A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their MusicKrehbiel, Henry Edward
History
A Book of Operas: Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music
Krehbiel, Henry Edward
Operas -- Stories, plots, etc.
Kundry weeps. Unto the woman who was a sinner and wept at His feet
Christ said: "Thy sins are forgiven. . . . Thy faith hath saved
thee. Go in peace." At the elevation of the grail by Parsifal after
the healing of Amfortas a dove descends from the dome and hovers
over the new king's head. What saith the Scripture? "And Jesus,
when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water; and
lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." (St. Matthew iii.
16.) It would be idle to argue that these things are not Biblical,
though the reported allusions to Parsifal as a redeemer do not of
necessity belong in the category. We shall see presently that the
drama is permeated with Buddhism, and there were a multitude of
redeemers and saviours in India besides the Buddha.
Let us look at the liturgical elements. The Holy Grail is a chalice.
It is brought into the temple in solemn procession in a veiled
shrine and deposited on a table. Thus, also, the chalice, within its
pall, is brought in at the sacrament of the mass and placed on the
altar before the celebrant. In the drama boys' voices sing in the
invisible heights:--
Nehmet hin mein Blut
Um unserer Liebe willen!
Nehmet hin meinem Leib
Auf dass ihr mein gedenkt!
Is there a purposed resemblance here to the words of consecration in
the mass? Accipite, et manducate ex hoc omnes. Hoc est enim Corpus
meum. Accipite, et bibite ex eo omnes. Hic est enim Calix sanguinis
mei! In a moment made wonderfully impressive by Wagner's music,
while Amfortas bends over the grail and the knights are on their
knees, a ray of light illumines the cup and it glows red. Amfortas
lifts it high, gently sways it from side to side, and blesses the
bread and wine which youthful servitors have placed beside each
knight on the table. In the book of the play, as the hall gradually
grows light the cups before the knights appear filled with red wine,
and beside each lies a small loaf of bread. Now the celestial
choristers sing: "The wine and bread of the Last Supper, once the
Lord of the Grail, through pity's love-power, changed into the blood
which he shed, into the body which he offered. To-day the Redeemer
whom ye laud changes the blood and body of the sacrificial offering
into the wine poured out for you, and the bread that you eat!" And
the knights respond antiphonally: "Take of the bread; bravely change
it anew into strength and power. Faithful unto death, staunch in
effort to do the works of the Lord. Take of the blood; change
it anew to life's fiery flood. Gladly in communion, faithful as
brothers, to fight with blessed courage." Are these words, or are
they not, a paraphrase of those which in the canon of the mass
follow the first and second ablutions of the celebrant: Quod ore
sumpsimus Domine, etc., and: Corpus tuum, Domine, etc.? He would
be but little critical who would deny it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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