Act II. This act also has an introduction, which together with the

first scene between _Isolde_ and _Brangäne_, constitutes a wonderful mood picture in music. Even Wagner's bitterest critic, Edward Hanslick, of Vienna, was forced to compare it with the loveliest creations of Schubert, in which that composer steeps the senses in dreams of night and love.

And so, this introduction of the second act opens with a motive of peculiar significance. During the love scene in the previous act, _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ have inveighed against the day which jealously keeps them apart. They may meet only under the veil of darkness. Even then their joy is embittered by the thought that the blissful night will soon be succeeded by day. With them, therefore, the day stands for all that is inimical, night for all that is friendly. This simile is elaborated with considerable metaphysical subtlety, the lovers even reproaching the day with _Tristan's_ willingness to lead _Isolde_ to _King Marke_, _Tristan_ charging that in the broad light of the jealous day his duty to win _Isolde_ for his king stood forth so clearly as to overpower the passion for her which he had nurtured during the silent watches of the night. The phrase, therefore, which begins the act as with an agonized cry is the =Day Motive=.

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The Day Motive is followed by a phrase whose eager, restless measures graphically reflect the impatience with which _Isolde_ awaits the coming of _Tristan_--the =Motive of Impatience=.

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Over this there hovers a dulcet, seductive strain, the =Motive of the Love Call=, which is developed into the rapturous measures of the =Motive of Ecstasy=.

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When the curtain rises, the scene it discloses is the palace garden, into which _Isolde's_ apartments open. It is a summer night, balmy and with a moon. The _King_ and his suite have departed on a hunt. With them is _Melot_, a knight who professes devotion to _Tristan_, but whom _Brangäne_ suspects.

_Brangäne_ stands upon the steps leading to _Isolde's_ apartment. She is looking down a bosky _allée_ in the direction taken by the hunt. This silently gliding, uncanny creature, the servitor of sin in others, is uneasy. She fears the hunt is but a trap; and that its quarry is not the wild deer, but her mistress and the knight, who conveyed her for bride to _King Marke_.

Meanwhile against the open door of _Isolde's_ apartment is a burning torch. Its flare through the night is to be the signal to _Tristan_ that all is well, and that _Isolde_ waits.

The first episode of the act is one of those exquisite tone paintings in the creation of which Wagner is supreme. The notes of the hunting-horns become more distant. _Isolde_ enters from her apartment into the garden. She asks _Brangäne_ if she cannot now signal for _Tristan_. _Brangäne_ answers that the hunt is still within hearing. _Isolde_ chides her--is it not some lovely, prattling rill she hears? The music is deliciously idyllic--conjuring up a dream-picture of a sylvan spring night bathed in liquescent moonlight. _Brangäne_ warns _Isolde_ against _Melot_; but _Isolde_ laughs at her fears. In vain _Brangäne_ entreats her mistress not to signal for _Tristan_. The seductive measures of the Love Call and of the Motive of Ecstasy tell throughout this scene of the yearning in _Isolde's_ breast. When _Brangäne_ informs _Isolde_ that she substituted the love-potion for the death-draught, _Isolde_ scorns the suggestion that her guilty love for _Tristan_ is the result of her quaffing the potion. This simply intensified the passion already in her breast. She proclaims this in the rapturous phrases of the Isolde Motive; and then, when she declares her fate to be in the hands of the goddess of love, there are heard the tender accents of the =Love Motive=.

[Music]

In vain _Brangäne_ warns once more against possible treachery from _Melot_. The Love Motive rises with ever increasing passion until _Isolde's_ emotional exaltation finds expression in the Motive of Ecstasy as she bids _Brangäne_ hie to the lookout, and proclaims that she will give _Tristan_ the signal by extinguishing the torch, though in doing so she were to extinguish the light of her life. The Motive of the Love Call ringing out triumphantly accompanies her action, and dies away into the Motive of Impatience as she gazes down a bosky avenue through which she seems to expect _Tristan_ to come to her. Then the Motive of Ecstasy and _Isolde's_ rapturous gesture tell that she has discerned her lover; and, as this Motive reaches a fiercely impassioned climax, _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ rush into each other's arms.

The music fairly seethes with passion as the lovers greet one another, the Love Motive and the Motive of Ecstasy vying in the excitement of this rapturous meeting. Then begins the exchange of phrases in which the lovers pour forth their love for one another. This is the scene dominated by the Motive of the Day, which, however, as the day sinks into the soft night, is softened into the =Night Motive=, which soothes the senses with its ravishing caress.

[Music]

This motive throbs through the rapturous harmonies of the duet: "Oh, sink upon us, Night of Love," and there is nothing in the realms of music or poetry to compare in suggestiveness with these caressing, pulsating phrases.

The duet is broken in upon by _Brangäne's_ voice warning the lovers that night will soon be over. The _arpeggios_ accompanying her warning are like the first grey streaks of dawn. But the lovers heed her not. In a smooth, soft melody--the =Motive of Love's Peace=--whose sensuous grace is simply entrancing, they whisper their love.

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It is at such a moment, enveloped by night and love, that death should have come to them; and, indeed, it is for such a love-death they yearn. Hence we have here, over a quivering accompaniment, the =Motive of the Love-Death=,

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Once more _Brangäne_ calls. Once more _Tristan_ and _Isolde_ heed her not.

Night will shield us for aye!

Thus exclaims _Isolde_ in defiance of the approach of dawn, while the Motive of Ecstasy, introduced by a rapturous mordent, soars ever higher.

[Music]

A cry from _Brangäne_, _Kurwenal_ rushing upon the scene calling to _Tristan_ to save himself--and the lovers' ravishing dream is ended. Surrounded by the _King_ and his suite, with the treacherous _Melot_, they gradually awaken to the terror of the situation. Almost automatically _Isolde_ hides her head among the flowers, and _Tristan_ spreads out his cloak to conceal her from view while phrases reminiscent of the love scene rise like mournful memories.

Now follows a soliloquy for the _King_, whose sword instead should have leapt from its scabbard and buried itself in _Tristan's_ breast. For it seems inexplicable that the monarch, who should have slain the betrayer of his honour, indulges instead in a philosophical discourse, ending:

The unexplained, Unpenetrated Cause of all these woes, Who will to us disclose?

_Tristan_ turns to _Isolde_. Will she follow him to the bleak land of his birth? Her reply is that his home shall be hers. Then _Melot_ draws his sword. _Tristan_ rushes upon him, but as _Melot_ thrusts, allows his guard to fall and receives the blade. _Isolde_ throws herself on her wounded lover's breast.