passion, set all of Western music on a new course. Mahler extended that language on a grand scale in his Fifth Symphony, creating a work of vast scope and intense psychological theater. Its famous Adagietto was written as a love song to his future wife, Alma.

Christopher Wilkins, conductor

DID YOU KNOW?

Mahler’s symphonies are works of confession that offer insight into one of the most fascinating and complex of modern minds. (Source: The NPR Listener’s Encyclopedia of Classical Music)

The prelude to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde has been described as “one of the most revolutionary pieces of music in all of human history and one noted for its ability to express the deep and painful yearning in all of humanity.” (Source: Opera Wire)

When he first saw a score for the prelude to Tristan and Isolde, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, “I simply cannot bring myself to remain critically aloof from this music; every nerve in me is a-twitch, and it has been a long time since I had such a lasting sense of ecstasy.” (Source: Gramophone)

The enduring popularity of the Adagietto movement from Mahler’s Symphony No.5 certainly owes much to Luchino Visconti’s 1971 adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novella Death in Venice. (Source: Classic FM)