goodness that
the courtiers finally prevail upon the king to sue for her hand.

As the courtiers have tried to make the king believe that his
nephew would fain keep him single lest he should have an heir,
Tristan reluctantly accepts the commission to bear the king's
proposals and escort the bride to Cornwall. Ysolde is of course
overjoyed at his return, for she fancies he reciprocates her
love; but when he makes his errand known, she proudly conceals
her grief, and prepares to accompany the embassy to Cornwall,
taking with her her faithful nurse, Brangeane.

The Queen of Ireland, another Ysolde, well versed in every
magic art, then brews a mighty love potion, which she intrusts
to Brangeane's care, bidding her conceal it in her daughter's
medicine chest, and administer it to the royal bride and groom
on their wedding night, to insure their future happiness by
deep mutual love.

Wagner's opera opens on shipboard, where Ysolde lies sullen and
motionless under a tent, brooding over her sorrow and nursing
her wrath against Tristan, who has further embittered her by
treating her with the utmost reserve, and never once approaching
her during the whole journey. The call of the pilot floats
over the sea, and Ysolde, roused from her abstraction, asks
Brangeane where they are. When she learns that the vessel is
already within sight of Cornwall, where a new love awaits her,
Ysolde gives vent to her despair, and openly regrets that she
does not possess her mother's power over the elements, as she
would gladly conjure a storm which would engulf the vessel and
set her free from a life she abhors.

Brangeane, alarmed at this outburst, vainly tries to comfort her,
and as the vessel draws near the land she obeys Ysolde's command
and goes to summon Tristan into her presence. Approaching the
young hero, who is at the helm, the maid delivers her message,
but Tristan refuses to comply, under pretext of best fulfilling
his trust by steering the vessel safe to land:--

'In every station
Where I stand
I serve with life and blood
The pearl of womanhood:--
If I the rudder
Rashly left,
Who steer'd then safely the ship
To good King Mark's fair land?'

He further feigns to misunderstand the purport of her message,
by assuring her that the discomforts of the journey will
soon be over. Kurvenal, his companion, incensed by Brangeane's
persistency, then makes a taunting speech to the effect that his
master