1	THE WAGNER SOCIETY IN QUEENSLAND INC. THOUGHTS ON PARSIFAL COLIN MACKERRAS
2	Some Basic Points WAGNER’S LAST WORK MORE RELIGIOUS THAN WAGNER’S OTHER WORKS: FULL OF CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS PERHAPS WAGNER’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL WORK: BUT WHAT MUSIC! SET IN SPAIN IN THE MIDDLE AGES (TENTH CENTURY: LOHENGRIN?), NEAR BORDER BETWEEN CHRISTIAN AND “HEATHEN” (ISLAMIC?) CONTROL
3	Parsifal: Brief Chronology FIRST CONCEIVED 1845 PROSE SKETCH OF LIBRETTO 1865 MUSIC COMPLETED 1882 PREMIERED IN BAYREUTH IN JULY 1882 (HERMANN LEVI CONDUCTED) WAGNER WANTED IT PERFORMED ONLY IN BAYREUTH FIRST PERFORMANCE OUTSIDE BAYREUTH, EXCEPT IN MUNICH AT LUDWIG II’S COURT, WAS N.Y. METROPOLITAN IN 1903 COVENT GARDEN IN 1914 DURING THE WAR, NAZIS REGARDED IT AS PACIFIST POST-WAR BAYREUTH REVIVAL 1951
4	WAGNER’S LIFE AND IDEAS AT AS HE WROTE PARSIFAL 1 WRITTEN OVER MANY YEARS BUT MAIN WORK COMPLETED LAST YEARS OBSESSED ALL HIS LIFE ABOUT REDEMPTION QUARELLED WITH NIETZSCHE: ‘Incredible! Wagner has turned pious’ (1878). INFLUENCES FROM BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY BUT MORE ANTI-JEWISH AS HE GOT OLDER SEXUAL LOVE VERY BAD IMAGE COMPASSION MORE IMPORTANT
5	WAGNER’S LIFE AND IDEAS AT AS HE WROTE PARSIFAL 2 ‘ART AND RELIGION’ (1880) BEGINS: ‘IT COULD BE SAID THAT, WHERE RELIGION BECOMES ARTIFICIAL, IT IS THE DUTY OF ART TO SAVE RELIGION’S ESSENTIAL CORE. IT CAN DO SO BY COMPREHENDING THE SYMBOLIC VALUE OF THOSE MYTHICAL SYMBOLS WHICH RELIGION WOULD HAVE THE FAITHFUL BELIEVE IN, AND BY THEN BRINGING OUT THE DEEP TRUTH INHERENT IN THEM BY MEANS OF IDEAL ARTISTIC PORTRAYAL.
6	WHAT IT IS AND IS NOT ABOUT? SIN AND REDEMPTION HOPE, DESPAIR AND DELIVERANCE “THE JOURNEY OF A SOUL”: (BASSETT 2000) IGNORANCE VERSUS WORLD EXPERIENCE THE PLOT: PARSIFAL OVERCOMES POWER OF THE FLESH TO REGAIN THE SACRED SPEAR STOLEN BY THE EVIL KLINGSOR FROM AMFORTAS, KING OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE GRAIL EIN BÜHNENWEIHFESTSPIEL (A STAGE CONSECRATION FESTIVAL PLAY) NOT TRAGEDY, COMEDY, ROMANCE ETC.
7	THINGS AND PLACES The Grail: The cup used at the Last Supper and into which Christ’s blood flowed on the Cross The spear and the wound it heals Amfortas’s dream about the innocent fool Monsalvat The magic garden
8	THE MAIN CHARACTERS PARSIFAL KUNDRY GURNEMANZ AMFORTAS KLINGSOR
9	Who is Parsifal? KNIGHT OF ARTHURIAN ROMANCES VERSION OF WOLFRAM VON ESCHENBACH (EARLY 13^TH CENTURY) THE “PURE FOOL” (DER REINE TOR) WHO SAVES SUFFERING HUMANITY BRINGS ENLIGHTEN-MENT (KNOWLEDGE) THROUGH COMPASSION (MITLEID) SEXUALITY? AND MATURITY OVER 3 ACTS
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11	KUNDRY THE MAIN FEMALE CHARACTER AND THE WOMAN PARSIFAL RESISTS AND BAPTIZES A WOMAN OF MANY LIVES AND CHARACTERS, AND MUCH EXPERIENCE THE WOMAN CURSED OVER LIVES FOR LAUGHING AT CHRIST THE ALL-KNOWING, KNOWS MORE ABOUT PARSIFAL THAN HE DOES HIMSELF THE MERCIFUL THE SINNER-TEMPTRESS THE SACRED-FORGIVEN
12	AMFORTAS THE KING OF THE GRAIL, SON OF TITUREL NOBLE BUT SINFUL GIVES WAY TO DESPAIR BUT STILL SAVED THROUGH PARSIFAL RELATIONS WITH KUNDRY SEDUCED BY HER BUT THANKS HER FOR BRINGING BALSAM FROM ARABIA ANGUISHED AND TORMENTED. WHY? SEDUCED BY KUNDRY, LOSES THE SPEAR, AN UNHEALING WOUND IN THE SIDE PARSIFAL HEALS THE WOUND WITH THE RECOVERED SPEAR
13	KLINGSOR THE VILLAIN? THE SINNER THE EUNUCH THE KNIGHTS’ REJECT THE MAGICIAN THE WOULD-BE DESTROYER OF THE KNIGHTS THE MASTER OF KUNDRY
14	GURNEMANZ Veteran knight No role in the plot but largest singing part Explains story background Ambiguous attitude to Kundry, defends but criticizes her An environmentalist
15	THE MUSIC ACTS 1 AND 3 RATHER DIFFERENT IN TEXTURE FROM ACT 2 EXEMPLIFIES LEITMOTIVS: E.G. GRAIL, FAITH, SACRAMENT (COMMUNION), SPEAR, ETC. ORCHESTRATION, HARMONIES ETHEREAL, ESPECIALLY ACTS 1, 3 MERGING OF ‘EXALTATION AND DESOLATION, PAIN AND CONSOLATION’ (TANNER 1996) ONE CAN QUOTE MANY AUTHORITIES, E.G. DEBUSSY, MAHLER, WHO WERE ENTRANCED AND TRANSFIXED. FOR ME: UNIQUE INTENSITY OF SUSTAINED BEAUTY, ESPECIALLY MELODY, ORCHESTRATION AND HARMONY ACTS 1, 3, E.G. GOOD FRIDAY MUSIC, FINALE
16	SIGNIFICANCE AND EVALUATION 1 WAGNER’S LAST UTTERANCES EXPRESSIVE OF PEACE AND FULFILMENT INFLUENTIAL AMONG WAGNER’S INFLUENTIAL WORKS? WHY SO CONTROVERSIAL REPULSIVE AND ANTI-JEWISH OR UPLIFTING AND ETHEREAL, EVEN NIETZSCHE WORSHIPPED PRELUDE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES ON STAGE, A WOMAN WASHING PARSIFAL’S FEET WITH HER HAIR: BLASPHEMOUS OR SYMBOLIC?
17	SIGNIFICANCE AND EVALUATION 2 TO EVALUATE CRITERIA MIGHT INCLUDE: THE THEMES AND INNER MEANINGS ORIGINALITY INFLUENCE ON LATER TIMES BEAUTY OF MUSIC, ORCHESTRATION, MELODY, HARMONY, ETC. HOW IT COMES OVER PERSONALLY MY PERSONAL REACTION