Act I. One of the sturdiest of the knights, the aged _Gurnemanz_, grey
of head and beard, watches near the outskirts of the forest. One dawn finds him seated under a majestic tree. Two young _Esquires_ lie in slumber at his feet. Far off, from the direction of the castle, sounds a solemn reveille.
"Hey! Ho!" _Gurnemanz_ calls with brusque humour to the _Esquires_. "Not forest, but sleep warders I deem you!" The youths leap to their feet; then, hearing the solemn reveille, kneel in prayer. The Motive of Peace echoes their devotional thoughts. A wondrous peace seems to rest upon the scene. But the transgression of the _King_ ever breaks the tranquil spell. For soon two _Knights_ come in the van of the train that thus early bears the _King_ from a bed of suffering to the forest lake nearby, in whose waters he would bathe his wound. They pause to parley with _Gurnemanz_, but are interrupted by outcries from the youths and sounds of rushing through air.
"Mark the wild horsewoman!"--"The mane of the devil's mare flies madly!"--"Aye, 'tis Kundry!"--"She has swung herself off," cry the _Esquires_ as they watch the approach of the strange creature that now rushes in--a woman clad in coarse, wild garb girdled high with a snake-skin, her thick black hair tumbling about her shoulders, her features swarthy, her dark eyes now flashing, now fixed and glassy. Precipitately she thrusts a small crystal flask into _Gurnemanz's_ hand.
"Balsam--for the king!" There is a savagery in her manner that seems designed to ward off thanks, when _Gurnemanz_ asks her whence she has brought the flask, and she replies: "From farther away than your thought can travel. If it fail, Arabia bears naught else that can ease his pain. Ask no further. I am weary."
Throwing herself upon the ground and resting her face on her hands, she watches the _King_ borne in, replies to his thanks for the balsam with a wild, mocking laugh, and follows him with her eyes as they bear him on his litter toward the lake, while _Gurnemanz_ and four _Esquires_ remain behind.
_Kundry's_ rapid approach on her wild horse is accompanied by a furious gallop in the orchestra.
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Then, as she rushes upon the stage, the =Kundry Motive=--a headlong descent of the string instruments through four octaves--is heard.
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_Kundry's_ action in seeking balsam for the _King's_ wound gives us insight into the two contradictory natures represented by her character. For here is the woman who has brought all his suffering upon _Amfortas_ striving to ease it when she is free from the evil sway of _Klingsor_. She is at times the faithful messenger of the Grail; at times the evil genius of its defenders.
When _Amfortas_ is borne in upon a litter there is heard the =Motive of Amfortas's Suffering=, expressive of his physical and mental agony. It has a peculiar heavy, dragging rhythm, as if his wound slowly were sapping his life.
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A beautiful idyl is played by the orchestra when the knights bear _Amfortas_ to the forest lake.
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One of the youths, who has remained with _Gurnemanz_, noting that _Kundry_ still lies where she had flung herself upon the ground, calls out scornfully, "Why do you lie there like a savage beast?"
"Are not even the beasts here sacred?" she retorts, but harshly, and not as if pleading for sufferance. The other _Esquires_ would have joined in harassing her had not _Gurnemanz_ stayed them.
"Never has she done you harm. She serves the Grail, and only when she remains long away, none knows in what distant lands, does harm come to us." Then, turning to where she lies, he asks: "Where were you wandering when our leader lost the Sacred Spear? Why were you not here to help us then?"
"I never help!" is her sullen retort, although a tremor, as if caused by a pang of bitter reproach, passes over her frame.
"If she wants to serve the Grail, why not send her to recover the Sacred Spear!" exclaims one of the _Esquires_ sarcastically; and the youths doubtless would have resumed their nagging of _Kundry_, had not mention of the holy weapon caused _Gurnemanz_ to give voice to memories of the events that have led to its capture by _Klingsor_. Then, yielding to the pressing of the youths who gather at his feet beneath the tree, he tells them of _Klingsor_--how the sorcerer has sued for admission to the Grail brotherhood, which was denied him by _Titurel_, how in revenge he has sought its destruction and now, through possession of the Sacred Spear, hopes to compass it.
Prominent with other motives already heard, is a new one, the =Klingsor Motive=:
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During this recital _Kundry_ still lies upon the ground, a sullen, forbidding looking creature. At the point when _Gurnemanz_ tells of the sorcerer's magic garden and of the enchantress who has lured _Amfortas_ to his downfall, she turns in quick, angry unrest, as if she would away, but is held to the spot by some dark and compelling power. There is indeed something strange and contradictory in this wild creature, who serves the Grail by ranging distant lands in search of balsam for the _King's_ wound, yet abruptly, vindictively almost, repels proffered thanks, and is a sullen and unwilling listener to _Gurnemanz's_ narrative. Furthermore, as _Gurnemanz_ queried, where does she linger during those long absences, when harm has come to the warders of the Grail and now to their _King_? The Knights of the Grail do not know it, but it is none other than she who, changed by _Klingsor_ into an enchantress, lures them into his magic garden.
_Gurnemanz_ concludes by telling the _Esquire_ that while _Amfortas_ was praying for a sign as to who could heal him, phantom lips pronounced these words:
By pity lightened The guileless fool; Wait for him, My chosen tool.
This introduces an important motive, that of the =Prophecy=, a phrase of simple beauty, as befits the significance of the words to which it is sung. _Gurnemanz_ sings the entire motive and then the _Esquires_ take it up.
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They have sung only the first two lines when suddenly their prayerful voices are interrupted by shouts of dismay from the direction of the lake. A moment later a wounded swan, one of the sacred birds of the Grail brotherhood, flutters over the stage and falls dead near _Gurnemanz_. The knights follow in consternation. Two of them bring _Parsifal_, whom they have seized and accuse of murdering the sacred bird. As he appears the magnificent =Parsifal Motive= rings out on the horns:
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It is a buoyant and joyous motive, full of the wild spirit and freedom of this child of nature, who knows nothing of the Grail and its brotherhood or the sacredness of the swan, and freely boasts of his skilful marksmanship. During this episode the Swan Motive from "Lohengrin" is effectively introduced. Then follows _Gurnemanz's_ noble reproof, sung to a broad and expressive melody. Even the animals are sacred in the region of the Grail and are protected from harm. _Parsifal's_ gradual awakening to a sense of wrong is one of the most touching scenes of the music-drama. His childlike grief when he becomes conscious of the pain he has caused is so simple and pathetic that one cannot but be deeply affected.
After _Gurnemanz_ has ascertained that _Parsifal_ knows nothing of the wrong he committed in killing the swan he plies him with questions concerning his parentage. _Parsifal_ is now gentle and tranquil. He tells of growing up in the woods, of running away from his mother to follow a cavalcade of knights who passed along the edge of the forest and of never having seen her since. In vain he endeavours to recall the many pet names she gave him. These memories of his early days introduce the sad motive of his mother, =Herzeleid= (Heart's Sorrow) who has died in grief.
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The old knight then proceeds to ply _Parsifal_ with questions regarding his parentage, name, and native land. "I do not know," is the youth's invariable answer. His ignorance, coupled, however, with his naïve nobility of bearing and the fact that he has made his way to the Grail domain, engender in _Gurnemanz_ the hope that here at last is the "guileless fool" for whom prayerfully they have been waiting, and the _King_, having been borne from the lake toward the castle where the holy rite of unveiling the Grail is to be celebrated that day, thither _Gurnemanz_ in kindly accents bids the youth follow him.
Then occurs a dramatically effective change of scene. The scenery becomes a panorama drawn off toward the right, and as _Parsifal_ and _Gurnemanz_ face toward the left they appear to be walking in that direction. The forest disappears; a cave opens in rocky cliffs and conceals the two; they are then seen again in sloping passages which they appear to ascend. Long sustained trombone notes softly swell; approaching peals of bells are heard. At last they arrive at a mighty hall which loses itself overhead in a high vaulted dome, down from which alone the light streams in.
The change of scene is ushered in by the solemn =Bell Motive=, which is the basis of the powerful orchestral interlude accompanying the panorama, and also of the scene in the hall of the Grail Castle.
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As the communion, which is soon to be celebrated, is broken in upon by the violent grief and contrition of _Amfortas_, so the majestic sweep of this symphony is interrupted by the agonized =Motive of Contrition=, which graphically portrays the spiritual suffering of the _King_.
This subtly suggests the Elegiac Motive and the Motive of Amfortas's Suffering, but in greatly intensified degrees. For it is like an outcry of torture that affects both body and soul.
With the Motive of the Sacrament resounding solemnly upon the trombones, followed by the Bell Motive, sonorous and powerful, _Gurnemanz_ and _Parsifal_ enter the hall, the old knight giving the youth a position from which he can observe the proceedings. From the deep colonnades on either side in the rear the knights issue, march with stately tread, and arrange themselves at the horseshoe-shaped table, which incloses a raised couch. Then, while the orchestra plays a solemn processional based on the Bell Motive, they intone the chorus: "To the last love feast." After the first verse a line of pages crosses the stage and ascend into the dome. The graceful interlude here is based on the Bell Motive.
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The chorus of knights closes with a glorious outburst of the Grail Motive as _Amfortas_ is borne in, preceded by pages who bear the covered Grail. The _King_ is lifted upon the couch and the holy vessel is placed upon the stone table in front of it. When the Grail Motive has died away amid the pealing of the bells, the youths in the gallery below the dome sing a chorus of penitence based upon the Motive of Contrition. Then the Motive of Faith floats down from the dome as an unaccompanied chorus for boys' voices--a passage of ethereal beauty--the orchestra whispering a brief postludium like a faint echo. This is, when sung as it was at Bayreuth, where I heard the first performance of "Parsifal" in 1882, the most exquisite effect of the whole score. For spirituality it is unsurpassed. It is an absolutely perfect example of religious music--a beautiful melody without the slightest worldly taint.
_Titurel_ now summons _Amfortas_ to perform his sacred office--to uncover the Grail. At first, tortured by contrition for his sin, of which the agony from his wound is a constant reminder, he refuses to obey his aged father's summons. In anguish he cries out that he is unworthy of the sacred office. But again ethereal voices float down from the dome. They now chant the prophecy of the "guileless fool" and, as if comforted by the hope of ultimate redemption, _Amfortas_ uncovers the Grail. Dusk seems to spread over the hall. Then a ray of brilliant light darts down upon the sacred vessel, which shines with a soft purple radiance that diffuses itself through the hall. All are on their knees save the youth, who has stood motionless and obtuse to the significance of all he has heard and seen save that during _Amfortas's_ anguish he has clutched his heart as if he too felt the pang. But when the rite is over--when the knights have partaken of communion--and the glow has faded, and the _King_, followed by his knights, has been borne out, the youth remains behind, vigorous, handsome, but to all appearances a dolt.
"Do you know what you have witnessed?" _Gurnemanz_ asks harshly, for he is grievously disappointed.
For answer the youth shakes his head.
"Just a fool, after all," exclaims the old knight, as he opens a side door to the hall. "Begone, but take my advice. In future leave our swans alone, and seek yourself, gander, a goose!" And with these harsh words he pushes the youth out and angrily slams the door behind him.
This jarring break upon the religious feeling awakened by the scene would be a rude ending for the act, but Wagner, with exquisite tact, allows the voices in the dome to be heard once more, and so the curtains close, amid the spiritual harmonies of the Prophecy of the Guileless Fool and of the Grail Motive.