Parsifal (ROH)

[Thropplenoggin]

Whatever doubts (some of which are articulated far more coherently above than I could hope to attempt) I had about the production and some of the principals, the orchestra and chorus were magnificent last night. If beauty and magnificence of orchestral and choral sound were the only criterion this would have been hard to better. Not an insightful contribution, but credit where it's due.

However, I did find the ethereal choral voices 'from on high' slightly too ethereal last night, but this could have just been from where I was sat.

PS - Thropplenoggin, while not a particularly regular visitor to the ROH, last night's was, without exaggeration, the stillest and quietest audience I've ever experienced there. By which I'm not denying what you say at all, merely noting that there's usually considerably more coughing and crashing about in my experience. At least the mobile phone ringtone was of the "brrring brrrring" variety rather than, say, than a cheesy polyphonic version of that *$£$ Nokia ditty...

Well that's reassuring! Perhaps I expect too much. Tho' some near me, like me, are able to sit still for an hour without fidgeting and stifle coughs or keep them to loud passages.
But why that x$%! couldn't have waited another 30 seconds for the curtain to drop and the music to end is beyond me. After such an experience, to tear off like that...had he experienced nothing? The anti-Parsifal - an unholy fool.

[Simon B]

Well that's reassuring! Perhaps I expect too much. Tho' some near me, like me, are able to sit still for an hour without fidgeting and stifle coughs or keep them to loud passages.
But why that x$%! couldn't have waited another 30 seconds for the curtain to drop and the music to end is beyond me. After such an experience, to tear off like that...had he experienced nothing? The anti-Parsifal - an unholy fool.

It does seem quite bizarre, it's hard to imagine that anyone signs up for Parsifal without the knowledge that it goes on for... quite some time, and thus has to leave the split second it ends. I couldn't move for a bit - mostly from having to unfold myself from the agony of a side balcony seat and maintaining a deeply unnatural posture for hours at a time to be able to see anything much on the stage. Worth it though to be close to the pit and the glorious sound wafting up.

Fortunately, Simon and Simple don't go together for no reason in my case and bafflement at aspects of the production was no barrier to simply enjoying a few hours of sonic bath...

[Thropplenoggin]

Fortunately, Simon and Simple don't go together for no reason in my case and bafflement at aspects of the production was no barrier to simply enjoying a few hours of sonic bath...

A lovely metaphor.

[Thropplenoggin]

Can this be right?

'Given that the ritual of the Grail is a communion rite, using the cup that caught the blood of Jesus dripping from the cross, this may sound Christian. But the Christianity of Wagner was ambiguous, perverse, entangled with ideas of Aryan supremacy and festishistic sado-masochism.'

Source: NY Times review http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/03/ar...ifal.html?_r=0

[Frances_iom]

:... but this could have just been from where I was sat.
....After such an experience, to tear off like that...had he experienced nothing?

were you sitting above row R in the amphitheatre ? - this was the space occupied by the plebeian coffee bar in the old house (when us plebs had the luxery of our own entrance + exit down to Floral Street ,the 97 or so steps guaranteed that your neighbour did not exceed their allotted space on the bench unlike today where too many overweight visitors are the norm - the sound here is decidedly worse especially in the top register and general placement.

Re dashing off - yes they should have waited but a significantly late finish can make train connections a problem (esp at Xmas when the post 11pm trains seem to be full of drink impaired revellers) - getting close to the lift or escalator pre general rush can save 5mins or more.

[DracoM]

The origins of the Grail are [at least in some sources] indeed supposedly the cup that catches the blood of Christ from the cross.
BUT
there is among many others the strong tradition too that it is the vessel Christ used at the Last Supper to institute the Eucharist.
AND
believe me, there are more than a million angels dancing on the head of THAT scholarly conundrum's pin head. The scholarship around the provenance and significance of the Grail is complex and almost infinite!

[Thropplenoggin]

were you sitting above row R in the amphitheatre ? - this was the space occupied by the plebeian coffee bar in the old house (when us plebs had the luxery of our own entrance + exit down to Floral Street ,the 97 or so steps guaranteed that your neighbour did not exceed their allotted space on the bench unlike today where too many overweight visitors are the norm - the sound here is decidedly worse especially in the top register and general placement.

Re dashing off - yes they should have waited but a significantly late finish can make train connections a problem (esp at Xmas when the post 11pm trains seem to be full of drink impaired revellers) - getting close to the lift or escalator pre general rush can save 5mins or more.

Row U. Upper Amphitheatre.

Thanks for the explanation!

--

I'm still pondering the empty cube-grail mystery. Buddhism has been rolling round my mind. Parsifal has been 'enlightened by compassion'. Think of the Four Noble Truths:

- life is suffering,
- suffering is caused by desire,
- suffering can have an end, and
- there is a path which leads to the end of suffering.

Perhaps this is the slant the director wanted to give, moving away from the Christiantheologism. We are often told that Buddhism influenced Parsifal in this work, but I have yet to read specifics of where and how.

[gurnemanz]

The origins of the Grail are [at least in some sources] indeed supposedly the cup that catches the blood of Christ from the cross.
BUT
there is among many others the strong tradition too that it is the vessel Christ used at the Last Supper to institute the Eucharist.
AND
believe me, there are more than a million angels dancing on the head of THAT scholarly conundrum's pin head. The scholarship around the provenance and significance of the Grail is complex and almost infinite!

I studied the original Middle High German Parzifal by Wolfram von Eschenbach as an undergraduate about 45 years ago - where the Grail was a stone (from outer space?). I've even been to Wolframseschenbach in Franconia and seen the Monty Python version about 15 times and I still don't know what it is. You spend your life searching for some kind of perfection beyond material existence and then there's nothing there, or as Kundry might put it: life's a bitch, then you die.

I'm starting to feel like my namesake - a longwinded old bloke who just goes on and on.

[Thropplenoggin]

I studied the original Middle High German Parzifal by Wolfram von Eschenbach as an undergraduate about 45 years ago - where the Grail was a stone (from outer space?). I've even been to Wolframseschenbach in Franconia and seen the Monty Python version about 15 times and I still don't know what it is. You spend your life searching for some kind of perfection beyond material existence and then there's nothing there, or as Kundry might put it: life's a bitch, then you die.

I'm starting to feel like my namesake - a longwinded old bloke who just goes on and on.

Not so. I've gleaned much insight from your postings.

[Flosshilde]

The origins of the Grail are [at least in some sources] indeed supposedly the cup that catches the blood of Christ from the cross.
BUT
there is among many others the strong tradition too that it is the vessel Christ used at the Last Supper to institute the Eucharist.
AND
believe me, there are more than a million angels dancing on the head of THAT scholarly conundrum's pin head. The scholarship around the provenance and significance of the Grail is complex and almost infinite!

& then there are some who believe that the Grail is identified with Mary Magdalen's womb ; elements of the character of Kundry echo Mary Magdelene, and the latter featured in a projected opera by Wagner on Jesus.

[gradus]

Wondered if this might be of interest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCnQ4...are_video_user

[DracoM]

Excellent stuff. Many thanks for alert!!

JT has a very particular way of phrasing and reaching. I just ever so slightly wonder if that is how a tenor would do it actually ON STAGE in medias res?

[gradus]

Yes, I also wonder if a high-pressure master class in front of a large-ish audience isn't more about JT than the tenor, but interesting for all that.

[Richard Tarleton]

And Rupert C does not comment, surprisingly, on her Rebekah Brooks wig in Act 3

From my #22. Good to see Lunchtime O'Boulez is keeping an eye on the forum, see p. 24 of the Xmas issue of Private Eye

[amateur51]

From my #22. Good to see Lunchtime O'Boulez is keeping an eye on the forum, see p. 24 of the Xmas issue of Private Eye

I've not got my bins with me RT - any chance of a quotation?