This motif is associated not only with the sorcerer Klingsor, but also with sorcery in general. Carl Dahlhaus has pointed out that the harmonic basis of this motif recalls that representing the Tarnhelm, a magical device, in the Ring.
On its first appearance it accompanies Gurnemanz's account of how Titurel found Kundry for
the first time: sie schlafend hier im Waldgestrüpp
. Indeed, he goes on to
tell (after much evasion) the story of Klingsor, the evil one over the mountains. As with the
Prophecy motif (#6), the motif of Klingsor's
Magic develops from a barely defined fragment into a complete musical phrase. In this
extended form, the motif accompanies Kundry's magic sleep.
This motif seems to have broader associations than Klingsor and sorcery. The first fragment of the motif appears when Kundry reveals that she has brought the balsam from Arabia, somewhere further than Gurnemanz's mind can reach. It may also represent the heathen lands beyond the mountains, or any place or concept remote from the mind- set of the Grail knights.
The motif of Klingsor's Magic begins with the Yearning motif (A) which is followed by the three note Question motif (shown in red on the example) and finishes with a subsidiary motif (B) that becomes associated with Kundry. Lorenz showed that the ascending part of the motif derived from the Riding motif. Conversely, it might be said that Riding is a variation on Klingsor's Magic. This relationship is probably more significant when the motif accompanies Kundry flying through the air, than when it accompanies Parsifal telling us about the knights he saw near his home in the forest.
Klingsor's Magic or Sorcery