From a photograph.
]
A very large deficit caused Wagner to try the experiment of grand
concerts in London in 1877; but he made only $3,000 out of that venture.
Wagner’s last work was now well under way. Early in life, as already
noted, he had read Wolfram von Eschenbach’s “Parzival,” and in 1857, at
Zurich, he began his own “Parsifal,” with a sketch of the Good Friday
music. The completed libretto was published Dec. 25, 1877. The sketch of
the first act was finished early in 1878, and the whole was completed
April 25, 1879. The instrumentation was finished at Palermo, Jan. 13,
1882.[7] The first performance took place at Bayreuth on July 25, 1882,
and the work was given altogether sixteen times that summer. The
performers who alternated in the principal parts were as follows:
Parsifal, Winklemann, Gudehus, and Jäger; Kundry, Materna, Brandt, and
Malten; Gurnemanz, Scaria and Siehr; Amfortas, Reichmann and Fuchs;
Klingsor, Hill, Degele, and Plank. Conductors, Hermann Levi and Franz
Fischer. “Parsifal” was assailed fiercely by the now numerous opponents
of Wagner’s musical system, but it has continued to draw great crowds to
Bayreuth years after its creator’s death. The power of this and the
other dramas was due not only to their inherent truth and beauty, but
also to the manner of their production. As an American newspaper
correspondent (W. S. B. Mathews) wrote:—
“‘Parsifal,’ as here given, is a revelation. The performance is of such
a consistently elevated character, and so evenly carried out in every
department, as to make one realize that in his whole life he has never
before witnessed an artistic presentation of opera.”
[Illustration: