David Mellor - Sunday 14 June 2015, 7pm

David celebrates the 150th birthday of ​Tristan und Isolde​ and celebrates other great myths, legends and fairytales in music.

Exactly 150 years ago this week, Wagner finally saw his operatic masterpiece Tristan und Isolde staged in Munich. It had been completed six years earlier, after taking the composer two years to write.

The powerful music Wagner wrote for Tristan was ground-breaking. Most famous for its Prelude, in which we find the much-analysed ‘Tristan Chord’ – which was to confound and fascinate critics and musicologists in equal measure – Tristan and Isolde is opera on an absolutely epic scale – and none the worse for that.

Tonight David celebrates Tristan und Isolde and takes the opportunity to celebrate other great myths, legends and fairytales in music.