Editing Parsifal (section)

==Music==
[[File:Wagner - Parsifal - Margaret Matzenauer as Kundry - The Victrola book of the opera.jpg|thumb|[[Margaret Matzenauer]] as Kundry. She made her unexpected debut in the role in 1912 at the New York Met.]]

===Leitmotifs===
A ''[[leitmotif]]'' is a recurring musical theme within a particular piece of music, associated with a particular character, object, event or emotion. Wagner is the composer most often associated with leitmotifs, and ''Parsifal'' makes liberal use of them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.monsalvat.no/music.htm |title=Introduction to the Music of ''Parsifal'' |author=Everett, Derrick |access-date=February 18, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004172501/http://www.monsalvat.no/music.htm |archive-date=October 4, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Wagner did not specifically identify or name leitmotifs in the score of ''Parsifal'' (any more than he did in any other of his scores), although his wife Cosima mentions statements he made about some of them in her diary.{{sfnp|Thorau|2009|pp=136–139}} However, Wagner's followers (notably [[Hans von Wolzogen]] whose guide to ''Parsifal'' was published in 1882) named, wrote about and made references to these motifs, and they were highlighted in piano arrangements of the score.<ref>''Cosima Wagner's Diaries'', tr. [[Geoffrey Skelton]]. Collins, 1980. Entries for 11 August, 5 December 1877.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bhq8950/large/index.html |title=Parsifal |author=Wagner, Richard |publisher=Schirmer|location=New York|access-date=February 18, 2010 }}</ref> Wagner's own reaction to such naming of motifs in the score was one of disgust: "In the end people believe that such nonsense happens by my suggestion."<ref>Cosima Wagner's diary, 1 August 1881.{{full citation needed|date=September 2021|reason=Is this from Skelton 1980?}}</ref>

The opening prelude introduces two important leitmotifs, generally referred to as the ''Communion'' theme and the theme of the ''Grail''. These two, and Parsifal's own motif, are repeated during the course of the opera. Other characters, especially Klingsor, Amfortas, and "The Voice", which sings the so-called ''Tormotif'' ("Fool's motive"), have their own particular leitmotifs. Wagner uses the [[Dresden amen]] to represent the Grail, this motif being a sequence of notes he would have known since his childhood in [[Dresden]].

===Chromaticism===
Many music theorists have used ''Parsifal'' to explore difficulties in [[musical analysis|analyzing]] the [[chromaticism]] of late 19th century music. Theorists such as [[David Lewin]] and [[Richard Cohn]] have explored the importance of certain pitches and harmonic progressions both in structuring and symbolizing the work.<ref>[[David Lewin]], "Amfortas' Prayer to Titurel and the Role of D in ''Parsifal'': The Tonal Spaces of the Drama and the Enharmonic Cb/B," in ''Studies in Music with Text'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 183–200.</ref>{{sfnp|Cohn|1996}} The unusual harmonic progressions in the leitmotifs which structure the piece, as well as the heavy chromaticism of act 2, make it a difficult work to parse musically.

===Notable excerpts===
As is common in mature Wagner operas, ''Parsifal'' was composed such that each act was a continuous flow of music; hence there are no free-standing [[aria]]s in the work. However, a number of orchestral excerpts from the opera were arranged by Wagner himself, and remain in the concert repertory. The prelude to act 1 is frequently performed either alone or in conjunction with an arrangement of the "Good Friday" music which accompanies the second half of act 3, scene 1. Kundry's long solo in act 2 ("{{Lang|de|Ich sah das Kind|italic=no}}") is occasionally performed in concert, as is Amfortas' lament from act 1 ("{{Lang|de|Wehvolles Erbe|italic=no}}").

===Instrumentation===
The score for ''Parsifal'' calls for three [[flute]]s, three [[oboe]]s, one [[cor anglais|English horn]], three [[clarinet]]s in B-flat and A, one [[bass clarinet]] in B-flat and A, three [[bassoon]]s, one [[contrabassoon]]; four [[French horn|horns]] in F, three [[trumpet]]s in F, three [[trombone]]s, one [[tuba]], 6 onstage trumpets in F, 6 onstage trombones; a percussion section that includes four [[timpani]] (requiring two players), [[tenor drum]]s, 4 onstage [[church bell]]s, one onstage [[thunder machine (instrument)|thunder machine]]; two [[harp]]s and [[string section|strings]]. ''Parsifal'' is one of only two works by Wagner in which he used the [[contrabassoon]]. (The other is the ''Symphony in C''.)

The bells that draw the knights to the Grail ceremony at Monsalvat in acts 1 and 3 have often proved problematic to stage. For the earlier performances of ''Parsifal'' in Bayreuth, Wagner had the [[Parsifal bell]], a piano frame with four strings, constructed as a substitute for church bells. For the first performances, the bells were combined with [[gong|tam-tam]] and gongs. However, the bell was used with the tuba, four tam-tams tuned to the pitch of the four chime notes and another tam-tam on which a roll is executed by using a drumstick. In modern-day performances, the Parsifal bell has been replaced with [[tubular bells]] or [[synthesizer]]s to produce the desired notes. The thunder machine is used in the moment of the destruction of Klingsor's castle.

===Recordings===
{{main|Parsifal discography{{!}}''Parsifal'' discography}}
''Parsifal'' was expressly composed for the stage at [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|Bayreuth]] and many of the most famous recordings of the opera come from live performances on that stage. In the pre-[[LP record|LP]] era, [[Karl Muck]] conducted excerpts from the opera at Bayreuth. These are still considered some of the best performances of the opera on disc. They also contain the only sound evidence of the bells constructed for the work's premiere, which were melted down for scrap during [[World War II]].

[[Hans Knappertsbusch]] was the conductor most closely associated with ''Parsifal'' at Bayreuth in the post-war years, and the performances under his baton in 1951 marked the re-opening of the [[Bayreuth Festival]] after World War II. These historic performances were recorded and are available on the Teldec label in mono sound. Knappertsbusch recorded the opera again for Philips in 1962 in stereo, and this release is often considered to be the classic ''Parsifal'' recording.<ref>Holloway, Robin (1982) ''Opera on Record'', Harper and Row {{ISBN|0-06-090910-2}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}} There are also many "unofficial" live recordings from Bayreuth, capturing virtually every ''Parsifal'' cast ever conducted by Knappertsbusch. Pierre Boulez (1971) and James Levine (1985) have also made recordings of the opera at Bayreuth that were released on Deutsche Grammophon and Philips. The Boulez recording is one of the fastest on record, and the Levine one of the slowest.

Amongst other recordings, those conducted by [[Georg Solti]], [[James Levine]] (with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), [[Herbert von Karajan]], and [[Daniel Barenboim]] (the latter two both conducting the [[Berlin Philharmonic]]) have been widely praised.<ref>[[Alan Blyth|Blyth, Alan]] (1992), ''Opera on CD'' Kyle Cathie Ltd, {{ISBN|1-85626-056-9}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2020}} The Karajan recording was voted "Record of the Year" in the 1981 [[Gramophone Award]]s. Also highly regarded is a recording of ''Parsifal'' under the baton of [[Rafael Kubelík]] originally made for Deutsche Grammophon, now reissued on Arts & Archives.

On the 14 December 2013 broadcast of [[BBC Radio 3#CD Review|BBC Radio 3's CD Review – Building a Library]], music critic David Nice surveyed recordings of ''Parsifal'' and recommended the recording by the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Rafael Kubelik (conductor), as the best available choice.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nice|first=David|title=Wagner 200 Building a Library: ''Parsifal''|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ln1xd|work=CD Review|publisher=BBC Radio 3|access-date=26 December 2013}}</ref>

===Filmed versions===
In addition to a number of [[Parsifal videography|staged performances available on DVD]], ''Parsifal'' was adapted for the screen by [[Daniel Mangrané]] [[The Evil Forest|in 1951]] and [[Hans-Jürgen Syberberg]] [[Parsifal (1982 film)|in 1982]]. There is also a 1998 documentary directed by [[Tony Palmer (director)|Tony Palmer]] titled: ''Parsifal – The Search for the Grail''. It was recorded in various European theaters, including the [[Mariinsky Theatre]], the [[Ravello Festival]] in [[Siena]], and the [[Bayreuth Festival]]. It contains extracts from Palmer's stage production of ''Parsifal'' starring [[Plácido Domingo]], [[Violeta Urmana]], [[Matti Salminen]], {{ill|Nikolai Putilin|ru|Путилин, Николай Георгиевич}}, and [[Anna Netrebko]]. In also includes interviews with Domingo, [[Wolfgang Wagner]], writers Robert Gutman and [[Karen Armstrong]]. The film exists in two versions: (1) a complete version running 116 minutes and officially approved by Domingo, and (2) an 88-minute version, with cuts of passages regarded by the German distributor as being too "political", "uncomfortable", and "irrelevant".<ref>{{cite web|title=Parsifal – The Search for the Grail|url=http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Tony%2BPalmer%2BFilms/TPDVD167|publisher=Presto Classical Limited|access-date=13 July 2012|archive-date=2 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802204255/http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Tony%2BPalmer%2BFilms/TPDVD167|url-status=dead}}</ref>