Tristan and Isolde, Stage Design
The stage sets created by architects or even by artists are perfectly dreadful — we thought, in view of so many failed attempts. The pitfalls of simply transferring one’s own style, one’s typical trademarks from construction site to proscenium stage seem almost inescapable. When the German State Opera in Berlin invited us to design the sets for Tristan and Isolde to be directed by Stefan Bachmann and conducted by Daniel Barenboim, we were fascinated, especially because we try to avoid a signature style and are more inclined towards experimentation. What an exciting challenge! The stage exerts a magical attraction; it is a place that frees the imagination, a place where time and space seem unbounded despite the physical confines of the stage and the temporal confines of a performance. The stage is a place for semblance. Everything is semblance. Which is precisely what invests stage design with so much potential, above all for a Wagner opera, and most especially Tristan, as we envisioned it in our conversations with Stefan Bachmann. Wagner’s music and the performers’ voices are so exceptional that stage sets and staging could easily become an unwelcome distraction.
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