Family Tree of Parzival, according to Wolfram
von Eschenbach. Wagner omitted a generation, making Amfortas
the son of Titurel, and did not given any hint that Herzeleide --
and therefore also her son Parsifal -- were members of the Grail
family.
-
Keeper of the Grail, Fisher King. In Wagner's music-drama he is the
son of Titurel. In Act 1 of the music-drama
Wagner makes a pun on the word Amt, server, and the name
Amfortas. Wagner described the suffering Amfortas as
my third-act Tristan inconceivably intensified
(letter to Mathilde Wesendonk, 30 May 1859).
Amfortas is Wagner's version of the Fisher
King, also called the Wounded King or the Grail King, of the
medieval Grail romances. In Wolfram's
Parzival he was called Anfortas.
-
Disciple of the Buddha Shakyamuni. In
Wagner's unfinished music-drama Die Sieger, the love of
Prakriti for Ananda is a central element of
the story.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the Grail King
Anfortas is the grandson of Titurel, brother
of Herzeloyde and therefore maternal
uncle to Parzival. The name has been
derived from the Latin, infirmitas and also from the Old
French, enfertez, both words meaning
infirmity.
-
The missionary who converts Josaphat to
Christianity in the early medieval tale of Barlaam and Josaphat. Later Barlaam becomes a
hermit living by a spring in the desert. After long wandering, his
convert finds the old man again. Barlaam was probably an important
element in Wagner's development of his character Gurnemanz.
-
In Wolfram's poem, a magician who traps
knights in his marvellous Castle of Maidens. The most obvious basis
for Wagner's Klingsor, although Wagner did
not take much more than a name from Wolfram's character. In
Parzival although Clinschor does not appear in the events
of the story, we are told that he owns the Castle of Maidens, which
is also the Castle of Wonders and the Proud Castle, and that he had
imprisoned the women there with a magic spell. Wolfram relates that Clinschor had been castrated
by a cuckolded husband and that this enabled him to develop magical
powers. Wagner adapted the castration sorceror for his Klingsor although in his case the mutilation was
self-inflicted. See also: Mára, Theodas.
-
Condrie or Cundrie or
Kundrie
In Wolfram's poem, the Loathly Damsel is called Condrie. There is also a
sweet Cundrie, sister of Gawain, who is one
of the maidens imprisoned by Clinschor and
released by her brother. One element of Wagner's Kundry.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the wife of Parzival
and mother of Loherangrin and Kardeiz. She is the cousin of
Sigune, and therefore somehow related to the
family of Grail kings, and the maternal niece of Gurnemanz. Although Condwiramurs does not often
appear directly in Wolfram's poem, Parzival's fidelity to her is a
continuing theme of the poem. Her name has been derived from the
Old French conduire amours, "to guide love".
-
In Wolfram's poem, the son of Titurel and
father of Anfortas, Herzeloyde, Repanse de Schoye, Schoysiane and
Trevrizent. Wagner simplified the family tree by making Anfortas
the son of Titurel.
-
In both Wolfram and Wagner, the father of
the eponymous hero, who dies
in far Arabian land without
having seen his new- born son.
-
In the first act, Amfortas asks about the knight Gawan, more
usually "Gawain". It is not clear whether Gawan has joined the
Grail knights, or whether he has found and followed the path to the
Grail domain but failed in the Quest. Wagner had no use for Gawan,
unlike Wolfram, who contrasted the two
heroes.
-
Gawain is generally said to be the nephew of Arthur. His parents
are Lot of Orkney and Morgause (though his mother is said by
Geoffrey of Monmouth to be Anna ). Upon the death of Lot, he
becomes the head of the Orkney clan, which includes in many sources
his brothers Aggravain, Gaheris, and Gareth, and his half-brother
Mordred. Gawain figures prominently in many romances. In the French
romances he is generally presented as one who has adventures
paralleling in diptych fashion but not overshadowing the hero's,
whether that hero be Lancelot or Perceval. In the English
tradition, however, it is much more common for Gawain to be the
principal hero and the exemplar of courtesy and chivalry, as he is
in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the other Arthurian
romances of the Alliterative Revival. In Malory's Morte
d'Arthur, however, he has a role similar to that in the French
romances, in that Lancelot is the principal hero. Loomis has
pointed out that there are multiple references to Gawain as a
healer in the Dutch Lancelot and that in
Chrétien's Perceval appear the
lines:
Right: Gawain meets a wounded knight in this painting from Ludwig's castle of Neuschwanstein.
Of wounds and healing lore
Did Sir Gawain know more
Than any man alive.
To make the sick knight thrive,
A herb to cure all pain
That in a hedge had lain
He spied, and thence he plucked it.
The attentive reader will have made the connection to the first
scene of Wagner's drama. Gawain is singular (at least in the
Arthurian tradition) as a knight who is also a physician. Tolkien
fans might note this and other similarities between Gawain and
Aragorn.
-
In Act 2 of Wagner's music-drama, one of the names by which
Klingsor addresses Kundry. Cosima's diary relates,
... at lunch he
tells me: "She will be called Gundrygia (sic), the weaver of war",
but then he decides to keep to Kundry [14 March 1877]. Although
it has been speculated that the name was that of a Valkyrie, the
author has not been able to find the name Gundrygia or Gundryggia
in any of the Old Norse sources, which contain many Valkyrie names.
There is, however, a striking resemblance to the name Gunn (meaning
strife or battle), one of Odin's principal Valkyries, and this
might have been the inspiration for Wagner to transform Kundry into Gundryggia. In conjunction with the name
Herodias, a reference to Gunn who rides
with Odin in the Wild Hunt would reinforce the connection
between Kundry and Herodias, the Princess of Judea, who in Heinrich
Heine's Atta Troll also joins the
Wild Hunt.
-
The spelling used by Wagner in his prose draft for the character he
later called Gurnemanz.
-
Wagner's first act narrator is most obviously based on a character
in Wolfram's Parzival. Gurnemanz de
Graharz is Parzival's first tutor and the
maternal uncle of Condwiramurs.
Parzival has grown up without knowing his
father and in the company of women and girls. In the poem Gurnemanz
becomes a kind of father-figure to young Parzival. Some of this relationship is detectable
in Wagner's very compressed encounter between Parsifal and Gurnemanz, who has now become a senior
knight of the Grail order. Gurnemanz is also Wagner's third act
hermit, but here it was another character in Parzival who was a model. This is the hermit
Trevrizent whom Parzival met on Good Friday. Wolfram makes him the
brother to Anfortas and Herzeloyde and therefore a maternal uncle of the
young man.
Gurnemanz might also be identified with the hermit Barlaam who converts Josaphat to Christianity in the medieval religious
tale of Barlaam and Josaphat. Like
Gurnemanz, Barlaam appears early in the
story but he loses touch with his convert and becomes a hermit. At
the end of the story Josaphat wanders for
two years in the desert in search of Barlaam
before he finds the old man again. This is actually closer to
Wagner's story in that Josaphat searches
for the hermit Barlaam, while Parzival apparently stumbles upon the hermit
Trevrizent while seeking the way to
Amfortas.
-
A Welsh hero (the hawk of May) who appears in the
Mabinogion. In the tale of Peredur we meet Gwalchmai son of Gwyar where
Chrétien (in his Perceval)
presents Gawain. Therefore it has been
traditional to identify Gwalchmai with Gawain, even to the extent of regarding Gwalchmai as
the Welsh original of the character who became Gawain in the medieval romances.
-
In Act 2 of Wagner's music-drama, one of the names by which
Klingsor addresses Kundry. This might have been her original name.
Herodias (as described by Eugène Sue in his novel, Le juif
errant of 1844) is the female equivalent of Ahasuerus, the
Wandering Jew. Heine's Herodias, in his
poem Atta Troll of 1841, corresponds either to Wilde's
Salome or to her mother Herodias.
Right: Gamuret and Herzeloyde in this painting from Ludwig's castle of Neuschwanstein.
-
In Wagner's music-drama, the mother of Parsifal. Like Tristan, her
son is the innocent cause of his mother's death.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the sister of Anfortas and mother of Parzival.
-
From the Greek Ιωασαϕ. The hero of the
medieval story of Barlaam and Josaphat,
which, although it has been ignored by most commentators on
Wagner's drama, is after Wolfram's Parzival the most
important medieval source used by Wagner in the development of his
Parsifal. Although most widely circulated in Greek,
Barlaam and Josaphat has been found in
medieval translations into sixty different languages. Wagner's copy
(now at Haus Wahnfried) was a modern edition of the German
translation made by Rudolf von Ems in the early 14th century.
-
In Wagner's music-drama, the magician who had once tried to gain
acceptance as a Knight of the Grail. Unable to remain chaste,
Klingsor castrated himself and was
rejected by Titurel. Since that time, he has
desired both the Spear and the Grail. Wagner described Klingsor as
the embodiment of
a peculiar quality that Christianity brought
into the world (not, as the sentence is mistranslated in
Gutman's notorious biography of Wagner, a characteristic
evil ). Although Wagner took and modified the name of the
sorcerer from Wolfram's Clinschor,
Klingsor appears to perform the same function in the story of
Parsifal as did the sorcerer Theodas in the story of Josaphat. In both cases the sorcerer attempts to
turn the spiritual hero from his path by sending to him a beautiful
seductress who promises to allow her soul to be saved on condition
that the hero spends with her a night of passion. It is possible
that another model for Klingsor was the demon Bertram in
Meyerbeer's Robert le diable.
Right: Klingsor and Kundry, by Fantin-Latour.
-
In Wagner's music-drama, the High Messenger of the Grail, who
reveals to Parsifal his name and tells him of the death of his
mother. In the domain of the Grail, Kundry is a strange, wild woman
who often is found sleeping in the undergrowth. When she awakes,
she serves the Knights of the Grail, not least in seeking a cure
for Amfortas. Then she mysteriously disappears. On the other side
of the mountains, in the domain of Klingsor, Kundry is transformed into a beautiful
maiden who seduces Knights of the Grail, enabling Klingsor to capture and destroy them. As a result
of an ancient curse, she is trapped in an eternal cycle of rebirth. Her name suggests a
messenger, since Kunde means "news".
There is little resemblance between Wagner's Kundry and Wolfram's
Condrie. There is something of Condrie in
Wagner's creation, but there are also elements of at least two
other female characters from Wolfram's poem: Sigune and Orgeluse. More
importantly, Kundry was blended from both Herodias and Prakriti.
Wagner's first act Kundry appears to be a blend of Wolfram's
Condrie (the messenger who is also a heathen
sorceress) and Sigune (the cousin who tells
Parzival about himself and about the death of his mother). The
Kundry of the second act is partly Herodias, partly Wolfram's Orgeluse (the haughty lady who caused the wounding
of Anfortas) and (when transformed by the
power of the sorcerer) the beautiful, nameless princess who
attempted to seduce Josaphat. Wagner's
third act Kundry is primarily Wagner's own creation, a penitent
Magdalen. She might also be identified with the Prakriti of Die Sieger,
whom Wagner intended to present as the first woman to be admitted
to the Buddha's community. In fact the last words that Wagner wrote
dealt with this very subject.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the Swan Knight, son
of Parzival and Condwiramurs. Wagner chose a variant of the name
for his opera, Lohengrin.
-
Probably the most important single literary source for Wagner's
character Klingsor. Mára appears in
Buddhist literature as the Lord of Death or the Lord of Illusion,
who attempted to prevent the enlightenment of the Buddha Shakyamuni. In
these scriptures he is invariably a symbol of evil, sin, desire and
temptation. His domain is one of sensuous pleasure. In Sanskrit
texts he is a deva, lord of desire and lust, and
appropriately his daughters are named Rati (lust or attachment),
Arati (aversion, discontent or unrest) and Trsná (craving, desire
or thirst). These are the three daughters who are sent to seduce
Shakyamuni as he approaches total
enlightenment.
-
The mountain, hidden in a forest, on which resides the castle of
the Grail. In Wolfram's poem, the
mountain is called Munsalvæsche, or the savage
mountain. This might be derived from Montsegur, the
last refuge of the Albigensians or Cathars
of southwestern France. The castle fell to the crusaders in the
spring of 1244.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the haughty lady, who
is loved by Anfortas. One of the elements of Wagner's Kundry. Her name is derived from the French
orgueilleuse, meaning "proud lady". She lives in a castle
owned by Clinschor that is referred to by
respectively Chrétien, Wolfram and the anonymous author of Peredur as "Proud Castle" or "Castle Pride",
which is also the "Castle of Marvels" or "Castle of Wonders". In
the poems by Chrétien and Wolfram it is identified with the "Castle
of Maidens", when many women and girls are held captive; in the
tale of Peredur there is only one maiden
held captive in the Proud Castle.
Left: "Parsifal in Quest of the Holy Grail" by Ferdinand Leeke
(1859-1925).
-
The spelling of the hero's name that Wagner finally adopted, taken
from a dubious etymology by Joseph Görres, in his 1813 edition of
Lohengrin. It was claimed that
fal parsi was
Arabic for pure fool, and
"Parsifal" was derived as an anagram of this phrase.
-
The hero of Wolfram's poem.
-
The hero of Chrétien's poem and its
continuations.
-
The hero of a story in the Mabinogion, who appears to be a
derivative of the Celtic original (or equivalent) of Perceval and Parzival.
Wagner found the story Peredur Son of
Evrawc in Comte de Villemarque's Contes populaires des
anciens Bretons. Peredur of the long lance was an ancient
traditional hero of the Old North, whose name is found in
the Gododdin together with that of Gwalchmai. With Owein and Geraint ab
Erbin this tale is known as one of the Three Romances in the
Mabinogion. The three tales are united in their similarity
of style and subject-matter: the names of the protagonists in all
three have close parallels in those of their counterparts in the
corresponding poems of Chrétien de
Troyes - Perceval li Gallois, Yvain, Erec
et Enide. In the Welsh version, Peredur's story contains
within it the germ of the Grail legend, which was developed more
explicitly by Chrétien de Troyes. See
Goetinck's Peredur: A Study of Welsh Tradition in the Grail
Legends.
-
The self-sacrificing heroine of Die Sieger, Wagner's
unfinished Buddhist drama. In an earlier incarnation, Prakriti had
rejected, with mocking laughter, the love of the son of a Brahmin.
Wagner wrote that the Buddha's acceptance of Prakriti into what had
been, until that time, an all-male community was
a beautiful
feature of the legend .
-
In Wolfram's poem, the Grail Bearer,
sister of Anfortas. Perhaps one of the elements of Wagner's
Kundry. Her name has been derived from the
Old French, Repense de Joie.
-
In Wagner's prose draft, the name (meaning Pain-sorrow) given to
Parzival's mother, later renamed to Herzeleide (Heart's sorrow).
-
(son of the clan of Shakya). A character in Wagner's unfinished
Buddhist drama Die Sieger. The historical
Shakyamuni is commonly known as the Buddha, although Buddhists
refer to him as
the Buddha of the present age . Both Wagner
and Schopenhauer referred to the Buddha
by his title of the Victoriously Perfect.
-
In Wolfram's poem Parzival, a
granddaughter of Titurel and hence a cousin
of Parzival. Sigune is found in another
poem by Wolfram, Titurel. One of the elements of Wagner's
Kundry.
Right: Pogàny's "Titurel Bears the Sacred Spear".
-
The name of the sorcerer who sends a nameless, beautiful maiden to
seduce Josaphat in the early medieval
tale of Barlaam and Josaphat. Together
with Mára he was probably one of the sources
for Wagner's magician Klingsor.
-
In both Wolfram and Wagner, the original
Winner of the Grail and the founder of the Community of Grail
Knights. Titurel was, for Wagner, a Wotan who had attained
redemption through denial of the world. His role in
Parsifal seems to be primarily a symbolic one: he
represents extreme old age in the same way that Amfortas represents extreme sickness and intense
suffering.
-
In Wolfram, Anfortas presents Parzival with a magic sword,
whose hilt is made of ruby. This sword, which Anfortas has carried
into battle many times, was forged by the smith Trebuchet.
Parzival's cousin Sigune later reveals to him
that the sword will shatter at the second blow, but that it might
be repaired in the magic spring at Karnant.
-
In Wolfram's poem, the brother of
Anfortas, for whose sake he has renounced
chivalry and become a hermit. He is the second tutor to Parzival.
In Wagner's music-drama, this character is renamed Gurnemanz.
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