The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-19

| Inc conversation between lne knights
remaining with Gurnemanz brings out
the story of Klingsor, the sacred spear
and the wound, which have already
| been told here. We also gain some
inkling of the fact that Kundry is
something under the spell of Klingsor,
and that then she Is the most dan
| gerous of his sirens. Gurnemanz has
| just told the knights how the Grail it
| self in graphic symbols foretold the
redemption of Amfortas by the pure
fool through pity enlightened" when
! there is an cutlery, and Parsifal is
led in, charged with having wounded
| a swan.
In answer to questions of Gurnemanz,
| Parsifal shows that he was ignorant
of the wrong he did, that he does not
| know his own name, nor that OF his
father. He tells the name of his
mother, Heart of Sorrows" and how
he left her to follow three splendid
knights, whom he wished to emulate.
| Kundry names his father Gamuret, and
tells him that his mother is dead.
She bade me greet thee, Fool" she
says. Parsifal, enraged. rushes at her.
| but he is restrained by Gurnemanz
A moment later Kundry, shivering
with horror, tells us that 1.-The time
is nigh" and she becomes powerless.
She sinks down behind some bushes.
| She has passed under the magic spell
of Klingsor, who has summoned her.
Gurnemanz, hoping that Parsifal is
the long expected pure fool" leads
| him to Monsalvat. They do not leave
the stage, but the scenery passes
them in panorama, and Wagner ac-
counts for his device in this interest
ing bit of dialogue:
Parsifal-I scarcely move,
Yet ween that far we've gone.
Gurnemanz-Dost see, my son,
Here Time and Space are one.
The two at length reach the great
hall of the Castle of the Grail, where
they see the knights arranging them
selves at table for the ceremony of
the Last Supper. ~ Amfortas and the
Grail are borne in and Titurel, the
aged father of Amfortas, asks from a
valuted recess at the rear whether his
son will perform his Office and I'M
veil the Grail Amfortas asks his
father to take the burden from him
because his suffering is so sore, and
then makes what is described on con-
cert programmes as his lament" In
this he bewails his condition, stricken
by the sacred spear, and suffering in
his minor human way such agonies as
the Saviour had suffered. At the end
he beseeches God to heal the wound.
that he may die fitted for Heaven.
The choir Of boys chants the prophe-
cy of salvation through the pure fool
and Titurel bids Amfortas unveil the
Grail. The cup is taken from it's shrine
and set before Amfortas, who bows
in prayer. The boys sing:
Take and drink of my blood.
It's of our love the token:
Take of my body and eat,
Twas once for sinners broken"
The Grail is illumined by light from
above, and Amfortas, lifting it, waves
1t slowly from side to side, while all
sink upon their knees. When the ra-
dance dies out. the cups before the
knights are seen to be filed with wine
and beside each cup is a piece of bread.
Thus, we are given to understand that
the Grail itself supplies the Last Sup
per. The Knights partake of the SOL
emn feast and GurnemanZ invites Par
sifal to do so. but he remains silent
and stupid and motionless through it
all. He has moved but once, with a
single start at Amfortas' cry of agony.
When all is over Gurnemanz asks Par
sifal If he knows what he has seen, and
the young man shakes his head. There
upon Gurnemanz, in disgust, turns him
out of the castle, and the first act ends.
The second act shows us the inner
keep of klingsor's tower. The magi-
clan is watching for the coming of
Parsifal. He sees him afar off, and
then summons Kundry from the depths.
She struggles vainly against the pow
er of the magician, who taunts her with
having been the temptress of Amfor-
tas. Kllngsor describes the approach
of Parsifal, which he watches, telling
how the boy fights for entrance to the
garden, and at last how he succeeds in
winning 1t. The evil one turns to
Kundry, but she, shrieking, has disap-
peared, and Klingsor knows that she
is at her wicked work, still the minion
of his power.
The tower sinks, and in it's place
stands revealed the magic garden.
From every SIDE" according to the
stage directions, rush in, first singly,
then in greater numbers, beautiful
girls in garb hastily thrown about
them, as If they had been suddenly
wakered by fright" They bewail their
misfortunes. Their lovers have fed or
been wounded, and there. standing on
the wall, is Parsifal, the cause of 1t all.
"Why hast thou slaughtered our low
ers?" they cry. And Parsifal. with
fine vein of the genuine Wagnerian
Siegfried swelling within him-not so
much of a. fool now-answers:
Ye winsome women, how could l help
it!
To such loneliness did they bar not
the way?
moment later Wagner and Parsifal
recollect themselves and the latter asks
the girls If he is not right in calling
them lovely That makes them laugh,
and they began to talk of their lovers
as "playmates," and to invite Parsifal
to come and play with them. AS Par
sifal comes down among them they put
on fiowerlike garments, and the pure
fool innocently asks them If they are
really flowers. However, as they say
that they will close his mouth with
kisses and teach him the meaning OF
bliss. they cannot be said to be lilies
Parsifal is in the midst of the temp
tation of Klingsor's garden, the temp
tation of the carnal passion of man
always held out by Wagner as the
worst to which mere man is subject
| ed.
Some dull inkling of what 1t al
means seems to pierce the mind Of
| the pure fool, or at least he realizes
that the conduct of the flower maidens
is not ladylike. and he tries to repulst
them. At this moment the voice Of
| Kundry is heard calling, 'Parsifal." i
is the first time the youth has heard
| the name, yet he remembers that a;
in a dream so he was once called BY
his mother. Kundry sends the flower
| girls away and discloses herself K
Parsifal in all her beauty. She tells
| him in detail the story of his moth
| er's death, and he bitterly reproache'
| himself for not having been by hel
side. Kundry tells him that confession
is absolution and bids him now learI