This is the complex of motives representing Kundry's
Curse. She cannot weep, only laugh her
accursed laugh. In common with Amfortas, Kundry is weary (A),
seeking release in death. She is cursed with eternal rebirth,
constantly Waking (#20) anew (B). Note
in the bass, the motif of the Question
(#31): who is good?
.
Fragments of this complex appear gradually. The first of them,
the cascading scale that appears to be a relative of the
Laughter motif (#8 - although the
rhythm is more complex, it contains her characteristic interval
of the tritone), first appears at the end of Gurnemanz's line,
Hier lebt sie heut', vielleicht erneu't, zu büssen
Schuld aus früh'rem Leben
. It is heard again at Amfortas' cry
to the Redeemer. Then the latter part (D) appears immediately
after Kundry awakes at the call of Klingsor in the second act.
Klingsor echoes (D) and then (A) appears accompanying Kundry's
lament. But these are only pre- echoes. Most of the complex
appears in the first period of the Grausamer section,
and then we hear the complex, completed for the first time, as
Kundry tells of how she mocked Christ and how His look fell upon
her, at which she was cursed to wander the world (zu
büssen Schuld aus früh'rem Leben
) until she meets her
Redeemer.
Curse (Martha Mödl; ogg format)