The limitations of recording technology meant that until the 1930s it was difficult to record the entire opera, however recordings of excerpts or single acts exist going back to 1901, when excerpts of Tristan were captured on the Mapleson Cylinders recorded during performances at the Metropolitan Opera.
As limitacións da tecnoloxía de gravación fixeron que ata a década de 1930 fora difícil gravar a ópera completa, porén as gravacións de extractos ou actos soltos existen dende 1901, cando se rexistraron extractos da ópera nos cilindros Mapleson gravados durante representacións na Metropolitan Opera.