Score Salon:
Steve Allen on Wagner's Prelude to Tristan and Isolde

June 9, 2003 at Bad Animals

Despite its rather static Irish love story, Wagner's Tristan and Isolde (1859) has stood the test of time to prove itself to be a work of considerable importance. Never in the history of music had there been an operatic score of comparable breadth, intensity, harmonic richness, massive orchestration, sensouness, power, imagination and color. "The opening chords of Tristan," remarks critic Harold C Schonberg, "were to the last half of the nineteenth century what the Eroica and Ninth Symphonies had been to the first half - a breakaway, a new concept." Indeed, the opening "Tristan chord", formed in the cellos and winds, is still debated today as to exactly how its voicing functions. Fourths? Sevenths?

Come hear composer Steve Allen lead a discussion of the score at the SCA Score Salon. Steve Allen has been a professional musician for over 32 years. His compositions cover almost all aspects of music production: TV, film, New Media, albums, and industrials. He has composed, arranged, and conducted orchestral music for the 155-member Montana Symphony Summer Orchestra and has arranged and conducted an album for pianist David Lanz in London.

Steve's commercial clients include Microsoft, Boeing, Chrysler/Jeep, Budwieser, Hewlett/Packard, Philips, Toshiba, AT&T, and Taco Time. Steve is a founding member of the SCA.

Capitol Music Center is the official sponsor of the SCA Monthly Score Salon.

2003 Past Events
About the Score Salon series