PARSIFAL

Today I saw the Met production of Wagner's PARSIFAL at the Sheppard Grande, the last of this season's opera telecasts.  It lasted about four and a half hours, plus an hour of intermissions.  It's the one about the guy who meets the Knights of the Holy Grail and goes off on a quest to recover the Sacred Spear and restore the order.

If you want to see a Wagner opera for the first time, do NOT start with PARSIFAL! (Choose a RELATIVELY simple one like FLYING DUTCHMAN or LOHENGRIN.) This one is vast and complex, and you need to have acquired a taste for Wagner already.  The very concept can be intimidating:  some years ago I was going to see Hans-Jurgen Syberberg's famous movie of the opera at the Cinematheque, and even bought a ticket, but when the time came I chickened out.  As you may guess from that running time, the... pace... is... rather... slow...  I'm a Verdi man myself:  his operas have more hummable tunes, though Wagner can come up with a nice tune when he isn't preoccupied with drama. (As in "Elsa's Dream" or the Prize Song.) My favorite number was the chorus of the seductive flower-women early in the second act.

This production basically kept my attention for the whole course, though I did get a bit distracted by happy thoughts in the second act and unhappy thoughts in the third.  It has a nice look, especially the clouds in the background.  Percy brings to mind that Russian concept of the "holy fool." Like Siegfried, becomes a hero because he doesn't know any better. (Something American about that.)

They mentioned the Met productions planned for telecast next season.  I may see EUGENE ONEGIN, LA BOHEME, PRINCE IGOR and RUSALKA, or I may go easy next year.  BTW, I find that opening animation with the guy whistling "Libbiamo" annoying. (That is so PBS!)