Parsifal

[vaneramos]

I lost my breath to the music of Parsifal the first time I heard it probably 30 years ago, but today was the first time I experienced an opera performance, live from The Met in HD. First, you have to get past the intense Christianity. It is hard to find a mountain of salt big enough to take with the message of peace, redemption and forgiveness alongside Wagner's proto-Nazism. But then there are the two essential musical themes that easily carry you through almost five hours of performance without feeling the passage of time. And today's production turned the religious message into one about responsibility. Sin becomes a metaphor for the world's brokenness, and we see a desperate need for reconciliation between humanity and nature. The staging was painterly, especially the final scene of dirty, tired men and women leaning on one another against a dramatic sky. I was also surprised by the men's chorus (which I had never heard) in Act III when Amfortas crawls toward his father's grave. It was harrowing, spine-tingling, devastating, a step beyond Wagner's other music. It is painful to truly do right in the world, and our only hope of success is in working together.