 |
 Distress |
This may be heard either as a derivative of the Bells motif (#28), via Serving (#19), or as derived from the first phrase of the Prophecy motif (#6). Where Bells has two falling fourths, and Serving two falling fifths, the Distress of Monsalvat motif has, like the first phrase of Prophecy a falling fifth and a falling tritone. Thus it might be considered an interpolation between #19 and #28, the four motifs forming a group that share a common idea, that of the community of Monsalvat.
We hear it first in the strings, just before Gurnemanz asks Wie kam'st du heut'
- woher?
and it returns when he describes the sad state of affairs that prevails at
Monsalvat.
Hans von Wolzogen called this motif "the shortened form of Desolation" (hearing it as derived from a diminution of motif #19, to which it is related, clearly). Albert Lavignac gave it the label "the second form of The Desert".