The Third-Act Prelude of Wagner's Parsifal Genesis, Form, And Dramatic Meaning

The Third-Act Prelude of Wagner's "Parsifal": Genesis, Form, and Dramatic MeaningAuthor(s): William KindermanSource: 19th-Century Music, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 161-184Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4138595Accessed: 27/07/2010 15:07

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The Third-Act Prelude of Wagner's Parsifal: Genesis, Form, and Dramatic Meaning

WILLIAM KINDERMAN

Often in Wagner, the Prelude to a final act assumes outstanding importance in the work as a whole. This is especially true of Parsifal, in which the move from acts II to III is like the passage through a schism. Since Parsifal's path to the Grail is blocked by Kundry's curse, he becomes engulfed in a bewildering existential drift or time warp. In response to this dramatic situation, the third-act Prelude in Parsifal became a bold essay in expanded tonality. One author described it as "set[ting] foot in atonal territory as it re-explores the melancholy, disjointed polytonal idiom of the introduction to the third act of Tristan,"' and Robert Morgan

has suggested that it is motion around the diminished-seventh chord including Bb rather than the tonic triad of BM minor that defines "the final background structure of the Prelude."2 This music raises issues of musical form and expressive meaning that have yet to be thoroughly addressed.

One means of assessing the Prelude is com- parative, through the consideration of prominent earlier instances in which Wagner employed analogous devices to convey a sense of wandering or pilgrimage in the later stages of a drama. An example is the music for "Tann-

hiiuser's Pilgrimage" at the outset of act III of

Tannhiiuser, a work that displays some conspicuous parallels to Parsifal. A second point of comparison bears an even closer relation to Parsifal, even belonging, broadly viewed, to the genesis of that work. This is Wagner's early

An earlier version of this article was read at the 2003 annual meeting of the Society for Music Theory in Madi- son, Wisconsin. I am grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and to the Uni- versity of Illinois Research Board for supporting research related to this project.

'Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind, and His Music (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1968), p. 374.

2See Robert P. Morgan, "Dissonant Prolongation: Theo- retical and Compositional Precedents," Journal of Music Theory 20 (1976), 62-72, at p. 70.

19th-Century Music, XXIX/2, pp. 161-84. ISSN: 0148-2076, electronic ISSN 1533-8606. ? 2005 by the Regents of the Univer- 161 sity of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpress.edu/journals/rights.htm.

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plan for the last act of Tristan und Isolde, in which Parzival3 appears as a pilgrim seeking the Grail. Wagner not only envisioned an ar- chitectural plan for the act involving Parzival, but he also devised music for "Parzival's Re- frain." Although, in the end, Wagner discarded the idea of including Parzival in Tristan und Isolde, these unrealized plans are richly sug- gestive for an analysis of the third-act Prelude to Parsifal.

Another means of approaching this Prelude is through Wagner's voluminous surviving compositional documents for Parsifal, especially the individual sketches that preceded the writing-out of his first continuous draft for the third act (the so-called Kompositionsskizze [Compo- sition Draft]). These manuscripts are held in the Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung in Bayreuth, where I have been able to study them first hand. A comparison of these sketches with the detailed record in Cosima Wagner's diary entries provides insight into the way Wagner composed the Prelude, during October 1878.

This article has three parts. I shall first examine the parallels between Parsifal and

Tannhiiuser and consider the role of "Parzival" in the compositional process of Tristan und Isolde. The second section explores Wagner's creative process on the basis of his sketches and drafts for the third-act Prelude to Parsifal; the last section then reassesses the Prelude to act III from an analytical perspective and reex- amines the aesthetic implications of this re- markable music.

TANNHAUSER'S PILGRIMAGE AND PARZIVAL'S REFRAIN

An obvious parallel between Tannhauser and Parsifal consists in the sharp duality, in both works, between the spiritual and the sensual. Wagner underscores the dichotomy in each case

by emphasizing the ascetic nature of the spiritual realm as embodied in the Wartburg society in Tannhiiuser and the Grail community in Parsifal. Such dualistic treatment is not part of the original medieval sources. In the song con- test in act II of Tannhiiuser, Wagner actually puts the historical Wolfram von Eschenbach on the stage, but has him sing in praise of a courtly love that is far removed from sensual experience. Similarly, in his rendering of the Grail society in Parsifal, Wagner departs from his main source, Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, in virtually excluding women from the community.

This treatment is clearly bound up with the ravishing sensuality of the opposing realms- the subterranean Venusberg in Tannhiuser, and Klingsor's Magic Garden in Parsifal. In both works, the title character strives to overcome a consuming sensuality in seeking a path prom- ising spiritual redemption. A further and specific analogy consists in the role of the respec- tive third-act Preludes. The Prelude in Tann-

hiiuser depicts Tannhauser's arduous pilgrimage to Rome, where he receives a cold rebuke from the Pope. The expressive associations of the orchestral music of this introduction are clarified in Tannhiuser's later "Rome narrative," in which he relates the experiences of his pilgrimage in detail. In Parsifal, similarly, the music from the Prelude returns later in the act, when Parsifal describes his "pathless wandering" as he sought unsuccessfully to return to the realm of the Grail.

What music did Wagner employ in connection with the spiritual quests of these protago- nists, Tannhauser's struggle for absolution of his sins at Rome and Parsifal's torturous search for the Grail, following his squandered first opportunity at Montsalvat, when he acted as a mere observer during the Grail service he wit- nessed in act I? In all three instances under

consideration-Tannhiuser's pilgrimage and Parsifal's quest in act III of Parsifal, in addition to Parzival's appearance in the early plan for Tristan und Isolde-Wagner chose to employ some of the same basic musical material, a circumstance that underscores the dramatic similarities between these works, and that brings a larger issue to be addressed: his use of preexisting musical material in connection with

3"Parzival" is the spelling of the name in the medieval epic Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, Wagner's pri- mary source. At an advanced stage of work on the text, Wagner changed the name of the hero to "Parsifal," and that of the wounded Grail-King from "Anfortas" to "Amfortas," as well as adjusting "Condrie" to "Kundry," and "Gurnemans" to "Gurnemanz."

162

the spiritual or sacred sphere, and particularly in connection with the Grail.

In a recent study, Carolyn Abbate draws attention to the parallel use in Tannhiiuser and Parsifal of variants of the famous "Dresden Amen" motive, which she describes as "real music, a melody for singing the 'Amen' at the Dresden cathedral in the nineteenth century."44 The "Dresden Amen" formula features a rising stepwise melody up to a fifth, which is fre- quently supported by parallel sixths, while har- monically the motive often takes on a cadential character. For Wagner and his contemporaries, the "Dresden Amen" was an easily recogniz- able musical element with sacred connotations. Wagner was of course not the first to employ this motive in art music. Mendelssohn had used it in his "Reformation" Symphony in D Major, op. 107, from 1830. For him, as well as for Karl Loewe and Ludwig Spohr, the "Dresden Amen" was emblematic of Catholic church music.5

In Wagner's Parsifal, this traditional musical motive, with its characteristic rising fifth, is incorporated into the so-called Grail motive, following the ascending whole step and third of its first measure. In turn, the prominent stepwise rising shape of the "Dresden Amen" is neatly complemented by the so-called Faith motive, which inverts this intervallic contour, emphasizing a stepwise descent of a fourth. These two motives are often heard in conjunction with one another, and together with the opening Last Supper or Communion theme and its composite motives they form the most important body of music associated with the Grail in Parsifal.

Egon Voss has stated that in Parsifal "Wagner avoids reminiscences of traditional church music," yet this claim is untenable, and not only on account of the "Dresden Amen" and its

relation to the Faith motive.' Noteworthy in this regard is also the Communion theme heard at the very beginning of Parsifal. This theme displays considerable complexity in its structural and expressive components, consisting as it does of a synthesis of several motives, each of which are capable of detachment and independent development. The head of the Com- munion theme, with its suspended rise through the notes of the tonic triad followed by another ascending step to the sixth scale degree, was also adapted by Wagner from a preexisting source-a rather obscure choral work composed by his father-in-law, Franz Liszt. In this instance, as with the Grail motive, the original context and associations of the music were clearly instrumental in drawing Wagner's attention.

The work in question is Liszt's cantata The Bells of Strasburg Cathedral, for orchestra, cho- rus, and baritone soloist. This piece is a prod- uct of the friendship between Liszt and the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that began after their first meeting in Rome on New Year's Eve of 1868. As a result of the warmth of their personal encounter, Liszt regarded Longfellow's verse with an eye to a musical setting, and he soon received a German translation of Longfellow's famous poem The Golden Legend. Five years later, in 1874, Liszt had completed his cantata, and Wagner first heard the work at his joint concert with Liszt in Budapest on 10 March 1875.7

Liszt's cantata captured Wagner's interest in the immediately ensuing period, by the time he began the sustained composition of the music for Parsifal in 1877. Evidence of the connection is provided by the shared rising contour of the motive that dominates the Prelude to Liszt's

WILLIAM KINDERMAN Parsifal: Genesis, Form, Dramatic Meaning

4Carolyn Abbate, "Metempsychotic Wagner," in In Search of Opera (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), p. 127. The "Dresden Amen" motive stems from Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Wagner's predecessor as court Kapellmeister at Dresden in the late eighteenth century. 5See R. Larry Todd, "Mendelssohn," in The Nineteenth- Century Symphony, ed. D. Kern Holoman (New York: Schirmer, 1997), p. 86.

6Egon Voss, "Parsifal and the Power of Feelings of Guilt," Wagner 26 (2005), 22-32, quotation on p. 30. In German, as "Wagners 'Parsifal'-das Spiel von der Macht der Schuldgefiihle," in Richard Wagner Parsifal: Texte, Materialien, Kommentare (Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1984), p. 16. 7For an account of this concert at Budapest and related issues, see Alan Walker, Franz Liszt, vol. III, The Final Years 1861-1886 (New York: Knopf, 1996), pp. 278-84. Liszt's cantata was first published as Die Glocken des Strassburger Miinsters (The Bells of Strasburg Cathedral) with a text in German and English and a dedication to Longfellow (Leipzig: J. Schuberth, 1875).

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a. Liszt, Excelsior! Prelude.

Maestoso, moderato

LI. /i I

"==

'p

b. Wagner, Prelude to Parsifal.

Sehr langsam

1 N 1

1 .etc.

..

etc.

P

Example 1

cantata, with its association to the single Latin word "Excelsior!," and the head of the Com- munion theme in Wagner's Parsifal (ex. la and b). There are reports of Wagner acknowledging his borrowing, or even his "theft," of this motive from Liszt, and although details remain obscure, it seems that Liszt became aware of Wagner's assimilation of the "Excelsior!" motive into Parsifal by the time he visited Bayreuth in April 1878.8 By then, the first act of Parsifal was complete in Wagner's drafts. The common ground between Liszt's "Excelsior!" prelude and Wagner's Parsifal is noteworthy and illumi- nates not only details of compositional genesis but also broader features of the expressive meaning and musical symbolism of these works.

As Arthur Marget once pointed out,9 it was the poetic intention stemming from Long- fellow's work that surely fascinated Liszt and Wagner, and that helps explain their enthusi- asm for the notion of "Excelsior!" Longfellow presumably explained his idea to Liszt in Rome,

and he elsewhere specified his poetic intention as follows:

This was no more than to display, in a series of pictures, the life of a man of genius, resisting all temptations, laying aside all fears, heedless of all warnings, and pressing right on to accomplish his purpose. His motto is Excelsior-"higher." He passes through the Alpine village-through the rough, cold paths of the world-where the peasants cannot understand him, and where his watchword is in an "unknown tongue." He disregards the happiness of domestic peace and sees the glaciers-his fate-before him. He disregards the warning of the old man's wisdom and all the fascinations of woman's love. He answers to all, "Higher yet!" The monks of St. Ber- nard are the representatives of religious forms and ceremonies, and with their oft-repeated prayer mingles the sound of his voice, telling them there is something higher than forms and ceremonies. Filled with these aspirations, he perishes; without having reached the perfection he longed for; and the voice heard in the air is the promise of immortality and progress ever upward.'1

The notion of "ever upward"-the prover- bial "Blick nach oben" as a symbol for unceas-

ing striving-lends itself well to the spiritual aspiration associated with the Grail, and an ascent in pitch through the notes of the triad to the sixth degree becomes a musical counter-

part to this idea. At the same time, in Parsifal,

SSee in this regard Arthur W. Marget, "Liszt and Parsifal," Music Review 14 (1953), 107-24, esp. p. 108 and n. 8. There is a reference in Cosima Wagner's diary from 28 December 1877 to the effect that Wagner "looked again at father's 'Glocken v. Strassburg' to see whether there was 'plagiarism'," although this was during his work on the Transformation Music of act I with its use of the motive of the bells (er sah noch die "Glocken v. Strassburg" des Vaters sich an, um zu sehen, ob er kein "Plagiat" begeht) (Cosima Wagner, Die Tagebiucher [hereafter CWT], ed. Mar- tin Gregor-Dellin and Dietrich Mack [Munich: Piper, 1977], I, 1100). Commentators on Parsifal have often given insuf- ficient attention to the influence of Liszt on Wagner. 9See n. 8.

toHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1884), p. 19, cited in Marget, "Liszt and Parsifal," p. 120.

164

cresc. f dim. Si

,

- . .. .

- --- 2. I t

da jauchet' es auf in briin - sti- gem Froh - lo - cken, denn Gnad' und Heil ver - a cry of joy breaks forth from thou- sand voi - ces, the hope of par - don

----------------------------------------------------------

poco cresc. af dim. p

8 P

hie - ssen sie der Men - ge. ev - 'ry heart re - joi - ces.

loco.

: :

rStrs,

Ww

A ~rAA A S.~


Example 2: Tannhiiuser, act III.

the initially unharmonized line, with its suspended rhythm and avoidance of stress on the downbeat, evokes the aura of Gregorian chant-- an impression conveyed again toward the fram- ing close of the Communion theme. Wagner also evokes Gregorian intonations in another prominent thematic idea associated with the Grail: the rising whole step and third heard in the first phrase of the Grail motive, immediately preceding the "Dresden Amen." Liszt had used these inflections too in various works and is supposed to have said that "these are intervals well known to us," adding that "these are catholic intonations, which I myself did not invent either.""'

We can see that, taken together, the themes associated with the Grail in Parsifal are steeped in sacred connotations, and that preexisting music played an important role in shaping their composition. In particular, the rising conso- nant melodic contours of the "Excelsior!" and

"Dresden Amen" motives lend themselves to the notion of spiritual aspiration. Especially significant in relation to the idea of pilgrimage is the "Dresden Amen" formula, the motive that already appears in Tannhiuser, as we have seen. In the "Rome" narrative, it is in the lumi- nous passage in D) major and 4 meter in which this motive is particularly highlighted, appear- ing in a high ethereal scoring of woodwinds. The text of this section describes "a cry of joy issuing forth, for mercy and healing are prom- ised to the multitude" (ex. 2).

As we have seen, the "Dresden Amen" idea appears earlier in Tannhiuser, notably in the orchestral introduction to act III, where it is initially sounded in a solemn brass scoring with trombones, trumpets, and tuba. After three statements in this scoring, the motive is played pianissimo in the high upper register in four muted violins shortly before the curtain opens. The treatment of the "Dresden Amen" motive is indeed striking here, and the metrical shift to broadened ? measures sets each of its ap- pearances into relief.

Wagner composed Tannhiiuser in the early

"As reported in August G61lerich, Franz Liszt (Berlin: Marquardt, 1908), quoted in Marget, "Liszt and Parsifal," p. 112.

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PARZIVAL W fd i d d ' , Wo find' ich dich, du heil' - ger Gral, dich sucht voll Sehn sucht mein Her - ze.

81a ------ Example 3: Wagner's musical sketch for "Parzival."

1840s, and that work received its first perfor- mances at Dresden in 1845. About a decade later, while in exile in Switzerland, Wagner began to contemplate the dramatic potential of Tristan und Isolde. It is in this context, and in light of his enthusiastic response, beginning in 1854, to Arthur Schopenhauer's book Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung (The World as Will and Representation), that we can best evaluate his early plans for the third act of the envisioned Tristan drama. As is known from his later letters to Mathilde Wesendonk, Wagner's thoughts were riveted on the affinity between the languishing, wounded Tristan of act III, and the wounded Grail-King Anfortas of the Parzival saga. "My Tristan of the third act with an in- conceivable intensification," is how he viewed Anfortas.12 However, the meaning and implications of these early plans for "Parzival" in his Tristan drama have long remained obscure, and careful reevaluation of the original sources and chronology is indispensable.

Wagner's extant musical sketch for "Parzival" dates from the spring or summer of 1858, as is shown by its inclusion in a letter to Mathilde Wesendonk. A facsimile and transcription of this manuscript are contained in the edition of Wagner's letters to Mathilde Wesendonk with an introduction by Wolfgang Golther;1'3 the eight-measure theme with its text is shown in ex. 3. In the Parsifal Dokumente volume of the New Complete Edi- tion of Wagner's works, on the other hand, Martin Geck and Egon Voss have claimed that "this document bears no relationship to the

composition of Tristan. Already in the prose sketch for Tristan und Isolde from summer 1857 Parsifal no longer appears; furthermore, Wagner was not yet composing the third act in 1858."14 However, as Robert Bailey has observed, the manuscript has the appearance of a fair copy and was presumably based on a sketch made earlier, so a relationship to Tristan und Isolde is entirely plausible.'s Wagner often made such polished copies of important musical ideas, and the extant sources for Parsifal offer examples of this practice.'6

Compelling evidence for the relevance of this sketch to the genesis of Tristan und Isolde is supplied by Wagner's undated entries in a notebook held at the Wagner Archive in Bayreuth. These entries presumably date from 1855 and cannot have been later than 1857. This source supplies an overview in prose for much of the projected third act, indicating in a fashion typical of Wagner how the music associated with Parzival was to be used. The character of Kurvenal is not yet present in this draft, and what became of his role is partly given here to an unnamed squire. Here is the relevant pas-

'2Richard Wagner an Mathilde Wesendonk: Tagebuchblit- ter und Briefe 1853-1871, ed. Wolfgang Golther (Berlin: Alexander Duncker, 1910), p. 207. '3Ibid., p. 26, facsimile after p. 362.

'4Richard Wagner, Simtliche Werke, vol. 30, Dokumente zur Entstehung und ersten Auffiihrung des Biihnenweih- festspiels Parsifal, ed. Martin Geck and Egon Voss (Mainz: Schott, 1970), p. 13. 'SRobert Bailey, The Genesis of "Tristan und Isolde" and a Study of Wagner's Sketches and Drafts for the First Act (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1969), pp. 30-31. '6The Flower Maidens' Song "Komm! Holder Knabe!" in act II, for instance, was sketched in 1876, well in advance of its incorporation during 1878 into Wagner's continuous drafts for Parsifal. For a discussion of Wagner's musical sketches for Parsifal, see my studies "Die Entstehung der Parsifal-Musik," Archiv ffir Musikwissenschaft 52 (1995), 66-97 and 145-65, and "The Genesis of the Music," in A Companion to Wagner's "Parsifal, " ed. William Kinderman and Katherine Syer (Rochester: Camden House, 2005), pp. 133-75.

166

sage in the transcription provided by Geck and Voss:17

3r Akt. Tristan auf dem Krankenlager im Schlofgarten. Zinne zur Seite.-Aus dem Schlummer erwachend, ruft nach dem Knappen, den er auf der Zinne wiihnt, ob er noch nichts sihe. Der ist nicht da: auf seinen Ruf kommt er endlich. Vorwtirfe.- Entschuldigung-ein Pilger sei zu bewirten gewesen.-Sonst und jetzt. Tristans Ungeduld-der Knappe sehe noch nichts. Tristans Bedenken. Zweifel.-Gesang aus der Tiefe, sich entfernend: was es sei?-Knappe erziht vom Pilger.-Parzival.-Tiefer Eindruck. Liebe als Qualen-Meine Mutter starb, als sie mich begar; nun ich lebe, sterbe ich daran, geboren worden zu sein:-warum das?-"Refrain Parzivals-vom Hirten wiederholt"-

-Die ganze Welt nichts wie ungestilltes Sehnen! Wie soil es denn je sich stillen?

-Parzivals Refrain[?]

3rd Act. Tristan as a convalescent in the castle garden. Tower to the side-Awakening from slumber, he calls to the squire, whom he believes to be in the tower, asking whether he [the squire] sees something. He isn't there; in response to the call, he finally comes. Recriminations.-Apologies-a pilgrim has been cared for. Before and now. Tristan's impatience-the squire sees nothing. Tristan's mis- givings. Doubt.-A song from the depths, becoming more distant:-what is it?-The squire explains about the pilgrim.-Parzival. Deep impression. Love as tor- ment-My mother died, as she bore me; now I live, I die, to be reborn:-why that?--"Parzival's Refrain- repeated by the shepherd"--

-The whole world [is] nothing but unfulfilled yearning! How should it be brought to rest? -

-Parzival's Refrain[?]

It is clear from this outline that Wagner envisioned the role of the pilgrim as far more extensive than a singular episode. Following the initial, oblique reference to the wandering pilgrim by the distracted squire-who on this account had deserted his lookout post on the tower-Parzival's first utterance was to have been expressed in song, as phenomenal music heard from a growing distance. The parallels here to Tannhdiuser are striking and are inten- sified by the later reference to the shepherd, a character who was retained in the finished version of Tristan und Isolde. After the squire has described and named the wandering pilgrim, "Parzival's Refrain" is heard in a double statement including a repetition by the shepherd, and yet another statement of the refrain is indicated in the last line of the overview.

In this context, there is little doubt but that "Parzival's Refrain" is identical with the musical sketch Wagner included in his letter in Mathilde Wesendonk (see ex. 3). "Wo find' ich dich, du heiliger Gral, dich sucht voll Sehnsucht mein Herze" (Where do I find thee, you Holy Grail, my heart seeks you full of yearning)- these words express precisely that longing for a reality beyond the physical world involving a renunciation of the will as described by Schopenhauer.

As Bailey has observed, Wagner ultimately replaced Parzival's refrain with Tristan's vision of Isolde set in the same key, E major."8 The extraordinary eight-measure theme for Parzival rewards close examination. As in the music of pilgrimage in Tannhifuser, the "Dresden Amen" assumes special prominence. At the first men- tion of "Gral" in m. 4, the rising stepwise motive of a fifth is heard in the tenor voice in the accompaniment. Two measures later, the same motive is given to the vocal part an octave higher, rising from C# up to G# to the words "Sehnsucht mein Her[ze]." This second statement of the motive incorporates the supporting harmonic texture of rising parallel sixths so characteristic of the "Dresden Amen."

Yet if this setting harbors an echo of

Tannhiuser, its anticipation of Parsifal is more


'7Richard Wagner, Sdimtliche Werke, vol. 30, p. 12. A discussion of this source with a very similar transcription appears in Hans von Wolzogen, "Parzival bei Tristan," Bayreuther Blditter 38 (1915), 145-57. This notebook is held at the Wagner Archive at Bayreuth and catalogued as B II a 5. In Wagner's diary account for the year 1855 in his "brown book," he writes: "Tristan bestimmter concipirt: 3r Akt Ausgangspunkt der Stimmung fiir das Ganze. (mit Hineinflechtung des Graalsuchenden Parzival.)" (Tristan conceived with more definition: 3rd act point of departure for the atmosphere of the whole [with a weaving in of Parzival seeking the Grail]); Richard Wagner: Das Braune Buch: Tagebuchaufzeichungen 1865 bis 1882, ed. Joachim Bergfeld (Zurich: Atlantis, 1975), p. 125. Wagner's account in his autobiography, however, places the event in 1854 (My Life, trans. Andrew Gray and ed. Mary Whittall [New York: Da Capo, 1992], pp. 510-11). "Bailey, The Genesis of "Tristan und Isolde, " pp. 30-31.

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conspicuous. In its choralelike harmonic texture and its rhythm, especially in its first half, the sketch seems reminiscent of the Prophecy motive in Parsifal. This choralelike texture pro- files the interval of the rising fourth in mm. 1 and 3 in the voice part. In turn, the ascending fourth is actually spelled out in quarter notes in the following measures. In Parsifal, as we have seen, this emphasis on the stepwise unfolding of the interval of the fourth (or fifth) is a hallmark of all of the themes and motives with associations to the Grail. The early sketch for "Parzival's Refrain" from the 1850s thus con- centrates features that resurfaced about twenty years later in the music for the Grail in Wagner's final drama. We will see that this sketch can also serve as a springboard for interpretation of the third-act Prelude to Parsifal-the passage whose compositional genesis I shall now examine in detail.

THE COMPOSITIONAL GENESIS

OF THE PRELUDE

Wagner's compositional process for Parsifal is extremely well documented. As with other works, he made two continuous drafts for the entire work, one mainly in pencil known as the "Kompositionsskizze" (Composition Draft), and a more developed draft mainly in ink com- monly described as the "Orchesterskizze" (Or- chestral Draft). Wagner worked back and forth between these two drafts, and only after both manuscripts had been completed for all three acts did he begin to write out the autograph score.'9 For Parsifal in particular, there also exists a large number of individual sketches on separate worksheets and fragments of paper,

many of which were written before the two continuous drafts or were made in conjunction with the Composition Draft.20 These individual sketches are by far the most revealing sources for the compositional genesis of the Prelude to act III. When these manuscripts are studied in relation to the detailed entries contained in Cosima Wagner's diaries, a well-rounded pic- ture of the genesis of the music emerges.21

Wagner's intensive work on the Prelude extended over thirteen days, from 18 to 30 Octo- ber 1878. His Composition Draft of this section, dated 30 October, is unusually clean and free of corrections, since so much compositional labor was done on separate worksheets before the composition draft was begun. On 18 October, Cosima Wagner recorded in her diary that

he went to work, and as he called me to lunch, he told me that he now knew exactly how things stood, and that he could not introduce elements by themselves in isolation, but that everything must be in relationship. Thus his prelude to act III will use the theme of Titurel's burial, just as he had employed the song of the Grail Knights in the prelude to act I. Such an extended "independent episode" [unabhiingige Geschichte] as Parsifal's torturous journey, that would not work.22

Wagner had by this time already worked on the funeral procession for Titurel heard much later in the act, and had determined its basic tonal-

91I follow Robert Bailey in employing this nomenclature, which brings the terms used into line with standard par- lance in the study of other composers, such as Beethoven. In the pioneering work on Wagner's manuscripts by former Wagner Archive Director Otto Strobel, the terms "Kompositionsskizze" and "Orchesterskizze" were used, and John Deathridge has preferred to retain that terminol- ogy. See Deathridge, "The Nomenclature of Wagner's Sketches," Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association 101 (1974-75), 75-83. For a general discussion of Wagner's composing procedures, see esp. Robert Bailey, "The Method of Composition," in The Wagner Companion, ed. Peter Burbidge and Richard Sutton (London: Faber & Faber, 1979), pp. 269-338.

201 am grateful to the Director of the Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung, Dr. Sven Friedrich, for granting me access to the manuscripts in their rich collection, and to the archivist, Giinter Fischer, who offered helpful support. For a tabulation of the manuscripts for Parsifal, see the Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke Richard Wagners und ihrer Quellen, ed. John Deathridge, Martin Geck, and Egon Voss (Mainz: Schott, 1986), pp. 540-44. More detailed discussion of these sources is contained in the studies listed in n. 16. 21There is of course no guarantee of the accuracy of Cosima Wagner's diaries, but her entries correspond closely with the surviving musical manuscripts, and there is no reason to doubt the basic veracity of her accounts of his compositional activity. The stem warning issued by Berndt Wessling regarding the use of the diaries to present "pure" Wagner is not at issue here, since our concern is focused specifically on matters of compositional genesis. See Wessling's afterword to his edited volume Bayreuth im Dritten Reich: Richard Wagners politische Erben: Eine Dokumentation (Weinheim: Beltz, 1983), p. 308. 22CWT, II, 202.

168

ity of Bb minor. He had also grappled with the need in act III to darken the harmonization of the fixed pitches of the Temple Bells, which outline the two fourths: C-G and A-E. In act I, the harmonization of the Temple bells had been C major, but in the somber context of act III, the corresponding key is E minor. Out of this context arose the tonal rift of a tritone between Bb minor and E minor that characterizes the end of the processional march as well as the entrance of Amfortas. This tonal shift contrib- utes to the extreme tension and almost terrify- ing effect of the music heard after the distressed Knights sing "Zum letzten Male will des Amtes er walten," demanding that the wounded Amfortas serve his office and reveal the Grail one last time.

I shall now trace the main stages of composition of the Prelude of act III. The vocal score of the finished Prelude is shown in ex. 4. The untexted sketch using the theme of Titurel's burial (plate 1) presumably stems from around 18 October. Remarkably, the theme appears here in two balanced four-measure phrases, clos- ing first on the dominant and then on the tonic of B6 (ex. 5). This framework vividly sets into relief some of Wagner's compositional changes in adapting this theme for the third-act Pre- lude. The harmony was altered decisively, with the initial falling interval in the bass sounding G6 against the F in the treble, and he of course also changed the key signature to signal Bb mi- nor and removed the parallel fifths in the upper voices in the penultimate measure. Wagner ob- scured the balanced phrase structure of the sketch by alluding to only the beginning of the second phrase in the fifth measure, while extending its material melodically through a series of syncopations to form a chromatic, open- ended continuation.

The music of the Prelude was not conceived in sequential order, from the beginning to the end, but was shaped around certain key passages. Four days later, on 22 October, Cosima wrote that Wagner told her during morning coffee that

he has found something, just a few measures, but they contain much. . . . He writes it and plays it, [and] I recognize the theme of the spear, and to it the uncanny figure of Klingsor and Parsifal's motive, but

as if restrained [gehemmt]. One senses and sees in one's imagination how Parsifal holds the spear high and how darkness and confusion surround him. R[ichard] says [that] the good thing in this idea is that the theme of the spear ends chromatically, woefully, whereas the Parsifal motive is fresh and spir- ited; he treasures the contrapuntal form, which enables so much.23

This description fits to a sketch dated "22 Okt" by Wagner, which Cosima inscribed as "Von R[ichard] mir ausgeschrieben am 22ten Oktober 1878" (written out for me by Richard on October 22nd, 1878). This sketch is transcribed in ex. 6. The "woeful" chromaticism is seen on the second stave: the typical ascent of the Spear motive through a fourth from A is cut short and reversed after the third rising note, C, is reached at the end of the first measure. From this C, a chromatic fall passes through B? and Bb to A?, reaching a sustained A? in the third measure. At this point, the twist- ing, dissonant motive in eighth notes associated with the evil magician Klingsor is written in stave 3. At the same time, a transformed version of the so-called Prophecy motive represents the "pure fool," Parsifal. This musical idea had originally unfolded in a choralelike setting in long note values, but it is now enliv- ened through the faster, dotted upbeat rhythm of the opening ascending intervals, with rising leaps of an octave and sixth. In effect, what was prophesied comes to realization here, with the musical motive absorbing the lively dotted rhythms characteristic of the other motive associated with Parsifal, which stresses the na- ive, boisterous side of his character. The continuation of this passage displays a chromatic descent of a third from Ab to F? in the third and fourth measures of stave 1. This configuration is regarded in Cosima's comments as part of a synthesis of contrary emotional characteristics, as the freshly energized Prophecy motive is surrounded by an ominous darkness associated with Klingsor.

Wagner's comments encourage us to examine the narrative design of the Prelude, associated as it is with Parsifal's fruitless wandering,


23CWT, II, 207.

169

19TH CENTURY

MUSIC

Sehr langsam

espressivo Pi cresc. dim.

. . P-- ---------

6

I L

p .

cresc.

dim.

I

•I 6.

L

6K a -I

AL-cresc,

dim._6, -a-4f1

Noch langsamer werdend 18 Wieder wie zuvor

V, - . L ,

U., I_ . n

2._ __--- I p c rsc __________________

14 . . . ; k ' - • J L

Example 4: Parsifal, Prelude to act III, vocal score.

170

Zuriickhaltend und breiter werdend A A A

21

A

A _ AO _0_

pml cresc.

vafta esrs wo-

doimo. ten.

a tempo

23

I krfiftig

dim.

30

espressivo bOR-

dim.

26 nachassendespress.

dim.

,FE .

40 16 . L.

P" I I

? l

L

,..,.

q: 6, :J - '0 jj 00 1


Example 4 (continued)

171

19TH CENTURY

MUSIC t d IL T. - - l % I _n OnA V w v-- ~

A'i~i- --i--i-----I--"--aq

JEs

Plate 1: Sketch of the theme of Titurel's Burial. Plates 1-4 are from the Nationalarchiv der Richard-Wagner-Stiftung/Richard-Wagner-Gedenkstiitte Bayreuth.

. " ,? tj iT "0 .. ' " -

rI

Example 5: Transcription of Wagner's sketch of the theme of Titurel's burial. (Note: Wagner's canceled notes are not included in this transcription.)

22 Okt.

.

R.

l- -ai m

Example 6: Transcription of sketch, containing motives associated with the Spear, Parsifal, and Klingsor. MS AIII M4 (1) 22r in the Wagner-Archiv, Bayreuth.

since his path to the Grail has been blocked by Kundry's curse. Parsifal's heroism is a triumph of endurance, of not succumbing to shadows of uncertainty and illusion. The passages that un- fold in contrary motion, displaying a chromatically inflected bass line and much emphasis on diminished-seventh chords, in mm. 12-16 and again in mm. 19-22, evoke this sense of the uncanny, of "pathless wandering," as it is described in Parsifal's later narrative. Indeed, it seems that the intensification of this contrary- motion passage, culminating in the fortissimo climax at m. 23-the first measure of Wagner's sketch of 22 October-signals the height of Parsifal's trials as well as the crucial dramatic

threshold beyond which his fortitude would prevail. The importance of the contrapuntal motivic complex becomes apparent here. The listener perceives Parsifal as a protagonist emerging out of the shadows, as the motives of the "pure fool" and the spear emerge, still immeshed in the pervasive chromaticism of the Prelude as a whole. The musical integra- tion of the passage is reinforced by the relation between the descending chromatic continuation of the Prophecy motive in m. 25 and the conspicuous falling chromatic steps from Ab that shape the musical continuation from the theme of Titurel's funeral procession heard at the beginning of the Prelude.

172

As we have seen, Wagner's early sketch for the theme used at the beginning of the Prelude did not contain this chromatic continuation, the idea for which probably arose from his de- liberations on the later passage associated with Parsifal's torturous journey. Thus by 22 Octo- ber, Wagner had decided to begin the third act with the theme of Titurel's burial, and he had also devised the musical depiction of Parsifal's approach with the spear, still veiled by the mysterious chromaticism associated with Klingsor. That the intervening music remained to be composed is confirmed by Cosima's diary entry from 24 October, in which she writes that "R[ichard] speaks of the sad sounds, that he now has to compose; there must not be a stream of light falling within, for that could be very misleading. The sad wandering of Parsifal, that must lead to the situation on Montsalvat. ... Then he plays something from the grim sounds. "24

A subsequent draft for the Prelude is shown in plate 2. From Cosima's diary entries, we know that this draft was made by 28 October, and even that the two measures written as an insertion on the fourth system were conceived in the early morning of 29 October. On the 28 October, she writes: "He plays the prelude for me! And shows me the many papers used for his drafts of it, including also the song for Titurel's burial. 'So to fantasize, to have ideas, is not difficult, my difficulty is always in the limitation [Beschriinkung] of the material'."25 The "many papers" shown by Wagner to Cosima can be recognized among the preserved sketch leaves. The draft from 28 October begins with a revised form of the opening measures with Titurel's theme, including the new falling chromatic continuation beginning in the fifth measure. A three-measure sequence of this material up a whole tone leads to a return of the motive from the outset of the Prelude, followed by a passage featuring syncopations and chromaticism and with contrary motion between treble and bass. This is the music later identified in Parsifal's narration with his "path of pain and illusion." A striking detail in this

draft is the allusion to Parsifal's motive in dotted rhythm in mm. 5 and 7 of the second system. Wagner soon rejected the idea of introduc- ing Parsifal's motive at this point. He doubtless came to regard the device as too obvious to be used in this context.

On the following day, 29 October, Cosima writes: "R[ichard] says he has composed two bars, but they mean a good deal, it is an addition in the middle of the prelude that occupied him right away in the early morning."26 These interpolated measures are mm. 17 and 18 of the Prelude, and they appear on system 4 of plate 2, with lines indicating their insertion into the system above. These two measures were first sketched on a separate manuscript fragment, before Wagner entered the insertion into his rough draft, where he provided it with some harmonic and contrapuntal elaboration absent from the first sketch.

The continuation of this draft (plate 3) was presumably written before Wagner inserted the two measures (plate 2). All of the rest of the Prelude is contained on this page, and the appearance of the chromatic theme on staves 10- 11 on the far right marks the point where Gurnemanz's text begins in the finished work. Plates 2 and 3 thus provide between them a complete preliminary draft for the Prelude preceding the composition draft. Before tackling the composition draft on 30 October, however, Wagner made one further partial draft on the other side of this leaf (plate 4). This draft re- vises and expands the sequential mm. 20-21 and elaborates the rapid string figuration con- necting the climax on high A to the Spear motive and the veiled reference to Parsifal's motive heard in a lower register in the following measure. Wagner considered using timpani at this point, but discarded that idea; and the harmony employed here, a D-minor triad with added sixth, B, is noteworthy. The motivic material elaborated in the strings is associated with Kundry's mocking laughter, and specifically with her curse on Parsifal's return path to the Grail.


24CWT, II, 209. 25CWT, II, 212. 26CWT, II, 213.

173

19TH CENTURY

MUSIC

op 4 L

L~ r~ - -. C~ t-_.7? vi lil_~____Iv -t 7% kit ~1~1?r

4r" ?14 -

?

I A.

T.f sun 0 IN/ Wl All v 1- - - ob dl --

Plate 2: Draft of the Prelude to act III, beginning.

PARSIFAL'S "PATHLESS WANDERING"

AND THE HEROISM OF ENDURANCE

I now examine some analytical implications of this record of compositional genesis. Figure 1 offers an overview of formal and motivic relations in the Prelude, in which the parallel passages and sequential restatements of musical material have been placed in vertical alignment.

In recent studies of works by Wagner and Mahler, Warren Darcy has drawn attention to Wagner's use of a cyclical process that he calls "rotational form." According to Darcy, "rotational form begins by unfolding a series of dif- ferentiated motives or themes as a referential statement or 'first rotation,' whereas subsequent rotations . . . rework all or most of the referential statement, normally retaining the sequen-

tial ordering of the selected musical ideas.'"27 It might seem overextended to apply this definition to the situation in the act III Prelude, yet the general application of the notion of rotation is illuminating. One advantage of this approach over the detailed formal analyses of

27The concept of rotational form has been elaborated in studies by Warren Darcy and James Hepokoski. See Darcy, "'Die Zeit ist da': Rotational Form and Hexatonic Magic in Act II Scene 1," in A Companion to Wagner's "Parsifal, " pp. 215-41; and Darcy, "Rotational Form, Teleological Gen- esis, and Fantasy-Projection in the Slow Movement of Mahler's Sixth Symphony," this journal 25 (2001), 49-74; and Hepokoski, Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 (Cambridge: Cambridge Upiversity Press, 1993), among other studies.

174

'1- i i E __ _____

dL

r i A A A P

A. ___ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __Il __

I

,i . . .

i -/

i

7•. ~b-. 4. ,

P., M1 NJI

U LA 6 ft 14 ~-~ i t ~'

- . ., "--'-

,. ,r , , ,

... .o" • •'• ,•!• .•:; •. 4

-5-4- " " '

. . . . .... . . .. ... . . - ,. A,-,• . . . .. . ', ' , ' _ .• , ' " ... • ii : • ; • • ' ' • " "-I-~" .: .... .....

.

" . .. '... ' ' ' . .. . ' " : ' i : , ,: , ,• , ': ,, • - i


Plate 3: Draft of the Prelude to act III, continuation.

4 R- ZnP (J)g

dW - 2-T

t...... I p I?T tv

/ 1-Mll h &If 'A ~1 \IIA FOE i

mq~qA i i

NI C c ~

Plate 4: Expansion of the draft for the Prelude to act III.

175

1 2 3 4 5 6

8 9

A 10 11

A 12-13 14-15 16

4 o interpolation

17 18

5 Grail motive Grail motive

SEminor19 20 21 Grail motive 22

23

/1 20 .

24

252.82 -.,

9

A"I Iv-IJ, • k - -

I I-

Piz) cresc -.. - -- --- -- -- --- -- -- --- -- -- --

NCombination of Kundry, Spear,

Prophecy motives AwAor o

,, pear motive in

7 &,

0-

6--. trombones

prolongs----- --" ""

---- " ,

e *"

D-minor triad & added sixth >

/I /

E6 chord supplied

26 (cf. 10) 1271 28 29

11

, -. krWiftig H

v I

6 I I 1

. . k zI . , I l-- •

A 32 33

I / I - l I , I +i. I el 1 I I - I , I . I Ii,. -

b , +

,,. I I ) I I /

.I v

I f i " ,. l I l+, ,',-

Figure 1: Formal and motivic relations in Parsifal, Prelude to act III.

Alfred Lorenz is its greater flexibility.28 For whereas Lorenz's method involves segmenting Wagner's works into distinct periods based on symmetrical patterns,29 there is no need, in applying the concept of rotation, to counteract the larger continuities and evolving thematic configurations characteristic of Wagnerian musical form. This weakness in Lorenz's method- ology-the impulse to impose symmetries and structural closure when the music actually cel- ebrates evolution and continuity-is effectively avoided through the concept of rotational form.

When Wagner interpolated mm. 17-18 into his preexisting draft, he enhanced the sense of cyclical process within the Prelude. Measure 18 recalls the motive of Titurel's burial with which the Prelude had begun, now presented in rhythmically compressed form in the key a tritone removed from Bb, E minor. This formal feature is given no recognition in Lorenz's analysis, in which these measures are absorbed into an "Abgesang" that is itself buried within a large and diverse main section ("Hauptteil") extending from m. 10 to near the end of the Prelude.30 However, if we regard m. 18 as the beginning of a second rotation, m. 17, with its diminuendo and drop in register, can be seen to assume a transitional function. Measure 19, on the other hand, recalls m. 12, and like the earlier passage it initiates an extended section featuring contrary motion and ambiguous harmo- nies, especially diminished-seventh chords. This feature is emphasized by Robert Morgan, who focuses on what he terms Wagner's "diminished-seventh system." Morgan advocates an analysis "consistent with the actualities of the

piece" and finds "by far the simplest choice for a controlling harmony in the Parsifal Prelude [to be] the diminished seventh chord."31 The most conspicuous diminished-seventh sonority in the Prelude is the harmony supporting E? in the uppermost voice in m. 2, a sonority including B6, G, and Db. This diminished-seventh chord later initiates the two extended passages beginning on E in the same register in mm. 12 and 19.

In m. 19 Wagner makes a change of key signature to three flats, which holds effect for nine measures. In his sketches and drafts, as in plate 3, Wagner does not yet indicate the change of key signature here. What precisely is sig- naled by this change? One answer is supplied at the juncture of mm. 21-22, as the Grail motive crystallizes out of the more amorphous contour of ascending phrases that is so prominent throughout the middle section of the Pre- lude. The ascending third C-E5 and the stepwise rising fourth, supported by parallel sixths, em- bodies this motive, the second part of which consists of the "Dresden Amen" formula, as we have seen. The Grail motive stands apart from its context here in that it is clearly diatonic and implies the arrival of an E6-major triad at the outset of m. 22. Having aroused this expectation, Wagner evades the Eb chord by substituting a diminished seventh, yet another instance of the diminished seventh that was prominent in the preceding passage. The following measure continues the texture of contrary motion, supported by a long crescendo, and a restatement of the Grail motive and "Dresden Amen" in the upper parts of the texture leads to the climax in m. 23. This fortissimo passage marks the peak of the whole passage, as well as the arrival of the motivic combination in which Wagner took pride.

Morgan regards this climactic m. 23 as based on the diminished-seventh chord B-D-F-AL, but here his analysis encounters problems. The sources show that Wagner originally planned for a diminished seventh-but not necessarily this diminished seventh-to be the basic harmony at the outset of the measure,32 but this


28Lorenz published monographs devoted to Wagner's "se- cret of form" in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, and Parsifal. His study of Parsifal appeared as Der musikalische Aufbau von Richard Wagners "Parsifal" (Berlin: Max Hesses, 1933). 29For detailed discussion of the difficulties in Lorenz's approach and the critical reaction to his analyses in German scholarship, see esp. Anthony Newcomb, "The Birth of Music Out of the Spirit of Drama," this journal 5 (1981), 38-66. 30Lorenz, Der musikalische Aufbau von Richard Wagners "Parsifal, " p. 146. Shortcomings in this analysis include a failure to distinguish the larger sections within "Parsifals Irrfahrt" (Parsifal's odyssey) in mm. 10-39 and to recognize the strong motivic connection between the opening of the Prelude and mm. 10-11.

31Morgan, "Dissonant Prolongation," p. 67. 32The sketch of the motivic combination made on 22 Oc- tober 1878 shows an F# in the bass, as is indicated in ex. 6.

177

19TH CENTURY

MUSIC

KUNDRY

dess'_ Pfa - de sollst du nicht _ fin - den: denn Pfad' und We - ge, die one high - way you shall find nev - er: that path and road which leads

Pcresc ------------------------------------ "

..,..-P-, . . .m I I A 1 W VOL

Example 7: Parsifal, act II. Kundry's curse on Parsifal's path to the Grail.

idea underwent modification in later stages of composition. While the initial high A seems to resolve to G# in the rapid texture of the descending line in the violins, it is prolonged in the horns and bassoons and forms a constitu- ent and abiding part of the harmony. On the second beat of the measure, the trombones en- ter emphatically on A in the middle register, sounding the head of the Spear motive. Only on the last beat of the measure does the harmony shift to the diminished seventh above A, before this note drops to A? and then G at the beginning of m. 24. An analysis of this measure in terms of a controlling diminished-seventh chord is not consistent with the actualities of the piece.

The sonority at the fortissimo climax is a D- minor triad with added sixth B, a configuration often described as a half-diminished seventh or "Tristan" chord.33 In this musical context, a crucial aspect of the sonority is its role in serving as the peak of a long, overarching linear ascent that begins already in m. 12. The dramatic association of the motivic material of this section is with Kundry, and specifically her opposition to Parsifal's return journey to the Grail. Thus the passages near the end of act II leading to her curse on his path serve as the model both for the contrary-motion passages

featuring diminished sevenths and for the fortissimo climax of m. 23. The corresponding climactic moment in act II is associated with the text "dess' Pfade sollst du nicht finden" (the path you shall not find), as shown in ex. 7. Significantly, this moment stresses the identical sonority of a D-minor triad and added sixth B, the same sound in a similar register that is heard at the climax of the third-act Prelude.

At the climax of the Prelude, the high A is transferred downward to the trombones at the unfolding of the Spear motive, which then broadens and extends the basic rising motion, carrying the line to C, whereupon it reverses itself in the chromatic fall of mm. 24-25. Here at last, the motivic material associated with Parsifal is heard in the form of the rhythmically energized Prophecy motive, marked kriftig (strongly). This treatment of the Prophecy motive as an energetic symbol for Parsifal corre- sponds to the passages near the beginning of act II in which Parsifal routs Klingsor's knights in gaining access to his enchanted castle. The associated tonality of those passages is E6 major, and at least passing contact with this key is felt at the beginning of the present excerpt, in m. 24, in which the voice leading emphasizes the E6 triad. Wagner's use of the key signature of E6 major is thus linked to specific allusions to that key, references based upon implication rather than clear assertion of that tonal center.

Measure 26 of the Prelude reaffirms the content of m. 10, as the circular contour of the line in the bass outlining a diminished seventh

33Lorenz stresses the distinctive treatment of this harmonic configuration in Parsifal, which he calls the "mystic" chord. See Lorenz, Der musikalische Aufbau von Richard Wagners "Parsifal, " pp. 29-45.

178

evokes the influence of Klingsor. In the ensuing section, this Klingsorian presence gains strength. In m. 30, a dissonant Gb is added as the highest voice, superimposed on the diminished-seventh sonority F-A--C?D. As in the preceding sequence, Wagner joins this motivic allusion to the Spear motive, employing the motivic combination that he had devised on 22 October. As Cosima wrote, we "recognize the theme of the spear, and to it the uncanny figure of Klingsor and Parsifal's motive, but as if restrained." The expected occurrence of Parsifal's Prophecy motive in the third and last of these motivic statements is then postponed by the two Klingsorian measures, mm. 32-33, which correspond to mm. 10-11 of the Prelude. Yet this new statement is much more emphatic in its rhythmic inflections, its dynamic level of forte and in its orchestration. Whereas the passage near the beginning of the Prelude is played by the strings alone, it is now reinforced by the winds, horns, and trombones.

If these shadowy gestures convey how "darkness and confusion surround" Parsifal, as expressed in Cosima's diary, they also prepare for a dramatic reassertion of the Prophecy motive. Marked krdftig (strongly) and mit Steigerung (with intensification), Wagner now presents the motive in rhythmically augmented form, beginning on the downbeat of m. 34. This broadened rhythmic treatment evokes the original vocal form of the motive, while serving to outline the ascending linear steps from Ab through B6, Cb, and Db, reaching Eb at the fortissimo marking in m. 36. The intonation of these measures implies the text "Durch Mitleid wissend, durch Mitleid wissend, der reine Tor" (Know- ing through compassion, knowing through compassion, the pure fool).

As in the preceding passage marked krdftig, as mentioned above, yet even more clearly, this dynamic passage emphasizing the Proph- ecy motive in ascending linear steps recalls music heard much earlier-Parsifal's success- ful storming of the ramparts of Klingsor's Magic Castle near the beginning of act II, heard as Klingsor sings of his defenders that "Seine Wunde trigt Jeder nach heim!" (Every one re- treats with his wounds!). That passage, as we have seen, has a tonal association with Eb major, and Wagner retains that pitch level in the

corresponding parts of the third-act Prelude, while somewhat obscuring the reference to this key. But whereas mm. 34 and 35 clearly relate to that moment in act II, the following mm. 36 to 38 are linked more closely to a later and even more crucial event from the second act. This is the naming of the "pure fool" by Kundry in her electrifying opening call, which causes Parsifal to be transfixed with wonder. Hers is actually a double call: after her singing of "Par- si-fal!" on the pitches GK-CV-D, and Parsifal's astonished, questioning echo on D-G-Bb, Kundry softly reiterates her message on B%--E G. By taking the last pitch of each statement as the first note of the next, Wagner integrates the threefold motivic statement as a progression outlining triads a major third apart: C6 minor, G minor, and Eb major. This treatment lends coherence to the passage, bridging the intervening music and text between the three utter- ances of "Parsifal."

This spelling out of the triad is derived from the end of the second phrase of the Prophecy motive, with its setting of the words "rei-ne Thor." In each case, the 5-1-3 unfolding of the triad stands for that predicted agent of deliverance who is eventually identified in the person of Parsifal. Example 8a shows the motive as sung by the four squires, immediately preceding Parsifal's initial appearance in act I, and ex. 8b reproduces the threefold treatment of the motive just after Kundry's entrance in act II. Here, of course, the identity of the prophesied "pure fool" is filled in; the name of the candi- date is supplied. Hence it is fitting that at the end of the third-act Prelude, Wagner includes a double statement of this phrase, by which "Parsifal" has been named, thereby drawing the pivotal character to the forefront of the orchestral music. These paired phrases outline the triads of Ab minor and F6 (or E) minor, using C6 as a common linking tone. In its fortissimo dynamic level for the first statement and its diminuendo for the second phrase, the passage even echoes Kundry's naming of Parsifal in act II. Her voice hovers mysteriously over this passage, rather ironically in view of her virtual silence throughout the remainder of the work.

This analysis of the Prelude leads to a perspective different from that proposed by Robert Morgan, who finds the overall tonal motion of


179

19TH CENTURY

MUSIC

a. Prophecy as sung by four squires, act I.

"rei - ne Thor"

b. Kundry's naming of Parsifal, act II.

KUNDRY: "Par - si - fal!" PARSIFAL: "Par si - fal?" KUNDRY: "Par - si-fal!"

Example 8

the Prelude "static" or "circular," representing an "inspired musical embodiment of Parsifal's fruitless search for the Castle of the Holy Grail."34 There are some static aspects to the Prelude, and in the last moments before the opening of the curtain the same diminished seventh that was prominent in earlier passages is heard again. Nevertheless, the dynamic features of the Prelude also deserve recognition, and these aspects are sufficiently marked to make the application of the rotational principle to the overall bipartite design of the Pre- lude somewhat problematical. As we have seen, a second rotation might be distinguished in m. 18, one of the measures Wagner interpolated into his draft. In the second half of the Prelude, we might regard mm. 24 and 34 as the likely beginnings of rotational units. In that case, however, the later rotations in the Prelude would bear only a weak thematic relation to the opening rotation; the condition of later rotations reworking "all or most of the referential statement" is not fulfilled. The rotational principle applies more convincingly to mm. 1-17 and 18-23, and to mm. 24-33 and 34-38, than it does to the Prelude as a whole. There are certain common features between the two large sections of the Prelude, such as the presence of descending chromaticism in mm. 3-4 and 24- 25, and the parallel between mm. 10-11 and mm. 26 and 32-33, yet the differences out- weigh these similarities.

In effect, the second pair of rotations breaks the wheel of the first pair. For the atmosphere of bleak "pathless" wandering that character-

izes the initial music leads, in the second half of the Prelude, to a dramatic event that goes far beyond what was heard before. The fortissimo sonority of a D-minor triad with added sixth represents the climactic outcome of the long series of wandering sequences, while also serving as the springboard to the part of the Prelude that focuses on a specific agent and goal: Parsifal and the Grail. That Parsifal's search is arduous but not fruitless seems embodied in the musical structure of the Prelude, which in its later stages signals the heroic endurance of Parsifal and the imminent approach of the future redeemer to the Grail realm.

The static dissonances of the third-act Pre- lude to Parsifal are bound up with the desolate state of the Grail, as reflected in the death of its founding leader, Titurel. The decaying condition of the Grail Order and its elusiveness from Parsifal's quest demanded from Wagner an extreme approach to this music, resulting in "grim sounds," as they were described by Cosima. Yet the decisive ensuing action is also embedded in the music of the Prelude. It was the approach of Parsifal with the spear on which Wagner focused in his early compositional work on the Prelude; only later did he compose the music of wandering that forms much of the first half of the Prelude. Already as the curtain opens, Kundry's groans are heard by Gurnemanz, and soon after her reappearance in the realm of the Grail, Parsifal approaches. The two events are closely interrelated. As Kundry is reincarnated in the Grail realm, and her curse is broken, Parsifal gains access to his goal at last.

Kundry's curse on Parsifal's path is formi- dable, but its staying power is limited. It is made clear elsewhere in the drama that Kling- 34Morgan, "Dissonant Prolongation," p. 72.

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sor's hold over her is relative, not absolute; in her long history as an archetypal character, Kundry has been reincarnated in the Grail realm in alternation with her periodic bondage to Klingsor. According to Gurnemanz's narrative in act I, she was found originally at the site of the Grail Temple by Titurel at the time when the sacred relics were received. Much later, not long before the beginning of the action, she vanished from the Grail realm when Amfortas recklessly ventured forth against Klingsor, los- ing the spear while receiving the wound; this prompts Gurnemanz's pointed question to her in act I: "Where were you wandering about when our Master lost the Spear?" Torn between opposing realms, Kundry's pattern of re- incarnations bears a direct relationship to the larger power struggle, which is paradoxically resolved in the drama through Parsifal's com- passionate renunciation and his refusal to use the Holy Spear as an instrument of force.35 One measure of Kundry's schizophrenic situation is her dread and futile resistance to the over- whelming need for sleep-and imminent transformation-in act I, whereby her utterance "Die Zeit ist da" (The time has come) is paired with the identical sentence as Klingsor's opening utterance in act II, as he calls her up to do his bidding. We are encouraged to understand these events as causally related or even simulta- neous-as Kundry vanishes from the Grail realm, she reappears in the antithetical sphere, Klingsor's magic castle.

A comparison of Wagner's various manuscript sources for the evolving text of Parsifal shows that he only gradually aligned the events that coincide at the beginning of act III as we know it. In the prose draft from 1865, the aging hermit Gurnemans discovers Kundry in a new incarnation, whereby she completely lacks the power of speech. It is at a later time, initially described as "a beautiful spring morning," when Kundry, gathering water from the spring, sees the approach of Parzival out of the distance.

The close temporal coordination of Kundry's reappearance in the Grail realm with Parsifal's attainment of his goal is not yet evident here. In the completed text from 1877, on the other hand, Gurnemanz explicitly attributes Kundry's last change of character-her quiet, earnest serenity-to the holy day, Good Friday, and this comment is juxtaposed immediately with the appearance of the mysterious stranger in black armor-Parsifal.

It has long been known that Wagner's often- cited account in his autobiography Mein Leben about conceiving Parsifal in a burst of inspiration on Good Friday of 1857 is untrustwor- thy.36 By contrast, the image of the mysterious pilgrim seeking the Grail-essentially, the "Parzival" figure who wanders to Tristan's bed- side-was an early and abiding notion, a guid- ing idea that in the genesis of Parsifal came to be associated with Good Friday. Broken free from Tristan und Isolde, the Parzival/Parsifal character wandered for many years through Wagner's mind, until in October 1878 it became time for him to compose the music for act III. In some ways, he followed patterns well established in advance: the use of the diatonic "Dresden Amen" formula as a means of reference to the sacred Grail realm, following the model of both Tannhiduser and of "Parzival's Refrain," was one of these devices.

Yet the artistic solution in Parsifal goes well beyond these models. In the Prelude, the "Dresden Amen," incorporated as part of the Grail motive, emerges gradually out of the amorphous texture, and the resourceful treatment of register and the contrapuntal density of the music find no precedent in Wagner's earlier attempts. The symbolic treatment of register in Parsifal, already intimated in his assimilation of the "Excelsior!" motive, is given powerful expression here in the long ascent to the climactic sonority at the heart of the Prelude.


351n this context, Lorenz overstates matters in writing that Parsifal's wandering "in fact takes up the whole history of the world; for the hour, when humanity should be healed from its eternally bleeding wound, comes actually only at the end of the world" (Der musikalische Aufbau von Ri- chard Wagners "Parsifal," pp. 145-46).

36That this "Good Friday inspiration" is one of Wagner's self-styled "inspiration myths" and not literally true is shown from a discrepancy in the relevant dates as well as from Wagner's own later admission, as recorded by Cosima in her diary entry of 22 April 1879, that "in fact it is all as far-fetched as my love affairs, for it was not a Good Friday at all-just a pleasant mood in Nature which made me think, 'This is how a Good Friday ought to be"' (CWT, II, 335).

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a. Grail motive in the Prelude to act III.

Zuriickhaltend und breiter werdend A A A A

21 A A A

p izi cre sc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

v v v ten.

b. Grail motive after Parsifal's entrance in act III.

(Parsifal erhebt sich langsam vom Gebete, blickt ruhig um sich, erkennt Gurnemanz und reicht diesem sanft die Hand zum Grusse.) PARSIFAL

(Parsifal rises slowly from prayer, looks calmly about him, recognizes Gurnemanz, Heil mir, dass ich dich wie - der and extends his hand to him in greeting.) Ah well, that a - gain here I

Wie zuvor, feierlich | -- --

PARSIFAL

fin - de! find thee!

GURNEMANZ

PRF

So kennst auch du mich noch? So know -est thou me still?

Ruhig, ohne Dehnung

9::Cr-,6

b9---

Example 9

One measure of the subtlety of Wagner's approach emerges if we compare the musical setting of Parsifal's first words in the act, "Heil mir, dass ich dich wieder finde!" (Thank God, that I find you again!), with this ascending orchestral passage leading toward the climax (ex. 9a and b). Both passages employ the "Dresden

Amen" motive at the same pitch level, but whereas the harmonic stability of the implied tonic Eb major is undercut in the Prelude through the substitution of the diminished-seventh chord in m. 22, this stable harmonic sonority is supplied in the later passage. The quiet serenity of the vocal phrase is affirmed through

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the root-position Eb triad held through a whole measure at "Heil mir" and the return of that sonority at the end of the phrase at "finde!" The corresponding passage in the Prelude effectively conveys Parsifal's striving for the still- elusive goal of the Grail, while withholding the tonal stability otherwise characteristic of this material, as, for example, in the Grail scene of act I. In the orchestral introduction to act III of Tannhiuser depicting Tannhiuser's pilgrimage, on the other hand, the statements of the "Dresden Amen" appear as fixed, tonally stable units, and the symbolic treatment of register, although striking, is not closely integrated with the music evocative of wandering, as occurs in Parsifal.

Similar observations can be made about Wagner's handling of the Spear motive in the Prelude. This figure normally unfolds through a rising fourth, but as shown, Wagner here cur- tails the ascent to a third while confining it to the middle register, seemingly in response to Parsifal's comments in his later narrative about holding "the spear in concealment in order to protect it." Unlike Amfortas, Parsifal treats the spear as an instrument for healing. His mission is to return the Spear safely to the Grail in a restorative act that may be regarded as part of a symbolic unification of male and female prin- ciples.37 In accordance with this dramatic situation, allusions to the spear in the Prelude needed to remain guarded and tentative, so they end "woefully" in a chromatic descent, as Cosima Wagner recorded. This is quite unlike the later passage at the end of Parsifal's narrative of his torturous journey, as his discourse turns from the past to the present tense, culminating in his display of the spear before Gurnemanz: "you see it shimmering, pure and clear, the Grail's Holy Spear!" In that passage, for the first time in the work, the head of the Communion theme, or "Excelsior!" motive, is extended upward by the rising fourth of the Spear motive. The characteristic downward turn at this point in the Communion theme to the minor mediant, embodied in the tensional

"Schmerzensfigur" or "pain motive," is thereby purged.38 This resolved form of the Commun- ion theme unfolds as a plagal cadence, employing the same motive and harmonic progression that will conclude the entire work.

We are now in a position to evaluate Wagner's comment that "such an extended 'independent episode' as Parsifal's torturous journey... would not work." Wagner's decision to use Titurel's theme at the outset in the Prelude and especially the "Dresden Amen" at a later point establishes associations with Parsifal's destina- tion, the realm of the Grail.39 Consequently, the intervening wandering passages, based as these are on Kundry's curse on Parsifal's path, are not treated as an "independent episode." As the Prelude unfolds, Wagner exploits the associations of the pervasive rising contour of the motivic material associated with "pathless wandering"; an extension of this upward-striving contour leads to the emergence of the Grail motive in mm. 21-22. That event in turn already forms part of a climactic synthesis in the center of the Prelude that combines the motives of the Grail, Kundry, and the spear, as well as the incarnation of the prophecy of the "pure fool" as redeemer. Beginning at this point, the tonal context assimilates the diatonic cast of the Prophecy motive associated with the character of Parsifal. Elsewhere, Wagner some- times superimposes diatonic material associated with Parsifal on a sharply conflicting tonal environment, most strikingly at the end of act II, when Parsifal's last words banning Klingsor's magic are set to the Grail motive in C major, causing a dissonant collision with the F# pedal drawn from Klingsor's key of B minor. In the


37See in this regard Dieter Borchmeyer, Drama and the World of Richard Wagner (Princeton: Princeton Univer- sity Press, 2003), p. 248, and the studies cited therein.

38Wagner associated this "Schmerzensfigur" with the "pain of Amfortas"; in its musical structure, the motive is virtually identical to the "Day" motive in Tristan und Isolde. For a more detailed discussion, see my essay "Dramatic Recapitulation and Tonal Pairing in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal," in The Second Practice of Nineteenth- Century Tonality, ed. William Kinderman and Harald Krebs (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996), pp. 195- 210. "This connection is conveyed musically through the affinity of the theme to the "Ode" motive (Desolation Mo- tive), as expressed in the falling tritone and falling fifth of its third to sixth notes. That configuration, in turn, represents a dissonant transformation of the motive of the Temple Bells, which is of course associated with the Grail.

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third-act Prelude, as well, Parsifal's musical identity comes into relief against the tonal environment that surrounds him. For instance, the sequential broadening of the Prophecy motive beginning in m. 34 alters the diminished- seventh chord from the preceding Klingsorian measures to a minor triad with added sixth and culminates in the unfolding of the triadic motivic configuration previously set to "reine Thor" and to Kundry's naming of "Par-si-fal." Consequently there is no single "diminished- seventh system" to which we can convincingly assimilate the whole Prelude to act III.

The passage heard just before the opening of the curtain displays this important double perspective. After a powerful assertion of the Fb- major triad that anchors the Prophecy motive in the second half of m. 36, the very notes of this motive dissolve onto mysterious diminished-seventh chords in the following measure. While this points to the desolate state of the Grail community, it in no way negates the imminent arrival of Parsifal, who is about to follow Kundry into the Grail realm. For the breaking of the curse-that crucial event that enables the drama to continue-is about to oc- cur, and the structure and formal design of the Prelude foretell the long-delayed, yet decisive emergence of Parsifal, with spear O in hand. 0

Abstract. The Prelude to the third act of Parsifal is one of Wagner's most advanced essays in expanded tonality. One author has described it as "set[ting] foot in

atonal territory as it re-explores the melancholy, disjointed polytonal idiom of the introduction to the third act of Tristan," and a noted analyst has suggested that it is motion around the diminished-seventh chord including Bb rather than the tonic triad of

Bb minor that defines the background structure of the Prelude. This music also raises issues of form and expressive meaning that have yet to be thoroughly addressed.

A valuable means of approaching the Prelude is through Wagner's surviving compositional documents, particularly the individual sketches for the Prelude that preceded the writing-out of his first continuous draft for the third act (the Kompositionsskizze [Composition Draft]). These manuscripts are held in the Wagner-Archiv at Bayreuth. When these sketches are transcribed and compared with the detailed record contained in Cosima Wagner's diary entries, insight can be gained into the way that Wagner composed the Prelude, during late October 1878.

This article shows in detail how the Prelude was composed on the basis of sketch sources that are virtually complete. It is supported by several fac- similes of Wagner's sketches, transcriptions, analytical graphs, and music examples. The study indicates that the "melancholy, disjointed polytonal" idiom of the Prelude is coordinated with a framework of associated tonalities reaching across vast stretches of musical time. These include not only the Bb-minor idiom of Titurel's burial, but also the associated tonality of Parsifal's Prophecy motive. The structural background of the Prelude to act III of Parsifal is not simply a diminished-seventh prolongation, but a tensional framework of motivic combi- nations and rotational cycles that effectively convey the bleak wandering and promise of deliverance that lie at the core of the drama.

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Documents

The Third-Act Prelude of Wagner's Parsifal Genesis, Form, And Dramatic Meaning