A high-frequency lamp (10) for low-pressure and high-pressure applications, and a method for the operation thereof, that is particularly suitable for improving the characteristics with regard to efficiency, emission spectrum, cost, and long life, in that the use of an ignition unit is no longer necessary, even at very low high-frequency power, due to an impedance transformer (26) connected downstream of a power amplifier (20), because the application of as high a voltage as possible to an ionization chamber (16) is successfully achieved by the impedance transformation.