- published: 02 Nov 2012
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Parsifal (WWV 111) is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail, and on Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval, the Story of the Grail.
Wagner first conceived the work in April 1857 but it was not finished until twenty-five years later. It was to be Wagner's last completed opera and in composing it he took advantage of the particular acoustics of his Bayreuth Festspielhaus. Parsifal was first produced at the second Bayreuth Festival in 1882. The Bayreuth Festival maintained a monopoly on Parsifal productions until 1903, when the opera was performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Wagner preferred to describe Parsifal not as an opera, but as "ein Bühnenweihfestspiel" - "A Festival Play for the Consecration of the Stage". At Bayreuth a tradition has arisen that there is no applause after the first act of the opera.
Wagner's spelling of Parsifal instead of the Parzival he had used up to 1877 is informed by an erroneous etymology of the name Percival deriving it from a supposedly Arabic origin, Fal Parsi meaning "pure fool".
Actors: Jean-Philippe Goude (composer), Didier Brunner (producer), Henri Magalon (producer), Emmanuel Curtil (actor), Fily Keita (actress), Alexandre Reverend (writer), Anne-Sophie Salles (writer), Guillaume Poyet (composer), Jean-Christophe Roger (director), Bernard Bollet (actor), Didier Levy (writer),
Genres: Animation,Actors: Richard Wagner (writer), Horant H. Hohlfeld (director), Hans Sotin (actor), Matthias Hölle (actor), Falk Struckmann (actor), Sándor Sólyom-Nagy (actor), Wolfgang Wagner (miscellaneous crew), Peter Maus (actor), Iván Markó (miscellaneous crew), Helmut Pampuch (actor), Reinhard Heinrich (costume designer), Ekkehard Wlaschiha (actor), Poul Elming (actor), Jane Turner (actress), Linda Watson (actress),
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Music, Mystery,Actors: Adolf Hitler (actor), Matti Salminen (actor), Matti Salminen (actor), José van Dam (actor), Heinz Zednik (actor), Heinz Zednik (actor), Marie-France Cuénot (editor), Gwyneth Jones (actress), Waltraud Meier (actress), Philippe Druillet (actor), Bernd Weikl (actor), Siegfried Jerusalem (actor), Siegfried Jerusalem (actor), Georg Solti (actor), Hans Sotin (actor),
Genres: Documentary,Actors: Stefano Reali (director), Stefano Reali (writer), Mariano Rigillo (actor), Stefano Reali (writer), Graziano Diana (writer), Ennio Morricone (composer), Graziano Diana (writer), Pietro Valsecchi (producer), Stefano Abbati (actor), Maurizio Mattioli (actor), Victor Cavallo (actor), Raoul Bova (actor), Federico Pacifici (actor), Stefania Orsola Garello (actress), Giorgio Tirabassi (actor),
Genres: ,Actors: Brian Large (director), Richard Wagner (writer), Otto Schenk (miscellaneous crew), Metropolitan Opera Chorus (actor), Waltraud Meier (actress), Bernd Weikl (actor), Siegfried Jerusalem (actor), Kurt Moll (actor), Paul Groves (actor), Rolf Langenfass (costume designer), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (actor), Bernard Fitch (actor), Franz Mazura (actor), Heidi Grant Murphy (actress), Heidi Grant Murphy (actress),
Genres: Music,Actors: Richard Wagner (writer), Waltraud Meier (actress), Hans Hulscher (director), Harry Kupfer (miscellaneous crew), John Tomlinson (actor), Günter von Kannen (actor), Falk Struckmann (actor), Poul Elming (actor), Fritz Hübner (actor),
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Music,Actors: Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (director), Richard Wagner (writer), Jutta Brandstaedter (editor), Martin Sperr (actor), Robert Lloyd (actor), Edith Clever (actress), David Meyer (actor), Sophie von Uslar (actress), Aage Haugland (actor), Wolfgang Schöne (actor), Amelie Syberberg (actress), Michael Roider (actor), Annie Nap-Oleon (producer), Paul Frey (actor), Sabine Kueckelmann (actress),
Plot: Richard Wagner's last opera has remained controversial since its first performance for its unique, and, for some, unsavory blending of religious and erotic themes and imagery. Based on one of the medieval epic romances of King Arthur and the search for the holy grail (the chalice touched by the lips of Christ at the last supper), it recounts over three long acts how a "wild child" unwittingly invades the sacred precincts of the grail, fulfilling a prophecy that only such a one can save the grail's protectors from a curse fallen upon them. Interpreters of the work have found everything from mystical revelation to proto-fascist propaganda in it. Hans-Jurgen Syberberg's production doesn't avoid either aspect, but tries synthesize them by seeking their roots in the divided soul of Wagner himself. The action unfolds on a craggy landscape which turns out to be a gigantic enlargement of the composer's death mask, among deliberately tatty theatrical devices: puppets, scale models, magic-lantern projections. The eponymous hero is sung by the specified tenor voice (Reiner Goldberg) but mimed on screen by a male and a female performer alternately, reflecting what the director takes to be the creator's own sexual conflicts. Syberberg's pacing, dictated by the majestic pace of Wagner's score, is slow, but enlivened by constant subtle shifts in point of view, and memorable performances by actress Edith Clever as the villainess/heroine Kundry (sung by Yvonne Minton), orchestra conductor Armin Jordan as the remorseful knight Amfortas (sung by Wolfgang Schoene), and Robert Lloyd (the faithful retainer Gurnemanz).
Keywords: based-on-opera, filmed-opera, german-opera, myth, opera, richard-wagnerActors: Brian Large (director), Richard Wagner (writer), Matti Salminen (actor), Bernd Weikl (actor), Siegfried Jerusalem (actor), Hans Sotin (actor), Wolfgang Wagner (miscellaneous crew), Hanna Schwarz (actress), Helmut Pampuch (actor), Leif Roar (actor), Heinz Klaus Ecker (actor), Eva Randová (actress), Martin Egel (actor), Marga Schiml (actress), Toni Krämer (actor),
Genres: Fantasy, Music,Actors: Giancarlo Badessi (actor), Luca Sportelli (actor), Orazio Stracuzzi (actor), Leopoldo Trieste (actor), Janet Agren (actress), Clara Colosimo (actress), Rina Franchetti (actress), Dada Gallotti (actress), Valeria Moriconi (actress), Maria Tedeschi (actress), Daniele Dublino (actor), Valentino Macchi (actor), Carlo Monni (actor), Al Cliver (actor), Nerina Montagnani (actress),
Plot: By all accounts, this slick production aims at exposing the corruption of southern Italian Catholicism. A young seminarian who can't be ordained because of a speech impediment leaves the seminary to take a job with a wealthy baroness' crippled son. The seminarian is a lustful and mendacious rascal, but soon after taking the baroness to bed he heads off to Lourdes with the boy, ostensibly in hope of a miracle for the lad. Instead, he seduces a very devout woman who is visiting the site with her grandmother, who dies. This is just the main story.
Genres: Drama, Romance,Actors: Sergio Donati (writer), Antonio Margheriti (writer), Carlo Ponti (producer), Giovanni Cianfriglia (actor), Fernando Bilbao (actor), Tom Felleghy (actor), George Wang (actor), Pietro Torrisi (actor), Renzo Marignano (actor), Roberto Messina (actor), Fernando Bilbao (actor), Franco Ressel (actor), Luciano Pigozzi (actor), Romano Puppo (actor), Giovanni Simonelli (writer),
Genres: Action, Comedy,