Monsalvat: the Parsifal home page | Music Introduction | Prelude to Act 3
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Monsalvat: the Parsifal home page | Music Introduction | Prelude to Act 3
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I intend going straight on without a break to the third act, which promises me a blessed harvest after the labours of the second act. But I must first introduce it with an orchestral prelude to accompany Parsifal's effortful wanderings up to the point where he rediscovers the realm of the Grail.
ost of the
material used in the third act prelude is reminiscence of the first act (e.g. the
Prophecy, no. 6 in the Guide) and second act (i.e. the
music of Klingsor's domain). Furthermore, much of the music of the third act can be derived
from the music of Parsifal and Kundry respectively -- even though she has only two words to
sing, she is present in the music until her baptism, after which she all but disappears from
the score. The third act prelude is dominated by the music of these two characters but,
strangely, Amfortas seems to absent from this prelude.
o understand
what is happening, let's put the third act prelude in its dramatic context.
the
end of the second act, the newly enlightened hero has been miraculously saved from destruction
by the stolen spear cast at him by Klingsor. Wielding the spear in the sign of the cross,
Parsifal destroys Klingsor's power, including his hold over Kundry, and his magic garden with
its Magic Maidens. Between the second and third acts, Parsifal, cursed by Kundry both to wander
and denied paths that lead away from her, wanders in search of the domain of the Grail. It is there that he will find the stricken Amfortas; whom the hero
now understands, having experienced his suffering himself. Kundry, however, knows the way to
the domain of the Grail, and during this prelude she is sleeping, in
the same spot where she fell asleep at the end of the first act. I like to think of the prelude
to act 3 as Kundry's Dream, in which she recalls the events of the previous act and
sees the wandering of Parsifal, who is bringing healing in the form of the Spear. She knows that Parsifal will find a way back to her and therefore to the
domain of the Grail.
ow let's
examine the prelude to the third act in detail. The second act ended in the black
key of b minor. The prelude begins with a tension between B major and b flat minor.
he first four
notes in the top line (3) I call the Serving motif (although it's not the same as the
notes to which Kundry sings her "dienen") and it ends with a falling tritone, b flat - e, the
characteristic interval associated with Kundry. This falling tritone is a feature of the
Laughter idea that was introduced in the first act and associated with Kundry and her
accursed laughter. This is followed by six notes from the Nature music of the flower
maidens (1) and also weakly reminiscent of Ich sah das Kind
(2).
bar
5 we come to a three-note idea that I call Waking (2), no. 20 in the Guide, which will be developed later in the prelude. The music now has a
flavour of Kundry's material, e.g. the rocking arpeggios in the bass line in bars 11 to 13,
perhaps, like Kundry's motif, suggesting the eternal cycle of rebirth.
hen we hear
the wandering Parsifal, in an idea that Newman called Straying (1). This is developed
by the insertion of more notes, we hear Kundry at bar 20 as the music slows down, and
then the chromatic Straying, no. 32 in the Guide, turning
into the diatonic Dresden Amen (i.e. Grail), proclaiming the domain of the
Grail (bar 22). This is easily transformed into the related motif of the
Spear (with its three emphasized, rising notes), at which Kundry laughs in
her sleep (bar 24), in a longer version of Kundry's Laughter over the Spear
motif in the bass.
"new" idea
appears at bar 25, which on closer inspection turns out to be the Prophecy motif in
diminution, leading into the fully developed form of Waking. As Kundry stirs in her
sleep, these three themes are woven together with that of the Spear and the rocking
arpeggios (eternal cycle). The Prophecy idea is developed into an insistent figure
with a double-dotted rhythm and shortened notes; the key is now e flat
minor. As Gurnemanz emerges from his hut, we hear the Serving motif and then
the music of the waking Kundry. The first scene begins at bar 49, in tonal ambiguity
around Gurnemanz's d minor.
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