Liebestod

"Liebestod" ([ˈliːbəsˌtoːt] German for "love death") is the title of the final, dramatic music from the 1859 opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. It is the climactic end of the opera, as Isolde sings over Tristan's dead body.

\new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } << \key c \major \new Voice \relative c' { \override TextSpanner.style = #'line \override TextSpanner.bound-details.left.text = \markup { \draw-line #'(0 . -2) } \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin" \stemUp cis'2 \startTextSpan ^\markup { Liebestod (death in love) } fis | fis eis | e!2.. fis!8 | gis1 \stopTextSpan } \new Voice \relative c' { \stemDown \override TextSpanner.style = #'line \override TextSpanner.bound-details.left.text = \markup { \draw-line #'(0 . 2) } \override TextSpanner.Y-offset = #-7 s1 s1 a'4 \startTextSpan _\markup { \lower #7 "transfiguration in love" } b16 a16 gis16 a16 \autoBeamOff [ fis'8 e8 ] \autoBeamOn cis8 a8 | a2 gis2 \stopTextSpan } >>
Liebestod motif

The music is often used in film and television productions of doomed lovers.[1]

Partial text

Mild und leise
wie er lächelt,
wie das Auge
hold er öffnet
—seht ihr's, Freunde?
Seht ihr's nicht?
Immer lichter
wie er leuchtet,
stern-umstrahlet
hoch sich hebt?
Seht ihr's nicht?
 
 
 
ertrinken,
versinken, –
unbewusst, –
höchste Lust!

Softly and gently
how he smiles,
how his eyes
fondly open
—do you see, friends?
do you not see?
how he shines
ever brighter.
Star-haloed
rising higher
Do you not see?

[...and ends...]

to drown,
to founder –
unconscious –
utmost bliss!

References
  1. "Quoting Tristan: Echoes of Wagner over 150 years of music and film" by Rachel Beaumont, Royal Opera House, 3 December 2014

Further reading
  • Bronfen, Elisabeth, Liebestod und Femme fatale. Der Austausch sozialer Energien zwischen Oper, Literatur und Film, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2004. ISBN 3-518-12229-0
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