Parsifal as Art and Ideology

Wagner’s lifelong preoccupation with the legends of the Holy Grail culminated in his controversial last work Parsifal, a “stage dedication festival play” which during the fifty years after his death became a ceremonial centerpiece of proto-Nazi ideology at Bayreuth, though elsewhere it was regarded quite differently. Chamberlain and Lorenz among others sought to connect Wagner’s Parsifal to Hitler’s ascent. Fresh research shows that the connections between the Bayreuth Circle and Hitler were even closer than has been previously recognized. Nevertheless, study of the genesis of Parsifal and of the international aspects of its reception indicates to what extent the first half-century of German reception can be regarded as a distortion, as some German observers like Thomas Mann recognized at the time. The theme of redemption lends itself to ideological reinterpretation in a political context.

Aesthetics · Art · Ideology · Political science · Classical Antiquity Studies · Law · Linguistics and language evolution · Medieval Literature and History