The story of Parsifal is presented in two manners: through action and through narrative. Using the formalist theories of Vladimir Propp, the overall narrative is articulated in three narrative episodes. This thesis interprets the structure of narrative episodes in Parsifal on the basis of expectation. Propp's theory of functions provides labels for an interpretive analysis. Levi-Strauss' reconstruction of Propp's functions into paired structures identifies key points in the drama as moments of "functional" saturation. This "functional" saturation coincides with Wagner's practice of Leitmotivic saturation. The semiotic theories of Charles Sanders Peirce, specifically his notion of sign, clarify the dense accumulation of meanings accrued by the Leitmotifs. Finally, Parsifal, as a "quest" for the unobtainable object, fits into the matrix of desire as formulated in the theories of Jacques Lacan.

[No abstract available] / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

Despite its generally agreed importance, very little has been written about The Apostles. Even among the extant publications that address The Apostles, scholars have focused on its history and development, its reception, or analytical descriptions of its surface themes. The aim of this study will therefore be to provide neither a biography of Elgar, nor an account of the genesis of the work, but to analyze The Apostles in a manner that will achieve a deeper understanding of the oratorio. Chapter 1 explores the complexities that surround Judas and the different ways in which he was perceived throughout history. Then, through my analysis of the surface motives in Chapter 2 and their significance in relation to the large-scale harmonic structure in Chapter 3, I will suggest that Elgar does not denigrate Judas as the betrayer of Christ in The Apostles, but rather depicts him as a tragic yet crucial figure in achieving the redemption of mankind, and through this Judas himself is redeemed.

The purpose of this thesis is to present a context and background to thepractical design aspect of my work. I considered this project to be anexperiential journey in search of a way to make Wagner's Parsifal relevantand interesting in relation to my own life and personal sensibilities. My aimwas to use the music as my guide and my hope was to reach a scenographicsolution by following my intuition. This project has been an important step inmy development as an artist and designer and I feel it has strengthened thebond between my conscious and subconscious mind, giving me theconfidence to trust my feelings and harness them to come up with innovativeinterpretations translated into inventive designs

No description available.

Cette thèse propose une introduction à une meilleure compréhension des liens entre Hitler et Wagner et porte le titre suivant : De Wagner à Hitler: un exemple du Sonderweg de l’histoire allemande. Les deux hommes ne se sont pas connus car Wagner était déjà mort à la naissance du futur dictateur mais les héritiers Wagner et en particulier son fils Siegfried et sa belle-fille Winifred et l’idéologue de Bayreuth Houston Stewart Chamberlain, jouèrent un rôle de substitution au Maître de Bayreuth, cette idole qu’Hitler aurait tant aimé connaitre, tant il considère Wagner comme sa religion comme il put le confier lors de sa première visite à Wahnfried, villa des Wagner. Si Wagner a des idées très arrêtées et théoriques en matière d'antisémitisme et de racisme, Hitler sous l’influence de Houston Stewart Chamberlain gendre de Richard Wagner les développe et imagine les moyens politiques de leur réalisation. L'Œuvre de Wagner a survécu au nazisme et à son instrumentalisation par Adolf Hitler (que nous illustrons plus particulièrement en prenant l'exemple de Parsifal) car un grand artiste est toujours dépassé par ses propres intentions. Cependant toute une partie de la pensée et de la création artistique du musicien allemand contenait les germes de la déviance de l'histoire allemande qui caractérisa les années 1933-1945. Notre travail contribue aussi à mieux identifier "la religion d'Adolf Hitler": enracinée dans le christianisme gnostique de Richard Wagner elle vient s'alimenter aux élucubrations sur le "Jésus aryen tué par les Juifs" de l'époque wilhelmienne et débouche sur un néopaganisme revendiqué. / This thesis provides an introduction to a better understanding of the links between Hitler and Wagner and is entitled: From Richard Wagner to Adolf Hitler: an example of the Sonderweg in Germany’s history. The two men never knew each other as Wagner was already dead at the time of the future dictator’s birth, but Wagner’s heirs, and in particular his son Siegfried, his daughter-in-law Winifred and the Bayreuth ideologist Houston Stewart Chamberlain, played a surrogate role for the Master of Bayreuth, the idol whom Hitler would have so loved to know, so much he considered Wagner as a prophet, as he confided on his first visit to Wahnfried, the Wagner family’s villa. If Wagner had very pure theoretical ideas concerning anti-Semitism and racism, under the influence of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Wagner’s son-in-law, Hitler then developed these ideas and devised the political means of their implementation. Wagner’s work outlived Nazism and its adoption by Adolf Hitler (which we illustrate more particularly with the example of Parsifal), as the work of a great artist often transcends his original intentions. However, a significant part of the German musician’s thought and artistic creation contained the seeds for the deviance of German history which characterized the period from 1933 to 1945. Our work also helps better identify “Adolf Hitler’s religion”: rooted in Richard Wagner’s Gnostic Christianity, his religion feeds itself on the fanciful notion of “Jesus Aryan killed by the Jews” of the Wilhelmien period and leads to a proclaimed Neopaganism.

Après avoir proposé une définition opératoire du mythe littéraire, et suggéré, sous l’étiquette de « mytholectures », un mode d’approche de cet objet, le travail se subdivise en deux grandes parties. La première, diachronique, cherche à sonder le devenir historique du mythe de Perceval, de Chrétien de Troyes à nos jours ; il s’agit essentiellement d’observer comment la valeur et le sens du mythe se sont élaborés progressivement au fil de ses réécritures – comment chaque période, chaque auteur a rencontré le mythe sous un rapport singulier, susceptible de lui fournir un « miroir » qui reflète certaines de ses préoccupations et lui permette, parallèlement, de configurer son expérience du monde. Les principales étapes de ce parcours (qui touche à environ quatre-vingts auteurs) sont Richard Wagner et Julien Gracq. La seconde partie propose deux approches thématiques du mythe de Perceval : l’une d’elles est centrée sur la problématique familiale et les enjeux relationnels qui, de reprise en reprise, ne cessent d’être réinterprétés sous divers angles (dont Œdipe, cet « anti-Perceval » n’est jamais très loin). L’autre axe thématique s’intéresse à la propension marquée du mythe de Perceval à fonctionner comme modèle des deux pôles de l’activité littéraire que sont la lecture (quête de sens) et de l’écriture (quête poétique) : divers « arts poétiques percevaliens » (de Wagner à Perec, en passant par Proust ou Handke) closent ainsi le parcours. / After having outlined a functional definition of the “literary myth”, and having proposed a new way of approaching this object under the label “myrhoreadings”, the present work is divided into two main parts. The first one is diachronic. Its aim is to analyse the historical construction of the myth of Percival, from Chrétien of Troyes until now. The main purpose of this inquiry is to examine how the myth’s value and meaning were gradually elaborated through its rewritings, and how each period, each author have met the myth as a “mirror” reflecting his personal concerns and allowing him to configure his experience of the world. The main figures along this journey are (among about eighty authors) Richard Wagner and Julien Gracq. The second part proposes two thematic approaches to the myth of Percival: the first one focuses on the family issues and the relational stuctures central to most of the rewritings of the myth (where Oedipus, this “anti-percival”, is rarely far away). The second theme examines the frequent use of this myth as a model for the two poles of the literary activity: reading (quest of meaning) and writing (poetic quest). A few “percivalian poetic arts” thus conclude this study, from Wagner to Proust, Handke or Perec.

Während die Bayreuther Uraufführungsinszenierung des Parsifal (1882) als Paradebeispiel einer »unter den Augen des Meisters« entstandenen Opernproduktion gelten kann, die Jahrzehnte lang praktisch unverändert auf dem Spielplan stand und so eine Tradition normativer Wagner-Regie begründete, verschwand die Uraufführungsinszenierung des Ring des Nibelungen (1876) bereits nach den ersten Bayreuther Festspielen nach nur drei Aufführungen für immer in der Versenkung. Die negative Beurteilung der Inszenierung von 1876 durch Richard und Cosima Wagner, wie sie sich in den Tagebüchern Cosimas niederschlägt, kann zur Erklärung beitragen, warum der Ring zwei Jahrzehnte lang überhaupt nicht mehr in Bayreuth gespielt wurde und sodann 1896 in einer völlig neuen Inszenierung unter der Leitung Cosima Wagners herauskam. Diese und weitere Zeugnisse zur Bayreuther Produktion werden in dem Beitrag ausführlich diskutiert. Sodann wird die Rolle der Theatersemiotik für die Rekonstruktionen historischer Operninszenierungen diskutiert. Inszenierungsdokumente wie diejenigen zu den Uraufführungen von Wagners Ring des Nibelungen und Parsifal können einen wesentlichen Beitrag zum Verständnis des multimedialen Kunstwerks Oper und seiner unterschiedlichen Zeichensysteme leisten und zugleich auch zur Anregung gegenwärtiger Produktionen dienen. Eine aus historischer Perspektive (bzw. aus derjenigen von Richard und Cosima Wagner) »unvollkommene« und alles andere als mustergültige Inszenierung wie diejenige des Ring des Nibelungen von 1876 detailgetreu zu rekonstruieren, wäre ein fragwürdiges Unterfangen. Sinnvoller erscheint es, die umfassend dokumentierten Erfahrungen aus der Uraufführungsinszenierung in eine heutige »historisch informierte« Aufführung einfließen zu lassen. In diesem Falle würde es sich zwar nicht um eine »werktreue«, womöglich aber um eine »werkgerechte« Inszenierung handeln. / Whilst the Bayreuth premiere production of Parsifal (1882) could be considered a paradigm example of an opera production created »in the eyes of the Master« as it remained on the programme schedule essentially unaltered for decades thereby establishing a normative tradition of Wagnerian direction, the debut production of the Ring of the Nibelung (1876) already fell into permanent oblivion after only three performances at the first Bayreuth Festival. Richard and Cosima Wagner’s negative critique of the 1876 production, as expressed in Cosima Wagner’s journals, may help to explain why the Ring of the Nibelung was not performed at all in Bayreuth for two decades before it returned to the stage in 1896 in an entirely new production under Cosima Wagner’s direction. This critique and further witness accounts of the Bayreuth production are comprehensively examined in the article. Furthermore, the role of theatre semiotics in the reconstruction of historical opera productions will be discussed. Documents on the staging, such as those concerning the premieres of Richard Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal, could contribute significantly to gaining an understanding of the multimedia oeuvre that is opera and its various sign systems, and at the same time serve as a stimulus for contemporary productions. A true to detail reconstruction of an »imperfect« production from a historical perspective (or from the perspective of Richard and Cosima Wagner) and a less than exemplary production such as the Ring of the Nibelung of 1876, would certainly be a questionable undertaking. A more sensible approach would seem to be the integration of the comprehensively documented accounts from the premiere production into a contemporary 'historically informed' performance. While this may not be »true to the original«, it may well do »justice to the original«. (Übersetzung: Jennifer Smyth)

I orgeltranskriberingens historia så har Richard Wagners musik fått en särställning genom organisten Edwin H. Lemares massiva transkriptionsarbete. I det här arbetet undersöks hur Lemares transkriptionskonst är utformad och hur hans metoder kan appliceras på eget transkriptionsarbete. Lemares och andras transkriptioner jämförs med Wagners originalpartitur för att metoder och verktyg ska kunna observeras. Dessa appliceras på en egen transkription, vars skapelseprocess redogörs för. Detta arbete visar att Lemare använder sig av en metodisk teknik som i stora drag grundar sig på det klangliga resultatets slutliga kvalitet. I det här arbetet beskrivs denna teknik relativt ingående, för att om möjligt bidra med insikter och metoder för den av transkriptioner intresserade. / <p>Tillhörande inspelning av transkription <em>Morgenpracht </em>(Wagner/Käll) inspelad i Sankt Görans kyrka. Orgel: Ludvig Käll</p>

Die Legende von der unsichtbaren Stadt Kitesch setzt den für Rimskij-Korsakov langwierigen und fruchtbaren Streit mit Wagner fort und schließt ihn ab. Von einem Sieg des einen Künstlers über den anderen kann hier keine Rede sein. Eins ist jedoch unstrittig: gäbe es keinen Parsifal, wäre auch Kitesch anders geschrieben.