Wagner, with his theatrical sense, was right: this music is not so
impressive when it is performed, no matter how well, outside of the
Bayreuth theater consecrated to the music dramas. We heard _Parsifal_
the year it was produced at Bayreuth. No performance of the prelude has
since awakened the same emotions. There was the silence of deep
devotion; the presence of the worshipers, fanatics in the great
majority; the expectation of marvelous scenes to come as the wailing
first phrase rose from the unseen orchestra. Put this prelude in the
conventional opera house, or in the concert hall, and it cannot be
ranked with Wagner’s greatest works.
* * *
The prelude to _Parsifal_ was composed at Bayreuth in September, 1877.
The first performance was a private one in the hall of the Villa
Wahnfried at Bayreuth, on December 25, 1878, to celebrate the birthday
of Cosima Wagner. The prelude was performed as a morning serenade by the
Meiningen Court Orchestra, led by Wagner. The performance was repeated
the evening of the same day, when guests were invited.
The score and orchestral parts were published in October, 1882.
_Parsifal_, “a stage-consecration-festival play” in three acts, book and
music by Richard Wagner, was first performed at Bayreuth for the
patrons, July 26, 1882. The first public performance was on July 30,
1882. Hermann Levi conducted.
Wagner’s version of the story of Percival, or, as he prefers, Parsifal,
is familiar to all. There is no need in a description of the prelude to
this music drama of telling the simple tale or pondering its symbolism.
The ethical idea of the drama is that enlightenment coming through
conscious pity brings salvation. The clearest and the sanest exposition
of the prelude is that included by Maurice Kufferath in his elaborate
essay, _Parsifal_ (Paris: Fischbacher, 1890). We give portions of this
exposition in a greatly condensed form:
Without preparation the prelude opens with a broad melodic phrase, which
is sung later in the great religious scene of the first act, during the
mystic feast, the Lord’s Supper.
The phrase is sung, at first without accompaniment, in unison by
violins, violoncello, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, _sehr langsam_
(_lento assai_), A flat major, 4-4. This motive is repeated by trumpet,
oboes, and half the first and second violins in unison against rising
and falling _arpeggios_ in the violas and remaining violins, repeated
chords for flutes, clarinets, and English horn, and sustained harmonies
in bassoons and horns. This theme is known as the motive of the “Last
Supper.” The second phrase of the motive is given out and repeated as
before.
Without any other transition than a series of broken chords, the
trombones and the trumpets give out the second theme, the “Grail”
motive, because it serves throughout the music drama to characterize the
worship of the holy relic. It is a very short theme, which afterwards
will enter constantly, sometimes alone, sometimes in company with other
themes, often modified in rhythm, but preserving always its
characteristic harmonies. As William J. Henderson says: “The second
theme of the prelude is that of the Grail itself, which is here
presented to us in a different musical aspect from that of the
_Lohengrin_ score. There the Grail was celebrated as a potency by which
the world was aided, while here it is brought before us as the visible
embodiment of a faith, the memento of a crucified Saviour.”[52] This
theme is not original with Wagner. The ascending progression of sixths,
which forms the conclusion of the theme, is found in the Saxon liturgy
and is in use today in the “Court” Church at Dresden. Mendelssohn
employed it in the _Reformation_ symphony; therefore, zealous admirers
of Mendelssohn have accused Wagner of plagiarism. The two masters, who
knew Dresden well, probably were struck by the harmonic structure of
this conclusion, and they used it, each in his own way. Anyone has a
personal right to this simple formula. The true inventor of the “Amen”
is unknown; the formula has been attributed to Silvani. Its harmonic
nature would indicate that it belongs to the seventeenth century, but
there are analogous progressions in Palestrina’s Masses. The “Grail”
motive is repeated twice.
Then, and again without transition, but with a change of tempo to 6-4,
comes the third motive, that of “Belief.” The brass first proclaims it.
The strings take up the “Grail” theme. The “Belief” motive reappears
four times in succession, in different tonalities.
A roll of drums on A flat is accompanied by a tremolo of double basses,
giving the contra F. The first motive, the “Lord’s Supper,” enters first
(wood-wind, afterwards in the violoncellos). This time the motive is not
completed. Wagner stops at the third measure and takes a new subject,
which is repeated several times with increasing expression of sorrow.
There is, then, a fourth theme derived from the “Lord’s Supper” motive.
The first two measures, which are found in simpler form and without the
appoggiatura in the “Supper” theme, will serve hereafter to characterize
more particularly the “Holy Lance” that pierced the side of Christ and
also caused the wound of Amfortas, the lance that drew the sacred blood
which was turned into the communion wine; the lance that fell into the
hands of Klingsor, the Magician.
At the moment when this fourth theme, which suggests the sufferings of
Christ and Amfortas, bursts forth from the whole orchestra, the Prelude
has its climax. This prelude, like unto that of _Lohengrin_, is
developed by successive degrees until it reaches a maximum of
expression, and there is a _diminuendo_ to _pianissimo_.
Thus the synthesis of the whole drama has been clearly exposed. That
which remains is only a peroration, a logical, necessary conclusion,
brought about by the ideas expressed by the different themes. It is by
the sight of suffering that Parsifal learns pity and saves Amfortas. It
is the motive of the “Lord’s Supper” that signifies both devotion and
sacrifice; that is to say Love, and Love is the conclusion. The last
chords of the expiring lament lead back gently to the first two measures
of the “Lord’s Supper” motive, which, repeated from octave to octave on
a pedal (E flat), end in a series of ascending chords, a prayer, or a
supplication. Is there hope? The drama gives the answer to this question
full of anguish.
The prelude is scored for three flutes, three oboes, English horn, three
clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, double bassoon, four horns,
three trumpets, three trombones, bass tuba, kettledrums, and strings.
“GOOD FRIDAY SPELL,” FROM “PARSIFAL”
When Parsifal turns slowly towards the meadow, a hymn of tender
thanksgiving arises from the orchestra. The melody is played by flute
and oboe, which muted strings sustain. In the development of this theme
occur several figures—“Kundry’s Sigh,” the “Holy Supper,” the “Spear,”
the “Grail” harmonies, the “Complaint of the Flower Girls,” which are
all finally absorbed in the “Good Friday” melody. This pastoral is
suddenly interrupted by the sound of distant bells, sounding mournfully
from afar.
Gurnemanz and Kundry robe Parsifal. They set out for Montsalvat.
When Gurnemanz blesses Parsifal and salutes him king, horns, trumpets,
and trombones play the “Parsifal” motive, which is developed imposingly
and ends with the “Grail” theme, intoned by the whole orchestra
_fortissimo_. A series of chords leads to the motives of “Baptism” and
“Faith.”
CARL MARIA
VON WEBER
(Born at Eutin, Oldenburg, December 18, 1786; died at London, June 5,
1826)
Mr. William Apthorp frequently spoke of the “Weberian flourish,” of the
chivalric spirit shown, not only in Weber’s overtures to _Euryanthe_ and
_Oberon_, but in much of his music for the piano. Weber’s operas are
wholly unknown as stage works to the younger generation. _Oberon_ is a
dull opera, with some beautiful music. _Euryanthe_, too, is dull, dull
beyond redemption, although at Dresden years ago we saw a most carefully
prepared performance, for the cult of Weber in that city was then firmly
established, and nowhere else was Der Freischütz so admirably performed.
Yet Weber was a mighty man in his day, influencing composers of other
countries than his own, praised to the skies by Berlioz and Wagner. The
latter had good reason for his enthusiasm; the influence of _Euryanthe_
is observed in his early operas. Weber was a romanticist of the E. T. A.
Hoffmann order. The music for the scene of the Wolf’s Glen in _Der
Freischütz_ is in no need of fireworks and ghostly apparitions for its
terrifying effects. There is charming fairy music in _Oberon_. Then
there is the mysterious _largo_ in the _Euryanthe_ overture. The grand
arias, the set pieces for a soprano, with the final _allegro_ section
better suited to an orchestral instrument than the human voice, are now
singularly out of fashion, but what could be better as music for a
particular text than that for the opening scenes of _Der Freischütz_?
The three overtures will long preserve the composer’s name.