"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.
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?
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!
Bronfen, Elisabeth, Liebestod und Femme fatale. Der Austausch sozialer Energien zwischen Oper, Literatur und Film, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2004.
ISBN3-518-12229-0