Editing Parsifal (section)

===Racism debate===
{{Further|Wagner controversies}}
Some writers see in the opera a promotion of [[racism]] or [[antisemitism]].{{sfnp|Gutman|1990|p={{page needed|date=July 2020}}}}{{sfnp|Weiner|1997|p={{page needed|date=July 2020}}}} One line of argument suggests that ''Parsifal'' was written in support of the ideas of the French diplomat and racial theorist Count [[Arthur de Gobineau]], expressed most extensively in his ''[[Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races]]''. Parsifal is proposed as the "pure-blooded" (i.e. [[Aryan Race|Aryan]]) hero who overcomes Klingsor, who is perceived as a Jewish stereotype, particularly since he opposes the quasi-Christian knights of the Grail. Such claims remain heavily debated, since there is nothing explicit in the libretto to support them.<ref name=Gregor-Dellin_477ff. /><ref>Borchmeyer, Dieter (2003). ''Drama and the World of Richard Wagner'', [[Princeton University Press]]. {{ISBN|0-691-11497-8}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monsalvat.no/racism.htm |title=Parsifal and race |author=Everett, Derrick |access-date=February 18, 2010 }}</ref> Wagner never mentions such ideas in his many writings, and Cosima Wagner's diaries, which relate in great detail Wagner's thoughts over the last 14 years of his life (including the period covering the composition and first performance of ''Parsifal'') never mention any such intention.<ref name="Magee">{{harvp|Magee|2002|pp=371–380}}</ref> Having met Gobineau for the first time very briefly in 1876, it was nonetheless only in 1880 that Wagner read Gobineau's essay.{{sfnp|Gutman|1990|p=406}} However, the libretto for ''Parsifal'' had already been completed by 1877, and the original drafts of the story even date back to 1857. Besides the question of chronology, an eventual meeting in person between Wagner and Gobineau was also accompanied by mutual disagreements and quarrels;{{sfnp|Bell|2013|pp=131–132}}{{sfnp|Hofmann|2003|pp=287–288}}{{sfnp|Borchmeyer|2003|pp=257–259}} e.g., on 3 June 1881 Wagner is reported to have "exploded in favour of Christian theories in contrast to racial ones".{{sfnp|Bell|2013|pp=131–132}}{{sfnp|Hofmann|2003|pp=287–288}} Despite this, Gobineau is sometimes cited as an inspiration for ''Parsifal''.<ref>[[Theodor W. Adorno|Adorno, Theodor]] (1952). ''In Search of Wagner''. Verso, {{ISBN|1-84467-500-9}}, pbk.{{page needed|date=July 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Deathridge|first=John|author-link=John Deathridge|chapter=Strange love; or, How we learned to stop worrying and love Wagner's ''Parsifal''|pages=65–83|title=Western Music and Race|editor=Julie Brown|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-521-83887-0}}</ref>

The related question of whether the opera contains a specifically antisemitic message is also debated.{{sfnp|Deathridge|2008|pp=166–169}} Some of Wagner's contemporaries and commentators (e.g. [[Hans von Wolzogen]] and [[Ernest Newman]]) who analysed ''Parsifal'' at length, make no mention of any antisemitic interpretations.<ref>[[Hans von Wolzogen]], ''Thematic Guide Through the Music of Parsifal: with a preface upon the legendary material of the Wagnerian drama'', Schirmer, 1904.</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}}<ref>[[Ernest Newman]], ''A Study of Wagner'', Dobell, 1899. .</ref> However the critics [[Paul Lindau]] and Max Nordbeck, present at the world premiere, noted in their reviews how the work accorded with Wagner's anti-Jewish sentiments.{{sfnp|Rose|1992|pp=168 f}} Similar interpretive conflict continues even today; some of the more recent commentators continue to highlight the perceived antisemitic or anti-Judaic nature of the opera,<ref>E.g. {{harvp|Zelinsky|1982|loc=passim}}, {{harvp|Rose|1992|pp=135, 158–169}} and {{harvp|Weiner|1997|loc=passim}}.</ref> and find correspondences with antisemitic passages found in Wagner's writings and articles of the period, while others deny such claims,{{sfnp|Borchmeyer|2003|pp=245–246, 249, 255, 367–368}}{{sfnp|Magee|2002|pp=279–280, 371–380}} seeing for example the opposition between the realm of the Grail and Klingsor's domain as portraying a conflict between the sphere embodying the world-view of Wagner's Schopenhauerian Christianity and a pagan sphere more generally.{{sfnp|Borchmeyer|2003|pp=245–246, 249, 255}}

[[File:DR 1933 507 Nothilfe Wagner Parsifal.jpg|thumb|German stamp showing Parsifal with the Grail, November 1933]]

The conductor of the premiere was [[Hermann Levi]], the court conductor at the [[Bavarian State Opera|Munich Opera]]. Since [[Ludwig II of Bavaria|King Ludwig]] was sponsoring the production, much of the orchestra was drawn from the ranks of the Munich Opera, including the conductor. Wagner objected to ''Parsifal'' being conducted by a Jew (Levi's father was in fact a [[rabbi]]). Wagner first suggested that Levi should convert to Christianity, which Levi declined to do.{{sfnp|Newman|1976|loc=IV 635}} Wagner then wrote to King Ludwig that he had decided to accept Levi despite the fact that (he alleged) he had received complaints that "of all pieces, this most Christian of works" should be conducted by a Jew. When the King expressed his satisfaction at this, replying that "human beings are basically all brothers", Wagner wrote to the king angrily: "If I have friendly and sympathetic dealings with many of these people, it is only because I consider the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure humanity and all that is noble about it (sic)".{{sfnp|Bell|2013|p=207}} 

Seventy-one years later, the Jewish bass-baritone [[George London (bass-baritone)|George London]] performed in the role of Amfortas at ''[[Bayreuth Festival#New festival|Neu Bayreuth]]'', causing some controversy.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=36SoQl_1iyEC&dq=george+london+jewish+amfortas&pg=PA37 ''Of Gods and Demons''] by Nora London, volume 9 of the "Great Voices" series, published by Baskerville Publishers, p. 37.</ref>

It has been claimed that ''Parsifal'' was denounced as being "ideologically unacceptable" in [[Nazi Germany]]{{sfnp|Spotts|1994|p=166}} and that the Nazis placed a de facto ban on ''Parsifal''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monsalvat.no/banned.htm |title=The 1939 Ban on ''Parsifal''|author=Everett, Derrick |access-date=February 18, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="Spotts, 1994, page 192">{{harvp|Spotts|1994|p=192}}</ref> because of what many scholars see as the presence of themes such as compassion, Schopenhauerian negation of the will, renunciation of desires, asceticism and even non-violence and anti-militarism in the work's libretto.{{sfnp|Berger|2017|pp=339–345}}{{sfnp|Hofmann|2003|pp=267–291}}{{sfnp|Magee|2002|pp=264–285}}{{sfnp|Beckett|1981|pp=133–138}}{{sfnp|Kinderman|2013|p=211}}{{sfnp|Bell|2013|pp=269–270}}{{sfnp|Borchmeyer|2003|pp=238–260}}{{sfnp|Aberbach|2003|pp=321–324}}{{sfnp|Kienzle|2005|pp=91–95, 128–130}} Some of the Nazi officials and leaders may have had certain doubts about the work.{{sfnp|Bell|2013|pp=230–231}}{{sfnp|Kinderman|2005|pp=174–175}} In his 1930 book ''[[The Myth of the Twentieth Century]]'' the Nazi ideologue [[Alfred Rosenberg]] expressed the view that "''Parsifal'' represents a church-influenced enfeeblement in favour of the value of renunciation".{{sfnp|Kinderman|2013|p=26}}{{sfnp|Kinderman|2005|p=174}} According to [[Joseph Goebbels]]' [[Goebbels Diaries|diaries]], [[Adolf Hitler]] too had apparently some reservations about ''Parsifal'',{{sfnp|Magee|2002|p=366}} particularly about what he called its "Christian mystical style".{{sfnp|Deathridge|2008|pp=173–174}}{{sfnp|Bell|2013|p=230}} Despite this, there were in fact 26 performances at the Bayreuth Festival between 1934 and 1939<ref>[[Bayreuth Festival]]: ''[https://archive.today/20160417194629/http://www.bayreuther-festspiele.de/statistiken/auff%FChrungen_sortiert_nach_inszenierungen_309.html#1931 Aufführungen sortiert nach Inszenierungen]'', retrieved 2 April 2017</ref> and 23 performances at the [[Deutsche Oper Berlin]] between 1939 and 1942.{{sfnp|Deathridge|2008|pp=173–174}} However, ''Parsifal'' was not performed at Bayreuth during World War II,<ref name="Spotts, 1994, page 192"/> a significant omission since the work, with the exception of one year, had been an annual fixture of the Festival since 1882.{{sfnp|Berger|2017|p=357}}{{sfnp|Kinderman|2005|pp=174–175}}