How do you love a myth?

Passionately and to no good end, it seems, if we consider some of our favorite myths of love: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, and Tristan and Isolde.

This week Houston Grand Opera presents Richard Wagner's groundbreaking 1865 opera Tristan and Isolde, placing front and center for Houston audiences one of the great stories of dangerous, destructive love, starting with Thursday night's premiere.

What does a tale from the 12th century have do with any of us?

Plenty, if you ask Denis De Rougemont, author of the impossibly ambitious Love in the Western World. "Happy love," he argued years ago, "has no history. Romance only comes into existence where love is fatal, frowned upon, and doomed by love itself."

Since many of us are weaned on Romeo and Juliet in early high school, you may be thinking of those star-crossed lovers, but De Rougement only had eyes for Tristan and Isolde, whose story he describes as the "one great European myth of adultery." Without our fatal attraction "to what destroys the happiness of the married couple" we wouldn't have novels.

Wagner, too, found the story of fatal love irresistible. In a letter to composer Franz Liszt, he claimed, "Never in my life having enjoyed the true happiness of love I shall erect a memorial to this loveliest of all dreams . . . I have devised in my mind a Tristan und Isolde, the simplest, yet most full-blooded musical conception imaginable, and with the ‘black flag’ that waves at the end I shall cover myself over — to die." For Wagner, satisfaction was to be found in death, not life.

No wonder: Tristan and Isolde are doomed from the beginning.

Tragic Start

Before the opera begins, Tristan, the nephew and heir to King Mark of Cornwall, has slain the lover of Isolde who wounds him with a magic sword. He tricks Isolde into healing him which she later realizes but due to some mysterious attraction finds herself unable to exact revenge.

Later, Tristan arranges for Isolde to marry his uncle Mark, which prompts Isolde to poison him. Isolde's servant Brangäne, however, trades poison for a love potion and the two begin the secret, adulterous affair that brings ruination to all.

This is a story always ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In the final act, Brangäne informs King Mark about the love potion, and he's ready to reconcile all. Too late: Tristan has sunk into melancholy, failed to defend himself from a treacherous attack, and later dies from battle wounds. Isolde surrenders her life to find perfect union in death.

The story of Tristan and Isolde might seem like one long death knell, but the music of Wagner's Tristan ushered into the world a whole new song. The opera begins with what is called the "Tristan chord." While composed of conventional notes, the disorienting sound of this chord is described as where tonality began disintegrating into the innovations of the 20th century.

Here's comedian and actor Stephen Fry discussing the Tristan chord with pianist Stefan Mickisch in Wagner's House:

Wagner's Tristan and Isolde provides a potent mix of ancient myth, Romantic passion, and modern innovation. Houston Grand Opera makes this classic work new in its co-production with London's Royal Opera House, with what many hope will be the highlight of the season. Wagner's masterpiece offers the opportunity to present the renowned Canadian tenor Ben Heppner and Swedish soprano Nina Stemme in their HGO debuts in the roles of Tristan and Isolde. HGO music and artistic director Patrick Summers will conduct.

Fatal love may be as old as the myth of Tristan and Isolde, but it was brought to life anew when director Christof Loy's production debuted in London in 2009. To some, it seems, the production seemed too modern, causing a chorus of boos later castigated by critic Charlotte Higgins who told opera purists to grow up.

Perhaps this is the allure of myth, which imagines a world made up of eternal truths. But in as much as opera is a living art, each generation longs to put a new face on its iconic lovers. But the heart behind whatever face these unfortunate lovers wear beats with the rhythm of doom.

For more than 150 years, audiences have watched Tristan and Isolde destroy one another. Fatal love, as De Rougemont called it, still has a sweet allure after all these years.