tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post4435437402287461565..comments2024-02-15T07:56:02.706+00:00Comments on Capriccio: Parsifal at ROH (New Langridge Production)Capricciohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11066947469648187572noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-13371158276729860612013-12-05T04:53:13.615+00:002013-12-05T04:53:13.615+00:00God, there are even more motifs than I remembered!...God, there are even more motifs than I remembered! Klingsor's motif is related to Kundry's - both derive from the minor, chromatic version of the "Grundthema" as you name it (as does Amfortas's motif). The Dresden Amen is a pre existing musical tag that Wagner uses, but it is clearly present within the major version of the Grundthema - (see the 2nd and 4th bars of the Grundthema.)Capricciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11066947469648187572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-77877945404367417872013-12-03T01:22:13.464+00:002013-12-03T01:22:13.464+00:00I've never had the pleasure of seeing Meier in...I've never had the pleasure of seeing Meier in any role live. Good, because I don't constantly have the comparison in my mind, bad because, I've never had the pleasure of seeing Meier in any role live! Sad that she hasn't performed once at the ROH in the last 4 years. <br /><br />I kept wondering if I was not concentrating with Papé but considering the size of the voice, he was consistently hard to understand. I find his sense of line often wayward - I didn't say this in the review, but the huge range of dynamics can actually be a hindrance, where the voice can suddenly dip to nothing for a couple of notes, then back to full volume for the end of the phrase. Finley's transitions are always smooth and maintain the legato, and his diction is just as clear in mezza voce and sotto voce as in full voice. John Tomlinson and Gerald Finley are the two singers who I have encountered live that I have found the easiest to understand, where every word doesn't just reach you, but seems to resonate in your ear.Capricciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11066947469648187572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-52626305396114005112013-12-02T19:14:08.272+00:002013-12-02T19:14:08.272+00:00The 'Grundthema' that appears in the first...The 'Grundthema' that appears in the first 6 bars of the opera contains overlapping fragments that Wagner developed each into a complete motive. For example, the first 4 notes define Parsifal's chord; the first phrase generates several musical ideas used in the Grail scenes; the falling semitone at the end of this phrase, seemingly insignificant, becomes important when developed in the second act; the middle section with the falling fifth becomes the motive of the Wound (Schmerzensfigur); and the rising phrase from A flat to D flat becomes, with the first 3 notes accented, the motive of the Spear. Those 3 notes inverted develop into a motive associated with Amfortas. But you do not have to listen long before new and contrasting musical ideas are heard, which I do not hear as derivatives from the Grundthema; most obviously, the Grail motive (Dresden amen) and the motive of Faith (Glaubensmotiv). These are usually regarded as major motives although the are, at birth, independent of the Grundthema. Several musical ideas heard later in the opera derive not from the Grundthema but from the motive of Faith: one for the angels (Engelthema) and the related motive of Titurel; also the music that is heard in the 3rd act as Parsifal kisses Kundry (not done in this production). The music associated with Klingsor and his Magic (Zaubermotiv) is not obviously related to the Grundthema in any way. But then, before the opera has finished, Wagner has tied all of these musical ideas together, so in the end they become not only interrelated but also interwoven.Sparafucilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906563022957212407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-26811138756524223882013-12-02T18:43:20.950+00:002013-12-02T18:43:20.950+00:00For a long time I was puzzled by the fact that Kun...For a long time I was puzzled by the fact that Kundry does not die in the Good Friday meadow, when Parsifal has washed away her burden of sin (or bad karma if you prefer), so that she escapes from her curse and with it her "endless life of constantly alternating rebirths". I found the explanation, I believe, by comparing Kundry with the Chandala maiden variously called Prakriti or (later) Savitri, in Wagner's scenario for a Buddhist opera, "The Victors". In the final scene of this unwritten opera the Buddha, Shakyamuni, was to admit Prakriti into his community as its first woman; that is, as the first Buddhist nun. So one way of reading the final scene of 'Parsifal' is that the spiritual hero brings the first woman into the temple as a sign that the closed and exclusively male community will open itself to the feminine in mankind; once opened it will never again be closed.Sparafucilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906563022957212407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-38574676585577835702013-12-02T16:17:18.559+00:002013-12-02T16:17:18.559+00:00I'm surprised that Pape was difficult to under...I'm surprised that Pape was difficult to understand, usually (for me) he has superb diction, in German roles at least. I'm interested in Denoke, Kundry sounds like an optimal role for her but still, in this role, I have a really hard time picturing anyone who isn't Waltraud Meier as Kundry. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15419569282940443345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-91720380471652108752013-12-02T00:22:50.303+00:002013-12-02T00:22:50.303+00:00Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I have actual...Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I have actually not read that much about other people's reactions to the work, and it is something which I plan to do soon - I have no idea whether my "problems" are those that others have experienced also. <br /><br />Kundry being admitted into the order - I have never heard of this interpretation, or else I have just missed it. She is allowed into the temple, but is she actually considered a Knight? After her death, do we know that other women will be let in?<br /><br />Not literally every bar in the score comes from the first bars, it's true, but as far as I remember, every major motif can be constructed from it. I'll have to review my score!Capricciohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11066947469648187572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-57515963117869329552013-12-02T00:05:31.477+00:002013-12-02T00:05:31.477+00:00(2) Although as you rightly say the music of '...(2) Although as you rightly say the music of 'Parsifal' is the most integrated and closeknit of all Wagner's operas, the often heard assertion that all of it derives from the opening bars (what I have called the 'Grundthema') is not strictly true (although it is not completely wide of the mark). Most of what I have called "the motivic web" of 'Parsifal' does indeed derive from the Grundthema; obviously the music associated with the domain of the Grail, less obviously the music of Klingsor's domain which in large part consists of chromatic distortions of the former. Parsifal's own theme, which develops through the opera as the character develops himself, is based on the first notes of head of the Grundthema, which defines Parsifal's chord. However, there are some musical ideas that appear later in the score independently of the Grundthema and become integrated with it, rather than developing from. At least, that's what I would argue :-)Sparafucilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906563022957212407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-26950765081165229722013-12-01T23:56:56.371+00:002013-12-01T23:56:56.371+00:00Two comments on your perceptive review. (1) despit...Two comments on your perceptive review. (1) despite what some commentators have written, the end of the opera is not a "restitutio in integrum", i.e. restoring all things as they were. One of the ideas that inspired the 'Ring' was found by Wagner in his reading of Hegel's 'The Philosophy of History'. Although Wagner understood, by his own admission, very little of this book, he grasped the idea that history is cyclic and that each new cycle is brought about by a hero. This is also relevant to 'Parsifal'; in which a spiritual hero brings about a new cycle. However, he does not simply return the community to where it started under Titurel; Parsifal makes a radically new start, signified by the admission of Kundry as the first woman to enter the temple (in my reading of the final scene).Sparafucilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906563022957212407noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5998744234538946992.post-41152998191192908022013-12-01T23:55:06.940+00:002013-12-01T23:55:06.940+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Sparafucilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03906563022957212407noreply@blogger.com