Richard Wagner
Parsifal
Act I
Translated by Abigail Dyer © Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved.
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Contents
Setting
The Grail's realm, a location with the look of the northern mountain regions of Gothic Spain.
Act I, Scene 1
Curtain up.
In the Holy Grail’s realm. A forest, quiet and serious but not gloomy. A clearing Center. Stage Right, a path rising toward the Grail’s castle. Upstage Center slopes down into a deep forest lake. Dawn.
Gurnemanz (elderly but spry) and two Squires (tender youths) are asleep under a tree. From Stage Right, as if from the castle, they hear horns playing a solemn morning reveille.
GURNEMANZ (waking, rousing the Squires)
Hey! You! Guarding the woods
Or guarding your slumber?
At least wake up now it’s morning!
(Squires spring to their feet)
Hear you the call?
Give thanks to God
That He has called you here to hear it!
(Gurnemanz and the Squires kneel in silent morning prayers. Gurnemanz rises, then the Squires.)
Get up, you youngsters!
See to the bath.
It’s time.
The king must be attended.
(Gurnemanz looks Stage Right)
The Castle of the Grail
They bear him on a litter here.
I see his heralds coming now.
(Two Knights enter)
Greetings! How fares the king today?
How early he comes to the water!
The lotion that Gawain
So daringly found him,
I reckon that it salved his pain?
SECOND KNIGHT So reckon you, you know-it-all?
They were a hundred times worse,
His pains, when they returned.
Sleepless with grievous suffering,
He bade us take him to his bath.
GURNEMANZ (sadly bows his head)
Fools were we for faith in salves and lotions
When but salvation heals him.
Each useless lotion, every potion,
Sought from each end of the earth….
One man can help him,
One man only!
SECOND KNIGHT So what's his name?
GURNEMANZ : Help with the bath!
(both Squires have moved Upstage and are looking Off Left)
SECOND SQUIRE Look there! The wild rider comes! Hey!
FIRST SQUIRE She flies on her devil horse to our forest!
SECOND SQUIRE Ha! Kundry comes?
FIRST KNIGHT With vital news to tell us?
SECOND SQUIRE Her mare has stumbled.
FIRST SQUIRE Did she really fly?
SECOND SQUIRE She’s crawling along the ground.
FIRST SQUIRE Now she sweeps the moss with her mane.
(All look excitedly Off Left)
SECOND KNIGHT The wild one has leapt from her horse.
(Kundry rushes quickly in, almost staggering. Wildly dressed, her skirt tucked up with a long snakeskin girdle whose ends hang down; her black hair is in loose braids, her face a deep red-brown. Piercing black eyes, sometimes with a wild gleam but more often fixed and dead.
She hurries to Gurnemanz and presses a small glass vial into his hand.)
KUNDRY Here! Take it! Balsam…
GURNEMANZ From where comes this small flask?
KUNDRY From further off than you'll ever know.
If the balsam fails, Arabia offers nothing more for his cure.
No more questions!
(throws herself to the floor)
I’m too tired.
(A procession of Squires and Knights bearing Amfortas stretched out on a litter, enters Right)
GURNEMANZ (has turned away from Kundry, toward the approaching procession)
He comes. They bear him on his litter.
What pain! How can I bear behold him
Who in manhood’s prime was golden,
The lord king of his victorious race,
By illness vanquished, crushed and enslaved?
(to the Squires)
Attention! Hark! The king has groaned!
(Squires come to a halt and set the litter down.)
AMFORTAS Just so! My thanks! Let’s stop and rest.
Last night’s old agonies
Meet morning’s majesties.
The holy lake
Will soothe me with its water
And it will make
The night's harsh pain grow softer.
Gawain!
SECOND KNIGHT Sire! Gawain waited not.
The healing balm he brought,
The rare and precious mixture,
Betrayed your hope and failed,
So off he went to find a new elixir.
AMFORTAS Without leave! May he make atonement,
Who breaks the Grail’s holy laws!
Oh woe to him, the daring bold one,
If into Klingsor’s net he falls!
Let no one here cause me vexation!
I wait for him, the foreordained one.
“Made wise through mercy...”
Was that it?
GURNEMANZ You said that’s how it went.
AMFORTAS “...the fool so pure.”
I'll know him when I meet him.
By name, as Death, I'll greet him!
GURNEMANZ (hands Amfortas Kundry’s little flask)
Maybe so, but why not first try balsam?
AMFORTAS Whence comes this curious little flask?
GURNEMANZ ’Twas brought forth from Arabia here to you.
AMFORTAS But who obtained it?
GURNEMANZ There lies the woman wild.
Up, Kundry! Come!
(Kundry refuses to move. Remains on the ground.)
AMFORTAS You, Kundry?
Have I once more to thank you,
You shy, uneasy maid?
All right. The balsam will be worth a try
If just as thanks for your devotion.
(Kundry writhes violently, anxiously on the ground.)
KUNDRY No thanks! Ha ha!
What good are thank yous?
No thanks! Go take your bath!
(Procession exits Up. Gurnemanz, looking sadly after it, and Kundry, still on the ground, remain behind. Squires enter and exit.)
THIRD SQUIRE Hey! You there! You sleep here just like a wild beast?
KUNDRY Are the beasts in here not sacred?
THIRD SQUIRE Yes! If you’re sacred, too,
Is something we’ve yet to prove.
FOURTH SQUIRE I bet that magic brew she brought
Will make our master rot away wholly.
GURNEMANZ Hey! What harm has she done you?
When we all have no clue
How to reach our brothers on far off missions--
We can't send them a missive
When we don't know where they are--
Who goes alone and unarmed,
Runs and flies to get the job done?
Our message carried, a victory won?
You feed her not, she keeps far off.
Nothing of yours does she share.
But when there's a threat and we need help
She flies to aid us with zealous haste
And never asks for thanks or praise,
Yet you all act like ingrates.
I reckon that that’s a sin great.
THIRD SQUIRE She hates us, though;
Just see how gloatingly at us she glares.
FOURTH SQUIRE She’s a heathen and a sorceress.
GURNEMANZ True. Under a curse, perhaps, she lives.
Here on this morn,
Perhaps reborn,
With sins from her past incarnations
For which she’s made no expiation.
If she atones through deeds and service,
Aids our brotherhood now through her good works,
Good is her heart and right is her goal.
Serving us, she helps her soul.
THIRD SQUIRE So would it also be her sin
That caused the dire straits we’re in?
GURNEMANZ (remembering)
Yes. When she spends much time away from us
Then something awful happens here.
I’ve known her ages now but Titurel's known her still longer.
He found, back when he built this castle,
Her sleeping on the forest floor
As still, lifeless as death.
Again, I found her nearly lifeless
Back when disaster came to us
Sent by that villain
There in the valley who shamed us
And caused our disgrace.
(to Kundry)
Hey! You! Hear me and say:
Where were you then? Where had you gone
The day our master lost his Spear?
(Kundry, grimly silent)
All your help then you gave us not?
KUNDRY I never help.
FOURTH SQUIRE So she agrees!
THIRD SQUIRE If she’s so brave and without fear
Then send her to retrieve our master’s Spear!
GURNEMANZ (grimly)
No. To retrieve it
No one is allowed.
(greatly affected)
Oh wound, oh wonderworking Holiest Spear!
I saw you brandished by unholiest hands.
(becoming lost in memories)
With it equipped, Amfortas, bold and brave,
Went with overwhelming force there
To triumph o’er the sorcerer.
Quite near the castle gate, from us our hero strayed.
A frightful beauteous maid swept him away.
While in her arms he lay besotted
The Spear tip came and got him.
A curdling scream!
I reached the king
As I saw Klingsor slip away.
The Holy Spear, he stole that day.
The king’s retreat, I guarded well and fiercely
Yet he'd been wounded there, where Klingsor pierced him.
That wound it is, the one that will not close.
(First and Second Squires return from the lake.)
THIRD SQUIRE (to Gurnemanz)
So then you met Klingsor?
GURNEMANZ How fares our master?
FIRST SQUIRE The bath has helped.
SECOND SQUIRE The balsam eased his pain.
GURNEMANZ That wound it is, the one that will not close.
(Third and Fourth Squires have seated themselves at Gurnemanz’s feet. The other two Squires join them under the big tree.)
THIRD SQUIRE But father dear, tell the story right:
You once met Klingsor! What was that like?
GURNEMANZ:
Titurel, who all excelled,
Knew Klingsor well.
To Titurel, as evil used its might
Our holy kingdom to imperil,
To him there came one holy, hallowed night
Two gifts brought by our Savior’s heralds:
From this He drank at His last love-feast table.
The holy cup became the vessel later
That caught His blood when from the cross a blow
Struck by the lance's Spear caused it to flow.
These testaments so rich and wondrous rare
Were given to our monarch’s care.
This shrine he built to enshrine them.
All you who heed this holy calling
Walk paths that are denied the fallen.
You know, it's just the purest
Who may be joined unto us,
The brothers, those who do the saving labor
The Grail commands us for our Savior.
He whom you asked about before was barred—
Klingsor-- although to join us he fought hard.
Next to the valley where he lived secluded
There lay a wild, lavish heathen land.
I still don’t know in just what way he sinned there.
He sought atonement, though, and pious virtue.
Unable all his sinful longings to extinguish,
Laid he on himself sinful hands
And tried the Grail then to grasp.
Disdainfully its guardian drove him off.
Then rage set Klingsor on an evil path.
It seems his sacrificial sin
Gave knowledge of magic black to him:
He found it then.
His wasteland—poof!—became a pleasure garden.
There, flourish fiendish, gorgeous daughters
Who lure the Grail knights so he can take them
By wicked lust to ruination.
Those he ensnares become his creatures.
So many knights has he defeated!
When Titurel, infirm with age, had given
His son the realm to rule as sovereign,
Amfortas would not let it lie.
The magic plague to halt he tried.
The ending now you understand:
The Spear is still in Klingsor’s hand.
Yes, even saints he’s wounded with that.
The Grail as well he plans from us to kidnap!
FOURTH SQUIRE (jumping up)
But first things first:
The Spear we must regain!
THIRD SQUIRE (jumping up)
Ha! Who succeeds
Gains glory and wins fame!
GURNEMANZ Before the now abandoned shrine,
In passionate pleading lay Amfortas.
For sign of rescue prayed he piteous.
(softly)
Redeeming radiance flowed throughout the Grail.
A holy countenance
Addressed him in his trance.
In brightly gleaming golden words it painted:
(very softly)
“Made wise through mercy,
The fool so pure,
Wait for him to bring your cure.”
FOUR SQUIRES (very softly)
“Made wise through mercy,
The fool so pure.”
(from the lake, shouts and cries of the Knights and Squires. Gurnemanz and the Four Squires stop and turn, shocked, Up.)
KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES (from Off)
No! No! Oh no! Stop!
Who is the villain?
(A wild swan flies in from the lake, falls exhausted to the ground. Second Squire removes an arrow from its breast. Knights and Squires lead Parsifal on.)
There! Here! A swan!
A wild swan!
The swan is wounded!
GURNEMANZ What’s that?
KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES How awful! Awful!
GURNEMANZ Who shot the swan?
FIRST KNIGHT The king had seen him as a sign of blessing.
As over the lake circled the swan,
An arrow flew…
KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES That one! He shot!
Here’s his weapon!
Here, the dart that from it flew!
GURNEMANZ ’Twas you who shot the swan and killed him?
PARSIFAL Indeed!
What flies I shoot down in flight!
GURNEMANZ You shot him, then?
Do you not tremble at the deed?
KNIGHTS AND SQUIRES Punish the villain!
GURNEMANZ An outrageous thing!
You have done murder here in the holy forest
Where quiet peacefulness abounds?
The woodland creatures, were they not all tame,
Greeting you friendly and fond?
From the shrubs did the sparrows not sing to you?
How harmed you the faithful swan?
He flew through the forest, sought his mate
So they could circle over the lake
And thus the water bless as their bath.
That gave you no joy? Instead you took
A wild, childish shot with your bow?
We loved him so. What was he to you?
Here! Look here! You shot him here.
Here clotted his blood, wings drooping down lifeless,
His snow white feathers flecked dark with blood.
Lackluster, his eye. See how it stares?
The Killing of the Swan
(Parsifal has been listening to Gurnemanz and become increasingly emotional. He breaks his bow and throws away his arrows.)
So has your sinful deed sunk in now?
(Parsifal covers his eyes with his hand.)
Speak, boy—you recognize your shocking guilt?
How could you commit this crime?
PARSIFAL I just didn’t know.
GURNEMANZ Where are you from?
PARSIFAL I know that not.
GURNEMANZ Who is your father?
PARSIFAL I know that not.
GURNEMANZ Who sent you here to our forest?
PARSIFAL: I know that not.
GURNEMANZ Your name, at least?
PARSIFAL I had so many but now I have forgot’ them all.
GURNEMANZ You know nothing at all?
I’ve never met someone so dumb save Kundry there.
(to the Squires, who have assembled in increasing numbers)
Now go! Leave not the king to bathe alone! Go!
(Squires reverently lift the dead swan onto a bier of fresh branches and exit with him Up toward the lake. Gurnemanz, Parsifal and [apart] Kundry remain onstage.)
(Gurnemanz turns back to Parsifal.)
Okay: if you know none of those answers
Then tell what you know.
There’s something, surely, you know of.
PARSIFAL Yes. I have a mother…
Herzeleide’s her name!
In woods and in wild meadows
We made our home.
GURNEMANZ Who gave you the weapon?
PARSIFAL I made it myself to chase the wild eagles from the forest.
GURNEMANZ Yet eagle-eyed you appear, and nobly born, too.
So tell me, why did your mother never instruct you in weapons?
(Kundry, who, without moving from her corner of the forest, although she had thrashed about anxiously during Gurnemanz’s narration about Amfortas, has sharply focused her gaze on Parsifal and, because Parsifal remains silent, calls out with a rough voice:)
KUNDRY She didn't because he had no father,
For in battle slain was Gamuret!
From such an early hero’s death her son she sheltered.
Weaponless and foolish she raised him in a wasteland—
The fool girl!
(she laughs)
PARSIFAL (suddenly paying active attention)
Yes! And one day, at the edge of the woods
On handsome beasts
I saw some men sit silver and shining.
I wished to be like them.
They mocked me and galloped away.
I gave them chase
But failed, alas, to find them.
I ran through wild woodlands, far, far away.
Oft’ it was night, then again day.
(Kundry has stood up and is moving toward the men.)
My bow and arrows protected me
Against wild beasts and giants.
KUNDRY (enthusiastically)
Yes! Bandits and giants met with his might.
The boisterous child, they learned to fear him!
PARSIFAL Who fears me? Say!
KUNDRY The bad guys!
PARSIFAL Those men who fought me, were they all bad?
(Gurnemanz laughs)
Who is good?
GURNEMANZ (serious again)
Well, the mother you ran away from,
She who now weeps for you, wails and waits.
KUNDRY Her waiting’s done,
Since his mother is dead.
PARSIFAL (in terrible fright)
Dead? My own mother? Who says?
KUNDRY I saw her die when I rode out there.
She bade me greet you, you fool boy.
(Parsifal springs at Kundry in a rage and grabs her by the throat. Gurnemanz holds him back.)
GURNEMANZ You crazy youngster! Violence again?
(After Gurnemanz has freed Kundry, Parsifal stands as if dazed.)
What’s she ever done but tell the truth?
She ne’er deceived us, for all she’s seen.
PARSIFAL (trembling violently)
I am fainting!
(Kundry, as soon as she sees Parsifal’s distress, goes to a forest spring and brings back water in a horn. She sprinkles it on Parsifal and gives it to him to drink.)
GURNEMANZ That’s right! That shows the Grail’s mercy.
For evil dies when with kindness it’s killed.
KUNDRY (grimly)
I do no kindness.
(Sadly turns away and, as Gurnemanz looks after Parsifal in a fatherly way, drags herself unobserved into the forest undergrowth and is not seen again.)
I long to rest now… just rest now. Ah! So tired.
Sleep now! Oh let nobody wake me!
(fearfully startling)
No! No sleeping!
Terror grasps me!
(trembles violently, then her arms go limp)
I’ve no defense!
The time has come.
Sleep now… sleep now… I must!
(Movement from the lake. The procession of Knights and Squires with the litter returns from Up.)
GURNEMANZ From bathing does the king return.
The noontime sun shines
Now to our sacred meal let's go together.
If you be pure then will the Grail
With food and drink refresh you.
(Gurnemanz has put Parsifal’s arm around his own neck and put his arm around Parsifal, supporting him, leading him slowly step by step.)
PARSIFAL Who is the Grail?
GURNEMANZ That can’t be told.
But if you've been chosen by it
Then you that knowledge will acquire.
And look! In you, I think I see its plan:
No path leads to this holy land
And no one ever can arrive here
Whom it has not seen fit to guide here.
PARSIFAL With scarce a step I’m in a far-off place.
GURNEMANZ You see, my son, here time turns into space.
(Bit by bit, as Gurnemanz and Parsifal seem to walk, the scene has been changing. The forest has disappeared and the stone walls have opened into a gateway, which closes behind them.)
Watch carefully, and I'll watch you:
If you’re a fool and pure,
Some wisdom for you here might be in store.
(As they walk up along the stone walls, the scene around them has changed completely. Gurnemanz and Parsifal now stand in the mighty hall of the Grail’s castle.)
Setting: Feast hall with vaults and domes. Doors open at both sides of the feast hall, Up. Grail Knights enter from Left and line up at the feast tables.
GRAIL KNIGHTS Let's go to this last love-feast
That daily does renew.
As if it were our last feast,
May we receive its food.
Who smiles on kindly deeds,
The bread of life receives.
Refreshment to him flows
And many gifts bestows.
(Through the open door, Amfortas is carried in on a litter. The Four Squires walk ahead of him, carrying the shrine which holds the Grail. This procession makes its way Up Center where Amfortas is set down on a raised couch. Before the couch is a stone altar, upon which the Four Squires set the Grail shrine.)
YOUTHS For the sinful world in all its sadness,
For which our Savior bled,
For our saving hero, may now with joy and gladness
My blood be shed.
He ransomed us with His last breath.
He lives in us now through His death.
BOYS His love is alive.
The dove still flies,
A herald of saving grace true.
Take of the wine,
A gift divine,
The bread of life, partake, too.
(After everyone has taken his place and silence reigns, from deep in the background, from an arched niche behind Amfortas’s couch, the voice of Titurel is heard as if from the grave, calling out urgently:)
TITUREL My son Amfortas, are you at work?
So shall I live today and see the Grail?
Must I perish without my Savior’s company?
AMFORTAS (half-rising in painful distress)
Anguish! Anguish! Woe and dread!
My father! Oh, in my stead
Would you conduct the rite?
Live on! Live and let me perish!
TITUREL Entombed, I live on through our Savior’s grace:
Alas, I am too weak to serve Him.
You, do your penance! Take your place!
Uncover the Grail!
AMFORTAS (leaning on the Squires)
No! Leave it covered up!
Oh let no one,
No one know the pain it brings,
When I behold the sight that you adore!
My wound is nothing!
It is nothing next to the hellish agonies
Of being damned to man this feast!
Painful inheritance that weighs upon me,
The only sinner in this company,
That I should tend the holiest relics
And beg them to bless these men pure and angelic!
He’s punished, punished me and hurt me!
He, ah!, the angry God of mercy!
For Him, ah, for His benediction
I pray with longing desperate.
Through deepest penance, deep conviction
In Him may I find respite.
The time grows near.
A sunbeam lights upon the holiest cup.
The cover drops.
(staring out)
The blessed vessel glows with heaven’s light,
Transcendent glory shining bright,
Shot through with holiest power divine.
His sacred heart’s blood,
I feel it flowing into mine.
But soon my own sinful blood will flow back.
In mad, crazy cascades it comes
To overwhelm me,
Calling forth a sinful lust.
With savage horror it fells me.
Again it bursts through the door
From which it flowed before…
Bursts from my wound here that looks like His,
Inflicted by the self-same Spear’s own tip.
It stabbed our Redeemer
And wounded Him
As bloody tears escaped Him,
Yes, godly tears shed for human sin
With pity, by our Savior.
Now there flows from me at this holy altar,
The keeper of sacred treasure,
The redeeming cup’s protector,
The blood of lust, sinful and hot.
Time and again, though I try to halt it,
It comes! And no penance makes it stop!
Have mercy! Have mercy!
Have mercy on me! Lord, have mercy!
Savior, depose me!
Close up my wound, Lord.
In death make me holy
For you, my true Lord!
(he collapses, unconscious)
KNIGHTS AND PAGES “Made wise through mercy,
The fool so pure,
Wait for him to bring your cure.”
Believe as you were promised.
Wait without fear.
Your duty, do today!
TITUREL Uncover the Grail!
(Amfortas rises slowly, with difficulty)
(The Squires take the cover off the golden shrine and take an antique crystal chalice from it. Another veil is removed from the chalice. They set it before Amfortas.)
BOYS “Take this My flesh,
Take this My blood,
For our love’s sake.”
(As Amfortas bows in silent prayer before the chalice, increasing darkness falls over the hall.)
“Take this My blood,
Take this My flesh,
In remembrance of Me.”
(A dazzling ray of light from above falls onto the chalice, which glows with an ever brighter crimson light, bathing everything in a soft glow. Amfortas, now transfigured, raises the Grail up and to each side, blessing the bread and wine. At the beginning of the darkness, all had kneeled. All now raise their eyes toward the Grail.)
TITUREL Oh heavenly rapture,
Our Lord greets us brightly today!
(Amfortas sets the Grail down again. Its glow fades as the darkness dissipates. The Squires cover the chalice, return it to its shrine and cover the shrine as before. Daylight returns. Once they’ve shut the shrine, the Four Squires take the two wine jugs and two bread baskets, which Amfortas has blessed, from the altar table. They divide the bread among the Knights and fill the Knights’ glasses with wine. The Knights seat themselves for the feast, as does Gurnemanz, who has kept the place next to him free for Parsifal. Gurnemanz makes a sign to Parsifal, inviting him to the table. Parsifal remains to one side, stiff and silent, as if in another world.
BOYS Wine and bread become transformed
By our Holy Grail’s Lord,
For His mercy’s loving sake,
To the blood that He would shed
And the flesh that He would break.
YOUTHS Blood and flesh, these holy blessings,
Are transformed for your refreshment
By the Holy Spirit’s power,
Into wine that you are served
And the bread you eat this hour.
KNIGHTS Take of the bread and make it change
Into strength and power for our labors.
True until death, steadfast we stay
To do the work of our Savior!
Take of the wine, change it anew
Into life’s blood surging boldly.
Joyfully joined in brotherhood true,
To fight with courage holy.
The Communion of the Holy Grail
SQUIRES Blessed in worship.
Blessed in devotion.
(During the meal, of which he did not partake, Amfortas’s transformation has deserted him. He has once again sunk down, head bowed, hand on his wound. The Squires approach him and we understand from their actions that the wound has once again begun to bleed. The Squires care for Amfortas, lift him gently back onto the litter and, when all are ready to depart, carry him and the holy shrine back out in the order in which they arrived. The Knights process out similarly in a solemn way and leave the hall slowly. Daylight fades. Squires pass quickly through the hall. Bells peal.
Parsifal, when he heard Amfortas’s most agonizing cries, had put his hand over his own heart, clutching it forcefully for a long time. Now once again he stands stiffly, stock still until Gurnemanz sourly approaches him and shakes Parsifal by the arm.)
GURNEMANZ Still standing around?
Know you what you saw?
(Parsifal presses his hand to his heart, distraught, and shakes his head lightly.)
It’s true—you’re really just a fool!
(Gurnemanz opens a narrow side door.)
Off with you to where e’er you may roam!
I counsel good sense to use:
From now on leave all the swans here alone
And seek, silly gander, a goose!
(He pushes Parsifal out the door and angrily closes it.)
VOICE FROM ABOVE “Made wise through mercy,
The fool so pure”
VOICES FROM ABOVE Blessed in devotion!
ACT I CURTAIN