Tristan und Isolde Prelude

[josh93248]

Hi everyone!

I realise that questions about transcriptions the Tristan und Isolde Prelude may have come up before but there are a couple things I need to ask specific to my needs that I hope someone can help with.

So I have a piano student who loves Wagner (she is also a singer) and loves music but often struggles to find the time or motivation to practice. She has a Schirmer copy of the operatic score (piano reduction) of Tristan und Isolde and she got very enthused listening to me merely roughly sight read the prelude. We've decided that if she generally doesn't practice pieces that, while logical steps in her development, aren't that stimulating for her she may practice what might be a sort of holy grail of a piece for her.

You may be wondering what her level is and honestly it's not that high but she's not so much got to pass an exam with flying colours as reignite her interest in the piano, so I figure what's the worst that could happen? Bad habits? Better to have bad habits playing piano than no bad habits not playing at all I say and we'll take it slow and steady, she may only play the easier sections anyway.

Anyway, I'm curious, the Schirmer doesn't seem too bad, I mean it does sound like the prelude. But I'm curious to know what other transcriptions for piano are out there and what their levels of difficulty and fidelity to the original are. I was thinking of learning it myself as well so perhaps one version may be better for me and another for her?

Anyway, any information would be appreciated

[ronde_des_sylphes]

The one which springs to mind is by Zoltan Koscis:

There is also one by Ernest Schelling, which I don't know anything about. I have a vague memory that the entire opera was transcribed by Otto Singer, and also by Karl Klindworth, so there could be other versions there as well.

[musikalischer_wirbelwind_280]

My favorite one so far is the Kleinmichel arrangement: https://imslp.org/wiki/Tristan_und_Isolde,_WWV_90_(Wagner,_Richard) File #225829

The Singer one could also do the trick: File #34175

Neither transcription is entirely faithful to the original prelude when it comes to the ending, but that's really the only part where they stray a bit from it, because both add codas to it that give the prelude a somewhat 'lighter' and more 'optimistic' ending (the Kleinmichel one is my favorite, definitely very Wagnerian!). 

But if you prefer the original and somewhat 'somber' ending, it shouldn't be too hard to re-arrange the ending so as to make it fit. Again, that's the only bit you might feel the need to re-arrange, the rest is entirely faithful to the prelude.

Good luck, I hope this wonderful piece gives your student the motivation to keep practicing. I first heard this piece in Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" and fell in love with it right away!

[richard black]

There are several vocal scores of Tristan, including one by Hans von Bülow, which is quite pianistic.