PA RSIFAL " Parsifal," a sacred festival drama with words and music by Richard Wagner, was produced at Bayreuth, July 26, 1882, all but the instrumentation having been completed three years previously. It is the last of the great composer's works and was first witnessed by him only seven months before his death. Partly in deference to a promise made to Wagner, the presentation of " Parsifal " took place for twenty-one years only in Bayreuth. It was for America to have the first complete performance outside of the original theatre, and Dec. 24, 1903, after many passages-at-arms between the promoters and the Bayreuth authorities repre senting Frau Cosima Wagner, it was produced at the Metro politan Opera House, New York, by the company under the management of Heinrich Conried. Later Henry W. Savage prepared a splendid production and presented " Par sifal " in English in forty-seven different cities and towns of the United States.
Amfortas. Titurel. Gurnemanz.
Parsifal. Klingsor. Kundry. The brotherhood of the Grail Knights, esquires, youths and boys, Klingsor's flower maidens.
The Castle of Monsalvat (Salvation), which is the temple of the Holy Grail and the dwelling of the knights who guard it, is placed by Wagner, as by those who have spoken of it before him, in northern Spain. The Holy Grail is the chalice from which Christ drank at the last supper, and in which afterward Joseph of Arimathea, accord ing to one legend, caught the blood which flowed from the Savior's pierced side when He hung upon the cross. To Titurel first was entrusted the care of the cup and spear and it was he who built the temple, instructed the knights chosen to guard it in the duty of leading blameless lives and impressed upon them the invincibility of the spear as long as he who wielded it resisted temptation and kept himself pure. He also taught them to be in readiness to fight for the right and to rescue the weak and the oppressed. When Titurel became old, he resigned the sacred captaincy to his son Amfortas and for many years this trust was faithfully kept. Far and wide went the holy knights, fighting for the good and always winning the victory, for the food which renewed their strength was of sacred origin and they recovered as if by magic from the wounds received in warfare. Many were
the knights who desired to enter the ranks as keepers of the Holy Grail and to share in its marvelous benefits and adven tures. Those whose lives could stand the test were admitted but many were turned away. One of the latter was Klingsor, a magician, whose life could not bear the scrutiny to which it was subjected. His repulse filled his sinful soul with thoughts of revenge and he established himself in the valley beneath Monsalvat and erected there an enchanted castle. He changed the surrounding desert to a magic garden, peopled with sirens of transcendent beauty. Many of the knights of the Grail were beguiled thither and many fell from their high estate. Finally, his wicked triumph was crowned with the fall of the very head of the order itself, for Amfortas, resolved upon ending his enemy's sway, sallied forth armed with the sacred spear and all-confident in his own impreg nability. But Klingsor sent Kundry, fairest of all the hosts of temptresses, and Amfortas, forgetful, yielded to her seductions. To complete the Knight's dishonor, the spear was snatched from him by Klingsor and with it the magician inflicted a wound which would be eased by no remedy. After Amfortas had suffered long, the Grail oracle decreed that help could come only through a guileless fool made wise through fellow-suffering.
All these things have happened when the curtain rises on the quiet woodland glade near the castle of the Grail. It is daybreak and Gurnemanz, one of the aged knights, rouses two young sleeping squires. Across the peaceful fields comes the fierce, wild Kundry dressed in coarse garb and with flying hair. She offers, for the help of Amfortas, a rare balsam from Arabia. Kundry, when in the heavy sleep Klingsor's magic puts upon her, is the beautiful enchantress of the charmed garden but when free from the spell, she is a half-savage silent creature, who, seemingly oppressed by a consciousness of some great sin, seeks to find relief and redemption through performing menial services for the knights of the Grail. She laughs when she fain would weep, she does evil when she longs to accomplish good, and she fears to sleep, for then it is that she falls under Klingsor's baleful influence.