New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-24
A Glimpse Into the Hidden Meaning Of the Wonderful
Music Drama to be Presented at the Turner
Theatre Next Sunday Evening.

From the time of it's earliest pro-
duction, sParsifal'' has rivaled
Babel as storm center of talk. The
way in which this art-work keeps all
tongues wagging is highly suggestive.
ssThe play is saturated with Buddhism, !"
proclaims the oracular critic. ';This
drama is intended to teach nothing, =
insists the literary wiseacre. ut has
no ethic content. It is simply spec
tacle to please theatre-goers and fill
an evening with agreeable sensations.
It is shrewdly planned commercial
enterprise; most ingenious filler of
the cash drawer" sneers the saga
cious cynic; while the free thinker,
with unwonted awe, gazes reverently
upon the symbols Of religion which it
employs.
A chip drifting upon the Atlantic
does not stir such sea, nor leave
behind it such foaming wave. Only
a work of colossal proportions can
produce such.a commotion. This uni
versal hubbub proves that the scope
of 'Parsifal" is encyclopedia; that it
runs the gamut of experience; that it
sweeps the circle of influence as vast
as the horizon of human opinion.
The core of every error is a truth.
Beneath all surface differences there
is stratum of common agreement.
The vehement and insistent fashion in
which all sorts and conditions of men
keep finding in this notable work
something that lmpinges upon their
especial way of looking at things,
makes it clear as light that the idea
embodied in ''Parsifal" moves along
the central plane of thought and feel
ing. It carries the mind down to that
basal point where all experiences OF
life overlap. 1t wakens those chords
of emotion which vibrate through the
central depths of the human conscious
ness. Whatever may be the precise
purport of this so-called message,
whatever theory of art or of morals it
may serve to emphasize, it unquestion-
ably speaks to the soul and sets astir
the inner 6bres of the being. It's in
evitable effect is troubling of the
waters of the elemental fountains of
life.
In :sParsifal'' everything enters
about two mystic objects. a spear and
cup or chalice, and four principal
characters, a king, tempter, an en-
chantress and deliverer.
The spear is accounted to be that
which pierced the heart of Christ as
he hung dying upon the cross; the cup
that which caught the blood which
streamed from his wounds and which
in legend is known as the s'Holy
Grail"
| In the suffering figure of King Am
fortas, to whom was entrusted the
safe keeping of the s'Holy Grail and
who fell a victim to temptation, we
are led to see picture of poor sinful
humanity, brought to this condition
through it's own weakness and neglect.
In the wound in the side of AmfOrtas,
which will not heal, we see the sym
boil of the conscience of man, who
has committed deadly wrong, hover
ing with him always as a reminder OF
his sin.
In the character of Klingsor we see
the ever present type Of the tempte1
and evil-doer who, having fallen from
grace, seeks to ruin and degrade al
who are more fortunate than himself
Klingsor is denied admission to the
holy temple in which is guarded the
"Holy Grail In revenge he tries by
every artifce and means to bring
ruin upon the Knights thereof. His
magic flower garden and its beante
Gus maidens, by which he tries to ac
complish his design, is likened to the