Even though the header image we’ve had for the last month or so has been one of my favorites (Friedrich’s, Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, 1818), it’s time for a fresh look. Since much of the reading this week and in the coming weeks will deal with Wagner, our new header features the husband and wife singers who created the roles of Tristan and Isolde, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld and Malvina Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Taruskin calls Tristan und Isolde (completed 1859, premiered 1865) “a touchstone for all subsequent music-making and music-thinking.” (III, 539) The full photograph is below.
The Taruskin Challenge 
What a great choice – the photograph is so marvelous. Have you begun the Wagner series yet? I am following the new Metropolitan Opera Ring Cycle, so I look forward to anything about Wagner and how he broke the mold.