Tristan and Isolde prelude (pt. 3)
The drink of atonement (Germ. Sühnetrank) motive comes shortly after the desire and glance music, and it is derived from them. Its rhythm is that of the glance and its melody is that of desire and glance. In the prelude it adumbrates Tristan's and Isolde's drinking of the potion at the end of Act I when they believe it will mean their deaths. But Brangaene has given them the love potion instead. Chafe points out that the occurrence of this motive in Act I is accompanied by much of the Prelude music (110). Compare the three primary motives of the Prelude:
Note all three move upward by half steps. Describing the relationship between them Chafe writes: "From the universal principle of desire through the specific origins of Tristan's and Isolde's love (the glance music), to an expression of their longing for transcendent union, the sequence moves more into the sphere of human love, its hopes and illusions" (112). Here is the drink of atonement motive:
