WAGNER
Wagner built his own opera house, Bayreuth, and this became the only place where Parsifal was played until 1903 (when it premiered in New York). Wagner's interest in Wolfram's tale coincides with a turn in his career toward more conservative views on politics and an increased interest in religion (not only Christianity, but Buddhism). For Wagner, Parsifal was a decidedly serious piece of art. Rather than call it an opera, he termed it a "festival play for the consecration of the stage."
Read a synopsis of the opera here.
As his career progressed, Wagner's aesthetics and politics became increasingly nationalistic (expressed most bitterly in the writing of his former disciple Friedrich Nietzsche). Parsifal is often cited as a turning point in his career. Over time, Wagner's nationalism, religiosity, and increasingly apparent anti-semitism made him a target to be co-opted by the Nazi movement. This appropriation is, of course, by no means a fair estimation of Wagner's career and of his influence on music and philosophy. Nonetheless, the ties between Wagner's interest in the Middle Ages and the Nazi's search for an authentic origin story should help us consider more carefully the ideological uses (and ethics) of the past, generally, and the allure of the Middle Ages as a site of origins, specifically.
Check out Hannah's page on Titurel for more!
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Assignment for Tuesday 4/5:
Below I've linked a full performance of the opera from 1981. Although the opera is in German, there are English subtitles.
The opera is very long-- I do not expect you to watch all of it. I would like you to try to watch an hour of the performance. The plot follows Wolfram fairly closely so, depending on what part of that text you found most interesting, try to watch a chunk that might reflect on some of the corresponding scenes. For many of you, this might be the first (and perhaps only opera) you'll watch, so let's try to make the most of it! Think of it as a sort of "slow looking" exercise. You know my angle on this stuff. Don't worry about following the narrative so exactly; instead, try to find things that interest you!
As you watch, keep these big picture questions in mind:
- How does Wagner alter Wolfram?
- What interesting consistencies between the two text can you observe?
- How does Wagner use the music to tell the story? (Remember, romance too is an oral art-- and was often sung!)
- Does Wagner's rendition help you see Wolfram's text any differently?
- Why do you think Wagner was interested in this story? How does he update the play?
1. Isolate scene/moments that stick out to you while you watch. Jot down quick notes as you watch.
2. After watching your hour chunk, pick one moment to concentrate on. Find the corresponding scene (or the closest you can find) in the text of Parzival.
3. Watch the scene again!
4. In your first paragraph, introduce the scene with with the time (i.e. 2:48-7:26) and corresponding page numbers in Parzival (2 sentences MAX). Then, carefully unpack how the scene unfolds in the opera. Cite as many details as possible. Concentrate especially on the visuals and the music. Don't worry about analysis at this point-- I just want to see your observations! Extract as much detail as you can!
5. In your second paragraph, compare the scene in the opera to the corresponding scene in the book. If there is no obvious parallel, pick a moment in the book that you think sets up a good contrast to the scene in the opera. Here's where you want to think about analysis. How do the similarities and differences guide your interpretation of what Wagner is trying to accomplish in his scene?
6. Post your two paragraphs below with your name.
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Nicole Schiro Magee. I am comparing the first encounters with Parzival of Wolfram’s Cundrie la sorciere in Book VI (pg. 132, par. 312) and Wagner’s Kundry in Act I (54:46 – 57:22.) The music in the scene is allegro, adding urgency to the events. At the top of the scene, when Kundry reveals Parzival’s identity, the music is agitato and sinister. The actress sings the lyrics with severity. Parzival’s descriptions of the knights he met, and his adventures in the forest immediately follow, and the music becomes staccato, which conjures the images of horses galloping. The quick change from agitato to staccato marks a contrast between the characters, evoking innocence in Parzival when compared with the harshness of Kundry. This contrast builds until the climactic moment when Parzival asks Kundry who fears him, and she answers “the wicked.” At this point Parzival asks, “Who is good?” Gurnamanz replies, “your mother.” The music softens, and becomes gentle and adagio and affettuoso, supporting the picture of goodness and grieving in Percival’s mother. The music, particularly the violins, immediately becomes furioso and accelerando when Kundry interrupts the moment pronouncing the death of Parzival’s mother. The violence of the violins underlies the physical altercation between Kundry and Parzival. When Gurnamanz breaks them apart and asks, “What has this woman done to you,” the music becomes adagio again through Percival’s fainting, and then becomes allegro when Kundry runs off. This gives the audience a clue to the dynamic between Percival and Kundry, and foreshadows their ongoing struggle. Overall the changes in pace and style support the character’s emotions, which conveys the volatile nature of this meeting. As for the visual elements of the scene, which in my opinion are lacking, the main thing that I latch onto is Kundry’s need to always return to the undergrowth of the forest, to lay and wallow in her weariness and wretched state. The designs, colors, and fabric textures of the costumes also suited the characters, and indicated status. For example, Gurnamanz’s blue robe gives the audience a visual reminder of his royalty. In contrast, the deep dark green and brown hues of Parzival and Kundry’s costumes stir up an earthy, i.e., salt of the earth feeling for me. The director could have used lighting more to indicate mood, and levels to indicate status, and to break up the monotony of three people singing at each other on stage for many, many minutes, but it my experience opera directors generally do not give attention to these kinds of details. Good theatre and musical theatre directors always take advantage of every element of the world onstage to tell the story in the most compelling way.
Wolfram’s Cundrie and Wagner’s Kundry are vastly different. In Wolfram Cundrie first comes to Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. In Wagner, we first see her with Gurnamanz near the Grail Castle. In Wolfram, she is a wise, loyal messenger of the Grail. In Wagner, Gurnamanz describes her as a “dullard,” and there is question about where her loyalty lies: is she working for Klingsor? In Wolfram, she is wealthy and fashionable. In Wagner, she is a wretched “wild woman” and buries herself in leaves, and sleeps in the bed of the forest. Her message is different. In Wolfram, she curses Parzival for failing to fulfill his destiny and ask about the grail. In Wagner, she meets Parzival before he goes into the Grail Castle. Parzival’s is ignorant of his identity, and she reveals it. There are, however, consistencies in the characterizations. In both cases, she is a traveler and versed in Arabic. She is the bearer of truth, brings grief, and chastises Parzival for being a fool. Wolfram describes Cundrie’s message: “Her tidings brought grief to many people” (pg. 132, par. 312), and sums it up: “Her tidings were a bridge carrying grief over joy” (pg. 132, par. 313). In Wagner, Kundry brings grief to Parzival by bearing the news of the death of Parzival’s mother: “she grieves no more his mother is dead” (56:04). She then adds insult to injury by judging Parzival: “she bade me greet you fool” (56:15). Shortly thereafter Parzival faints and the scene ends. Both operate under a veiled purity. Wolfram’s Cundrie is physically unattractive. Wagner’s Kundry is a wild woman, but is fiercely devoted to the Fisher King. She proves her purity in her humility - she will not accept thanks for her devotion (27:00). It is through this consistency of veiled purity, and oddly, a common thread in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, I have gained a better understanding of the key trait of both Cundrie and Kundry: purity. It seems that in the scene leading into this scene Parcival could have been inspiration for the character of Konstantin in Chekhov’s The Seagull. Wagner’s Parzival predates The Seagull by about eighteen years. Konstantin is in love with Nina, and when he kills an innocent seagull for no good reason the bird becomes symbolic of many things, mainly both Konstantin and Nina’s loss of innocence and purity. So in a roundabout way, because of my deep love of Chekhov, and through Chekhov’s parallel to Wagner, I came to have a much deeper understanding of Parzival and Kundry. Nicole Schiro Magee.
-Sophia Heard
I have selected the scene that compares Richard Wagner’s interpretation of Anfortas’ anguish and later healing in “Parsifal” (3:38:00-3:50:00) to Wolfram’s account in Parzival (p.329-333). Wagner’s scene opens with Anfortas being gently placed before the Grail altar by his loyal knights. It is at this moment that the audience finally sees the downcasted King’s face clearly because before it was shrouded shamefully in darkness. As somber and low music plays in the background, Anfortas begins to sing of his suffering, crying out: “Woe be on me!” Implementing an increasingly dejected and melodramatic voice Anfortas continues to tell of his anguish and desire to die. The music then begins to accelerate as the knights suddenly open Titurel’s casket revealing his body to the shock of Anfortas, the other knights, and the audience. Even after Anfortas is shown the body of his father he relentlessly sings of his own pain, simultaneously refusing to be in the Grail’s presence. Although he rejects the Holy Vessel, Anfortas noticeably grieves for his father: “I, who alone longed to die, to you brought death”. Standing their ground upon the dark tomb like stage the knights earnestly wish for Anfortas to gaze upon the Grail in order to save himself and Titurel. At this moment the music takes on urgent mannerisms as Anfortas loudly begs his knights to end his anguish. He desires them to “plunge [their] swords in deep, up to the hilt”. Suddenly, the music goes through many more alterations. As the knights advance upon the King the tune becomes louder and graver, and then quickly changes into a lighter beat of hope once Parzival appears with the Grail Spear, saving Anfortas. No longer is the King melancholic, but raises his head, straightens his body, and begins to walk without a limp.
Although Wagner’s scene and Wolfram’s written interpretation have some similarities, there are discrepancies. The most influential difference is that while both Anfortas in the opera and the prose are in torment the imminent death of one appears more prevalent than the other. In Parzival although the King begs for death and attempts to refuse the presence of the Grail his knights would not let him. Wolfram relayed that Anfortas: “...was carried to the Grail, whether he liked it or not…” (p.330). This moment diverges from the opera because in Wagner’s version Anfortas appears to stand his ground and continuously rebuffs the knights attempts to make him uncover the Grail. So steadfast is Anfortas in his command that even when his father Titurel lay in front of him he refuses to accept The Grail’s healing. One could presume that Wagner’s reason for creating the scene this way was to implement more drama causing the audience to perhaps believe Anfortas might refuse healing, die, and leave the Grail to be forever concealed. Therefore, when Parzival suddenly appears on stage to save the day the climax is reached. An apex that is possibly not arrived at in Wolfram’s version on the Grail story.
-Sophia Heard
Natalie Cormier: 3:39:05-3:44:30
This scene in Parsifal features Anfortas lamenting the death of Titurel and his plea for his own death as well, it ends with his knights using force to keep him alive and Parsifal entering the scene. This corresponds to the opening on book XVI in Parzival on page 329-330 where Anfortas begs for death from his knights but they refuse to grant it to him and insist that he must wait for the second coming of Parzival. In the opera, Titurel has died and the knights have carried the coffin with his body off. The scene begins with a slow, mournful tone with dramatic pauses when Anfortas initially laments Titurel’s death and declares his own desire to follow Titurel into the afterlife in the middle of a circle of his soldiers. Also, note that Anfortas is not hindered in his movement when walking around the stage. The knights that surround the Anfortas on stage sing an oppressive cry that Anfortas must stay alive and for someone to bring the grail so that Anfortas will not be able to die. They rush to restrain Anfortas when he cries for them to stop collapsing and singing in a more forceful tone, he demands that they attack him with their weapons so that he can die. Several soldiers approach him with weapons drawn while Anfortas sings and does Parsifal who has entered the scene with the holy spear. The soldiers draw back as Parsifal hold the spear in front of Anfortas and declares that Anfortas can only be healed with the same weapon.
The opera and the book are glaringly different if only Parzival and Parsifal are compared. In the opera, Titurel has died; in the book, Titurel is still alive at the end of the book because Titurel instructs Firiel how to see the grail. The way in which Anfortas is healed is also different. Parsifal uses the holy spear and the holy grail in order to heal Anfortas while in the book, Parzival only needs to ask the question for Anfortas to be well once again. Furthermore, Anfortas can more around in the opera while in the book he is bedridden. Parisifal/Parzival is the one to heal Anfortas using the holy grail but the scences are much different when looking at details. The death of Titurel allows Anfortas to show a wider range of emotions and rather than making Anfortas only capable of lying in bed and screaming, Anfortas is able to fully express how much he wants to die and how much he is suffering. Furthermore, a spear coming together with the holy grail is much more appealing to a visual audience than a question being asked. A holy spear is also present in other versions of the Parzifal tale. Wagner is trying to appeal to a visual audience and create a wider range of emotions for his character so that the audience is more entertained.
Natalie Cormier: 3:39:05-3:44:30