Parsifal

Author’s Note: This opera is based on a story from the Christian faith, and so contains many references to Christian images and ideology. The story is presented here without bias or discrimination, simply as it exists in the opera, which is fundamentally a work of art.

Act One

Scene One; The forest in the grounds of the Grail Castle

Asleep in the shadow of a tree, Gurnemanz is woken by the sound of the horns from the castle of the Grail. He immediately rouses the Esquires who are sleeping nearby, and together they offer their morning prayers (‘He! Ho! Waldhüter ihr, Schlafhüter mitsammen’). Gurnemanz instructs the Esquires to prepare the bath for King Amfortas, who is sick. He spots two Knights of the Grail, and asks about Amfortas’s health, but they have no good news. The medicine that the Knight Gawain brought him only eased the pain for a time, and it returned stronger than before. The bath is the only thing that might soothe his pain. Gurnemanz considers the foolishness of their