Do I Alone Hear this Melody? : Unconditional Love
Tristan & Isolde
Liebestod Isolde's aria from Tristan und Isolde
Act 3 last Scene
I was once chatting with an old friend who had a very deep passion for opera. When he talked about it and translated it for me, you saw a shine in his eye of excitement and true passion and understanding for the drama that he conveys in each and every show he saw. I believe it was breakfast he was telling about an Opera called Tristan & Isolde, written by Richard Wagner. I knew nothing of the story, I thought there was a terribly unwatchable move of the same title(ish) but that's it. We'll he went on further to describe the story and the drama of love, and poison and passion and death.
He translated a few portions one in paticular was the very last scene. And after hearing it it burned through heart and was everlasting with me.
By this point of the story, clearly a lot has happened. There are two people, who fall in love, this love involved a love-potion and poison mix-up, leaving this man, Tristan, dead on the floor as Isolde, his true love over his dying body. At this moment Isolde describes him as she seems him. How her heart felt toward him, how this love that she has are the sounds she hears, and he's the smells that surround her.. its everything.. he was and is her everything.
For some reason at the time of being introduced to this Opera, I was so moved by the feeling of 'yes, that's the kind of love I feel. That is what my heart beats, its like those words are it." it was a sigh of relief.
'Do i alone here this melody' to me sums up that love. Those words are the love that was/is/can/did/were felt in my heart and I love love the idea of it the drama of it its something that is taken for granted everyday but at end of the day love is everything and unconditional love for a someone, or my family or my friends it's there and as much i keep breaking (down), I have only fear that I lose this love, this feeling, this emotion and then it would be what? nothing.. I fear that. I don't want to feel nothing.
So, that is where those words came. Its the unconditional, indescribable, overloading love that I have...
I used this song once on a passion project. I was trying to woe a heart and using my abilities that I fell I speak better in - I edited a clip with some footage that was shot during one of the shoots he did and with this as its soundtrack. The soundtrack supported the beauty that he shot and I was a great collaboration.
And an 'Ode to the he who introduced me masterpiece, his favorite version of Liebestod.
Watch the whole opera in its entirety.
Mild und leise Mildly and gently, wie er lächelt, how he smiles, wie das Auge how the eye hold er öffnet --- he opens sweetly --- Seht ihr's, Freunde? Do you see it, friends? Seht ihr's nicht? Don’t you see it? Immer lichter Brighter and brighter wie er leuchtet, how he shines, stern-umstrahlet illuminated by stars hoch sich hebt? rises high? Seht ihr's nicht? Don’t you see it? Wie das Herz ihm How his heart mutig schwillt, boldly swells, voll und hehr fully and nobly im Busen ihm quillt? wells in his breast? Wie den Lippen, How from his lips wonnig mild, delightfully, mildly, süßer Atem sweet breath sanft entweht --- softly wafts --- Freunde! Seht! Friends! Look! Fühlt und seht ihr's nicht? Don’t you feel and see it? Hör ich nur diese Weise, Do I alone hear this melody, die so wundervoll und leise, which wonderfully and softly, Wonne klagend, lamenting delight, alles sagend, telling it all, mild versöhnend mildly reconciling aus ihm tönend, sounds out of him, in mich dringet, invades me, auf sich schwinget, swings upwards, hold erhallend sweetly resonating um mich klinget? rings around me? Heller schallend, Sounding more clearly, mich umwallend --- wafting around me --- Sind es Wellen Are these waves sanfter Lüfte? of soft airs? Sind es Wogen Are these billows wonniger Düfte? of delightful fragrances? Wie sie schwellen, How they swell, mich umrauschen, how they sough around me, soll ich atmen, shall I breathe, soll ich lauschen? Shall I listen? Soll ich schlürfen, Shall I drink, untertauchen? immerse? Süß in Düften Sweetly in fragrances mich verhauchen? melt away? In dem wogenden Schwall, In the billowingtorrent, in dem tönenden Schall, in the resonating sound, in des Welt-Atems wehendem All --- in the wafting Universe of the World-Breath --- ertrinken, drown, versinken --- be engulfed --- unbewußt --- unconscious --- höchste Lust! supreme delight!
