mas, Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs), were completed and published. Wagner became involved in an extramarital affair with Mathilde Wesendonck who had fallen in love with him. Mrs. Wesendonck wrote love poems to Wagner that he set to music. This affair inspired the music drama Tristan and Isolde, which was first conceived in 1854 and completed five years later. The basic plot of Tristan is the theme of forbidden love. Wagner believed in the absolute oneness of drama and music: that the two are organically connected expressions of a single dramatic idea. The orchestration, then, is the chief factor in the music, and the vocal lines are part of the musical texture, not arias with accompaniment. The music is continuous throughout each act, not formally divided into the recitatives, arias, and set numbers. Harmonically, Tristan and Isolde stretches functional chromaticism to its very limits, and it is thought by many that Wagner's intense usage of chromatics in this Music Drama represented for the first time the culmination of tonal harmonic possibilities. The first two Ring Music Dramas were first performed in 1869 in Munich, on King Ludwig's insistence, since Ludwig was still providing Wagner with an annual salary years after their first acquaintance. Wagner was very anxious to have a special festival opera house constructed for the complete cycle of The Ring, and he spent much energy trying to raise money for it. Eventually, when he had almost despaired, Ludwig came to the rescue, and in 1874, the year Wagner's composition of the fourth opera The Twilight of the Gods was finished, King Ludwig provided the necessary funds. Richard Wagner remains for many the most fascinating figure in nineteenth century music. His life and his music arouse passion like that of no other composer. Wagner's works are hated as much as they are worshiped in the world, even today. Already at his time, he was a source of debate...
