There are two distinct realms in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde". The Day is the realm of the superficial while the Night is where the true reality of the opera, the love between Tristan and Isolde, thrives. For the settings that occur during the day I made the colors starved of saturation. The settings seen at night are visually vibrant and rich.
Enter Your Description HereThe characters who thrive in the Day, King Marke and etc., have costumes rich in texture, but are subdued in color. While the "light" of day shines onstage during the opera, their forms would be visually rich. However in the setting of night, the time where Tristan and Isolde can be their true selves, their silhouettes become indistinguishable and pale in color. Their color schemes come from arial photographs of deserts and other landforms.
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"Tristan und Isolde" Production Design
Production design for "Tristan und Isolde". The opera is one of the most beautiful and well known of Wagner's works. Wagner imbued the opera with his philosophical leanings toward Schopenhauer. Wagner was fascinated with Schopenhauer's ideas about the superficiality of our realities. In Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, there are two distinct realms, night and day. The illicit but true romance between Tristan and Isolde can only exist at night, while in the Day they must play their superficial roles as Queen and Knight. I wanted to design the costumes and settings with this idea where in the true and absolute beauty of the opera only appears with Tristan and Isolde at night.
