 Grail motive |
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  Holy Grail |
 A distorted form of the motive, heard in act II |
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The Dresden Amen was composed by J.G. Naumann (1741-1801) for use in the royal chapel at Dresden and elsewhere in Saxony. Richard Wagner became familiar with this music during his years there as Kapellmeister, between 1842 and 1849. No doubt he had heard it earlier, both in Leipzig and in Dresden. Wagner made use of this distinctive "Amen" in Parsifal, where it represents the Holy Grail.
It is one of the few themes that appears in the prelude to the first act, and throughout the music-drama this motive appears more often than any other. A derivative of this motif is heard when Parsifal asks about the Grail (B). Example (C) above is the first of several harmonic distortions of the Holy Grail theme that appear in Act II.