Monsalvat: the Parsifal home page | Music Introduction | Prelude to Act 2
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Monsalvat: the Parsifal home page | Music Introduction | Prelude to Act 2
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At midday, R. plays for me the introduction to the second act, Klingsor's approach and the rage of sin. It is wonderful!
Figure 1. Klingsor's motif (1) (no. 11
in the Guide) and the motif of Kundry's Laughter (2) (no. 8 in the
Guide).
he prelude to
the second act is a short, fast introduction of sixty bars, which introduces the domain of
Klingsor. Therefore, naturally, the dominant idea is Klingsor's motif [1]; at the end of the
prelude, Kundry is represented by the motif of Laughter [2]. Klingsor's motif may be
regarded as a distant derivative of the Grundthema that opens the prelude to the first act.
he second
act, including the prelude, is the only act in all of Wagner's music-dramas that begins and
ends in the same key. It is the black key of b minor, a key
that was associated with magic in the Ring. This choice of key for Klingsor's music
may not be fortuitous; in fact, the key sequence and dramatic action of the first two sections
of the act (up to the Kiss) parallel part of an opera by Meyerbeer.
Figure 2. Amfortas' suffering as it appears in the Act
1 Transformation Music.
he music of
the second act may be characterised as a parody and distortion of the music of the first act,
reflecting the relationship between Klingsor's domain and that of the Grail. At the climax of this short prelude (bar 50), there is a distorted
reminiscence [Figure 3] of the motif of Suffering, as it appeared in the
transformation music of Act 1 [Figure 2 - see also motif 4 in the Guide]. The music of Klingsor and Kundry is predominantly chromatic, and so
are the themes associated with suffering and desire, through which Klingsor and Kundry are
related to Amfortas.
Figure 3. Amfortas' suffering as it appears in the Act
2 prelude.
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