Date and place of publication |
Title, publisher
and editions |
Author - transl. |
Original language |
Short description |
1978 Munich and Salzburg |
Wagner's Parsifal: Kriterien der Kompositionsteknik. Musikverlag Emil Katzbichler. |
Hans-Joachim Bauer |
German |
A penetrating study of the score. Bauer examines Wagner's "leading motive" technique in Parsifal, including how the motives develop and interact. He then
considers the rhythms, orchestration and harmonies of the music. |
1971 Velber, 1985 Zürich, Reclam 1996 Stuttgart. Eng. 1979 Cambridge. |
Richard Wagner's Music Dramas (Richard Wagners Musikdramen). 1st edn. Friedrich Verlag, 2nd edn. Orell Füssli, Eng. translation CUP. Pocket edn. Reclam. Chapter XI. |
Carl Dahlhaus, translator Mary Whittall. |
German |
This is a highly regarded introduction to Wagner's canonical operas. Although not many pages are devoted to Parsifal there are insights on every page, not only
into the music but also into the poetry and the ideas of this opera. Note in particular his discussion of Yearning in Tristan and Parsifal. |
1986 London and New York |
ENO/ROH Guide to Parsifal: Thematic Guide. Opera Guide No.34. John Calder, Riverrun Press. Pages 71-81. |
Lionel Friend, editor Nicholas John. |
English |
In his list of motives, Lionel Friend casts his net wide and so catches all of the major thematic ideas but also many insignificant details. This book also includes an
essay on the music of Parsifal by Robin Holloway. |
1893 Paris and New York |
Parsifal: Legend, Drama, Partition (Parsifal de Richard Wagner: légende, drame, partition). US Book Company 1892, Henry Holt & Co. 1904. |
Maurice Kufferath, translator Louise Henermann. |
French |
One of the earliest but still worth reading studies of Wagner's last opera. |
1892 Paris and New York |
The Music Dramas of Richard Wagner and his Festival Theatre in Bayreuth. US edn. Dodd, Mead & Co. |
Albert Lavignac, translator Esther Singleton. |
French |
Lavignac's book is a compendium of everything that a visitor to Bayreuth needed to know in the 1890's and much of it is still relevant. In his chapter on
Parsifal, M. Lavignac provides copious musical examples, following the Guide by von Wolzogen. |
Berlin 1926, 2nd. edn. Tutzing 1966. |
Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner, Band IV. Der Musikalische Aufbau von Richard Wagner's Parsifal. 2nd Edition, Vorlag Hans Schneider. |
Alfred Lorenz |
German |
Although Lorenz was mainly concerned with musical structure, he provides a thorough survey of Wagner's thematic material that goes well beyond that of von Wolzogen. Lorenz
discusses not only the prominent and obvious Leitmotive but also the small elements that he called "Urmotive", fragments and building blocks of the music. |
1984 London |
Wagner (Master Musicians Series). J.M. Dent & Sons. Pages 256-271. |
Barry Millington |
English |
Millington's book is unusual in that it combines biography with an account of Wagner's major works. Although he only discusses the major thematic elements, the chapter on
Parsifal also discusses other aspects of the music that deserve our attention, such as tonality and orchestration. |
1996 London |
Wagner's Most Subtle Art: An analytic Study of Tristan und Isolde |
Roger North |
English |
Probably hard to find but worth seeking out, this privately published study of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde analyzes that work in depth. North discusses Wagner's
score in terms of "basic motives", elements much smaller than traditional Leitmotive: for example in the Ring the motive of Woe that is first heard when Alberich
is rejected by the Rhinemaidens. |
1949 Putnam |
Wagner Nights (or US edn. as The Wagner Operas). Pages 670-764. |
Ernest Newman |
English |
In this classic of Wagner literature, the London-based music critic Ernest Newman — who had a life-long love-hate relationship with Wagner as man and artist — gives a
scene by scene summary of each opera, with many musical examples. |
1981 Cambridge UK |
Cambridge Opera Handbooks: Richard Wagner Parsifal, CUP, Pages 61-86. |
Arnold Whittall, editor Lucy Beckett |
English |
Whittall gives us a perceptive commentary on the music of Parsifal, which he called a tonal work of art . |
1882 Leipzig, 1891 New York |
Thematic Guide through the Music of Parsifal (Thematischer Leitfaden durch die Muzik zu R. Wagners Parsifal), US edn. G. Schirmer. |
Hans von Wolzogen, translator J.H. Cornell. |
German |
Last but not least, the catalogue of primary themes or Leitmotive that Hans von Wolzogen made for visitors to Bayreuth. Although the names he gave to some of these themes
might be misleading, it is generally agreed that Wolzogen identified the most important of the thematic elements. |