PARSIFAL.

“Parsifal,” a “Buehnenweihfestspiel” (festival acting-drama), words by Wagner, was concluded in 1879, and first produced at Baireuth, July 22, 1882, only about seven months before the distinguished composer’s death, with Mme. Friedrich-Materna as Kundry, Herr Winckelmann as Parsifal, and Herr Scaria as Gurnemanz.

The theme of the opera is taken from the cycle of Holy Grail myths to which “Lohengrin” also belongs.  The reader will remember that Lohengrin in his final address declares himself son of Parsifal, the King of the Grail; and it is with this Parsifal that Wagner’s last work is concerned.  Parsifal, like Siegfried, represents free human nature in its spontaneous, impulsive action.  He is styled in the text, “Der reine Thor” (the guileless fool), who, in consonance with the old mythological idea, overcomes the evil principle and gains the crown by dint of pure natural impulse.  The opera differs widely from “The Nibelung Ring.”  The composer has used the free instead of the alliterative form of verse, which he then contended was best adapted to musical setting.  In “The Ring” the chorus is not introduced at all until the last division is reached, while in “Parsifal” it plays an important part in every act, in the second scene of the first act there being three choirs on the stage at a time.  Still there is no trace of the aria, the duet, or the recitative, of the Italian style, though there is plenty of concerted music, which grows out of the dramatic necessities of the situations.  When these necessities do not urge themselves, the music flows on in dialogue form, as in “The Ring.”

The vorspiel is based upon three motives connected with the mystery of the Grail, which forms the key-note of the opera, though in a different aspect from that which the Grail assumes in “Lohengrin,” where it can only be visible to the eye of faith, while in “Parsifal” it distinctly performs its wonders.  Let it be remembered that the Grail is the chalice from which Christ drank with his disciples at the Last Supper, and in which his blood was received at the cross.  The first of these motives is of the same general character as the Grail motive in the “Lohengrin” vorspiel; the second is an impressive phrase for trumpets and trombones, which will be heard again when the Knights of the Grail are summoned to their duties; and the third is a broad, dignified melody in the chorale form.

The action of the drama occurs in the north of Spain, and in the vicinity of Monsalvat, the Castle of the Holy Grail, where this chalice was brought by angels when Christianity was in danger.  The curtain rises upon a lovely forest glade on the borders of a lake, at daybreak, and discovers the Grail Knight, Gurnemanz, and two young shield-bearers, guardians of the castle, sleeping at the foot of a tree.  Trumpet-calls, repeating the motive first heard in the prelude, arouse them from their sleep; and as