This is the complex of motives representing Kundry's Curse. She
cannot weep, only laugh her accursed laugh. In common with Amfortas, Kundry is weary (A),
seeking release in death. She is cursed with eternal rebirth, constantly Waking (#20) anew (B). Note in the bass, the motif of the Question (#31): who is good?
.
Fragments of this complex appear gradually. The first of them, the cascading scale that
appears to be a relative of the Laughter motif (#8 - although the
rhythm is more complex, it contains her characteristic interval of the tritone), first appears
at the end of Gurnemanz's line, Hier lebt sie heut', vielleicht erneu't, zu büssen
Schuld aus früh'rem Leben
. It is heard again at Amfortas' cry to the Redeemer. Then
the latter part (D) appears immediately after Kundry awakes at the call of Klingsor in the second
act. Klingsor echoes (D) and then (A) appears accompanying Kundry's lament. But these are only pre-
echoes. Most of the complex appears in the first period of the Grausamer section, and then
we hear the complex, completed for the first time, as Kundry tells of how she mocked Christ and
how His look fell upon her, at which she was cursed to wander the world (zu büssen
Schuld aus früh'rem Leben
) until she meets her Redeemer.
Curse