Parsifal, Richard Wagner

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Image courtesy of Liceu

Discover the timeless story of love, redemption and forgiveness as director Josep Pons as he guides us through the mysteries of Richard Wagner's Parsifal. Experience the outstanding musical work performed by a stellar cast, including Nikolai Schukof.

The work, based on medieval legends about the Holy Grail and the lance of Longinus, was Richard Wagner's last score. After the exclusive rights the Bayreuth Festival had held since 1882 expired, Barcelona's Liceu became the first opera house in the world to unveil the colossal score, at midnight on December 31st, 1913.  

In this version – undoubtedly one of the most widely acclaimed – Claus Guth directs his gaze towards the "old Europe" which is so well portrayed in Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. Coproduced in 2011 by the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Opernhaus Zürich, it interprets the work in a different timeframe from the original one. Guth associates the Knights of the Grail searching for a Redeemer with the disorientation and search for meaning which marked the aftermath of the First World War, even pointing to the events that led to the 1933 power seizure in Germany. The setting is a run-down hospital for war wounded, where trauma and discouragement reign and the hopes placed in a new leader will only lead to a new disaster.

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