Lisa Hirsch's Classical Music Blog. The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve. Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.
Berce mollement sur ton sein sublime
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Friday, April 22, 2011
Good Friday
Parsifal, "Good Friday Spell," from Bayreuth, 1933: Alexander Kipnis (Gurnemanz), Max Lorenz (Parsifal), conducted by Richard Strauss. (I had no idea.)
Parsifal is (to me) the most disappointing of Wagner's mature works because it contains his subtlest, most ravishing music along with many pages of dull, uninspired (and even kitschy) music.
7 comments:
1933? - ewwwww.
Well, it was a terrible year - but still a year when Kipnis, who was Jewish, could sing at Bayreuth.
"I had no idea" because I did not know that Strauss had ever conducted at Bayreuth.
Parsifal is (to me) the most disappointing of Wagner's mature works because it contains his subtlest, most ravishing music along with many pages of dull, uninspired (and even kitschy) music.
Am I the only one who feels this way?
Yes - I'm sure you're the only one.
Yes - I'm sure you're the only one.
******
But don't you feel that Das Rheingold or Tristan or Gotterdammerung are the more continuously riveting and perfect music dramas?
No.
No.
*****
Parsifal must be judged on the merits of its music alone... And as music it has its defects that are not very different from those of the libretto.
It is definitely not a flawless opera.
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