Bayreuth Festival. Wagner's Parsifal. August 8, 2025.

Bayreuth Festival Theater.  Parkett Left (Seat 16-7, 301 euros).

Curtain Call.  From left: (skipping over those I don't recognize) Kundry double; Gurnermanz; Kundry; Heras-Casado; Chorus Master; Amfortas.  Missing: Klingsor.

Conductor - Pablo Heras-Casado.  Amfortas - Michael Volle, Titurel - Tobias Kehrer, Gurnemanz -Georg Zeppenfeld, Parsifal - Andreas Schager, Klingsor - Jordon Shanahan, Kundry - Ekaterina Gubanova.

This was the third and last of the performances for us this Wagner Festival.  In a way this was most faithful retelling of the seven operas I have seen over these two years.  (Spoiler alert) The only twist was the grail was dropped, and shattered, at the end of the opera - I will come back to that later.

The opera staging started with a set I can't quite explain.  It's supposed to be the sanctuary of the Holy Grail in Montsalvat.  What we had was a few thin columns, and an odd-shaped larger column.  One technique deployed for this opera is the projection of a video image of the singers on stage.  Sometimes a cameraman was seen on stage doing the filming.  Given Act 1 was dialog-heavy, there wasn't much visual activity in it.  This production chooses to concentrate on Amfortas's wound, which kept bleeding in the video despite the attention it was given.  For some action sequences the video was undoubtedly in real time.  There were many other segments where I couldn't imagine where the camera would be located.

On the physical stage, Amfortas was lying next to the large column, with Kundry's double trying to stem the blood flow, sewing the wound up, and bandaging it up.  Yes, there was a Kundry double - similar costume, but different hair color (Kundry's was half white and half black initially).  And Parsifal had a double also; his task was to scale down the wall when he first entered the scene; and that was it as far as I can remember.  Kundry's double showed up throughout the opera.

The narrations offered by the various singers have different segments in them.  For instance, Gurnermanz would describe topics such as why Amfortas was wounded and how Klingsor castrated himself; and Kundry told Parsifal about his history, including how his parents died.  It is impossible for me to remember the order of the narrations, so except for a few particular dramatic moments, I couldn't tell them apart.  The Act lasted 1 hour 40 minutes.  I managed to stay focused, and at times fascinated. Parsifal was banished by Gurnermanz because he didn't understand the message; by that measure I suspect many in the audience would be banished also, I know I would be.

At some point the covered grail was brought out.  The grail bearer sat on the stage with the grail steady in his hand for an impressive long time (perhaps 30 minutes?).  The grail was revealed to be a rhombus-shaped crystal which was eventually dropped and shattered (that would be Act 3), one can attribute all kinds of meaning to that, a popular one seems to be ecological: that the mining of rare earth material eventually would lead to destruction.

By comparison, Act 2 is action-filled.  In the span of a little over an hour, the audience is introduced to Klingsor, who leaves no doubt he is the devil with a horned helmet (where are the scholars who would tell us Klingsor is not evil, but simply a product of his circumstances); flower maidens enticing Parsifal; the seduction by Kundry; and, when Parsifal suddenly realizes Amfortas's pain and understand compassion, how Kundry turns into pleading with Parsifal.  And the most dramatic scene: Klingsor throwing a spear at Parsifal, the spear is caught, and Klingsor is vanquished.  Well, the actual realization of this scene is a bit lame: the spear is being thrusted towards Parsifal, Kundry steps in front of it, and the spear is then held between her arm and body (meaning she is struck?), except this "trick" is clearly observed by many in the audience.  It's not even clear whether Kundry is supposed to be wounded or killed by this action as she continued to be on stage for the rest of the opera.  Other productions I saw usually use the "flash effect" and have the spear magically appear in Parsifal's hands.

Back to Klingsor, the devil evidently lives in an oven with pink flashes projected onto the walls, but with a pink suit he looks more comical than scary.  The flower maiden scene was more grotesque than sensual.  There are flowers hanging from the ceiling, and the flower maidens do what flower maidens do, mostly.  However, there is a headless body on stage, and a dead man leaning against the wall  - his heart was pulled out at some point (forget by whom, most probably by Parsifal).  In this Act Kundry's double was on a lot, lying on the ground while Kundry sings.  Titurel was brought out, rolled into the water, and stood up a healed person; he started the show as a near-death pruney old man.

Act 3 easily takes the cake in terms of being different from what it should look like.  We first have a rather dystopian scene of a run-down armored tank (for lack of a better description) that featured prominently on stage, next to the ubiquitous body of water (oh, didn't I mention that?).  There is little debate that Wagner's intention was to have the story end on the climax of the unification of the spear with the grail.  I forget what happened to the spear, but the grail was definitely shattered.  And what was the woman doing with a machine gun (AK47 per some reviews)?  Indeed I am not sure what the ending means in the new production; is there any redemption involved?  (Admittedly as I complete this blog entry many days later I have forgotten much of what happened, especially parts for which I didn't write down any notes.)

Fanfare announcing the start of Act 3.

Screen shots from Bayreuth website.  Parsifal and Gurnemanz, possibly Parsifal being banished.

Klingsor was more comedic than evil.

Flower maidens seducing Parsifal.

Kundry's shirt has "Forget me" written on it.  At some point Parsifal wore a shirt saying "Remember me."  Reviewers are scratching their heads as to what this means.

Dystopian set for Act 3.  Video of Kundry double (foreground) projected onto secreen.

Amfortas's wound was never healed.

The ring of fluorescent lights refer to the knights of the holy grail?

I have stated in this blog multiple times that I don't like to read reviews before a performance.  For all the Bayreuth operas I violated that rule; indeed I read a few reviews beforehand, and re-read some of them before completing this entry.  Most of the reviews spent more than half the write-ups on the Augmented Reality available to about 300 attendees (out of about 2000), and most reviewers ended up scratching the heads as to why, or what AR added to the performance.  I opted not to try to get those seats (more expensive, and I wear glasses which may make the experience cumbersome).

Perhaps that's the idea, my encounter with the production isn't what I expected, good or bad.  Again, the question I had for the first blog entry in this series was how Wagner would react.  I am sure he would appreciate the singing, and perhaps the acting, but not so sure he would agree with the "twisted" interpretation of the dramatic aspects.  Wagner was the one who coined the term "gesamtkunstwerk," which I take to mean more than just the musical aspects of the products.

Now, without the grail to protect the knights would have no reason to hang around Montsalvat, and we won't have Lohengrin coming from that "organization."  The directors of the two operas should talk a bit more with one another.  New stories are problematic enough, but breaking any linkage between operas is catastrophic.  (Some hyperbole here.)

I have about a week to decide if I will try for next year's Festival.  I am considering Rienzi and The Flying Dutchman.  Too bad Tristan and Isolde has been dropped for that season.  I will miss seeing all of Wagner's operas at Bayreuth (the ones that are regularly staged there anyway), but will have seen all of his operas.  If we go, that is.