Parsifal Is Feb. 17, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The Feb. 17, 2018, Met Opera Saturday  matinee broadcast is Parsifal by German composer Richard Wagner.

Wagner's Parsifal is the first of two 2017-2018 Met Opera season operas conducted by Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin; cartoon by French-born graphic artist Emmanuelle Ayrton: METOrchMusicians @METOrchestra, via Twitter Jan. 22, 2018

Parsifal, the last completed opera by German composer and librettist Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813-Feb. 13, 1883), is the Feb. 17, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

According to his practice, Richard Wagner wrote the opera’s libretto and also composed the music. The literary source for his German libretto is an epic poem by medieval German lyric and narrative poet Wolfram von Eschenbach (ca. 1170-ca. 1220) about Arthurian knight Percival’s quest for the Holy Grail, the cup catching the blood flowing from Jesus’s pierced side.

Parsifal premiered July 26, 1882, at Bayreuth Festspielhaus (Bayreuth Festival Theatre) in Bayreuth, Bavaria, southeastern Germany. The opera house solely performs Wagner’s stage works.

Seven performances of Parsifal are scheduled for the 2017-2018 Met Opera season. All performances take place in February 2018. Opening night is Monday, Feb. 5, at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Opening night marks the opera's 296th performance at the Metropolitan Opera.

In addition to the Feb. 17 Saturday matinee broadcast, the month’s five additional performances take place: Saturday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m.; Tuesday, Feb. 13, at 6 p.m.; Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m.; closing night, Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 6 p.m. Closing night marks the 302nd performance of Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera.

Estimated run time for Parsifal is 5 hours 33 minutes. Act I lasts 108 minutes. An intermission of 40 minutes follows the first act. The second act is timed for 68 minutes. An intermission of 39 minutes follows the second act. The third and final act spans 78 minutes.

Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Feb. 17 Saturday matinee broadcast and five additional performances (Feb. 5, 10, 13, 20, 27). His birthplace is Montreal, Quebec, eastern Canada. The Canadian conductor debuted New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, 2009, in the 2009-2010 Met Opera season’s staging of Carmen by French Romantic Era composer Georges Bizet (Oct. 25, 1838-June 3, 1875). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, the Metropolitan Opera’s Music Director Designate also conducts Elektra by Richard Strauss (June 11, 1864-Sept. 8, 1949).

Yannick Nézet-Séguin shares the conductor’s baton with John Keenan, who conducts the Friday, Feb. 23, performance. His hometown is New York City. The American conductor debuted Nov. 1, 1990, at the Metropolitan Opera in Don Giovanni by Classical Era composer Wolfgang Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756-Dec. 5, 1791).

Evelyn Herlitzius appears in all performances as Kundry, who is released from Klingsor the magician’s curse by Parsifal’s compassion for suffering. Her birthplace is Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, northwestern Germany. The German dramatic soprano’s appearances as Kundry mark her Metropolitan Opera debut.

Klaus Florian Vogt appears in all performances as Parsifal, who progresses from a youthful fool to a paragon of compassion. His birthplace is Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, northernmost Germany. The German operatic tenor debuted May 3, 2006, at the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of Wagner’s Lohengrin.

Peter Mattei appears in all performances as Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, who is healed of a painful wound by Parsifal’s retrieving from Klingsor the magician the King’s Holy Spear, which had pierced Jesus on the Cross. His birthplace is Piteå, Norrbotten County, northeastern Sweden. The Swedish operatic baritone debuted Jan. 24, 2002, at the Metropolitan Opera as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro.

Evgeny Nikitin appears in all performances as Klingsor the magician, whose curse of Kundry is broken by Parsifal’s compassion and whose wounding of Amfortas, King of the Grail Knights, is overcome by Parsifal’s retrieval of the King’s Holy Spear from the magician. His birthplace is Murmansk, northwesternmost Russia. The Russian bass-baritone debuted Feb. 14, 2002, at the Metropolitan Opera as Lieutenant Dolokhov in War and Peace by Soviet composer, conductor and pianist Sergei Prokofiev (April 23, 1891-March 5, 1953).

René Pape appears in all performances as Gurnemanz, eldest Knight of the Grail, whose observations and revelations are essential to Parsifal’s journey from youthful fool to new King of the Knights of the Grail. His birthplace is Dresden, Saxony, east central Germany. The German operatic bass debuted Dec. 2, 1995, at the Metropolitan Opera as a Speaker in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. His first Met Opera appearance happened June 1, 1992, in Seville, Spain, during the 1991-1992 Metropolitan Opera Tour. He appeared as Don Fernando in Fidelio by Ludwig von Beethoven (baptized Dec. 17, 1770-March 26, 1827). In the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, René Pape also appears as Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte.

Met Opera’s 2017-2018 staging of Parsifal is under the direction of François Girard. The French Canadian director’s staging of Parsifal debuted Feb. 15, 2013, as a new Metropolitan Opera production. His production team comprises Michael Levine, set designer; Thibault Vancraenenbroeck, costume designer; David Finn, lighting designer; Peter Flaherty, video designer; Carolyn Choa, choreographer; Serge Lamothe, dramaturg.

The opera’s original setting is during the Middle Ages. François Girard’s staging takes place in a timeless, unspecified setting.

Parsifal appears as the 12th of the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 23 Saturday matinee broadcasts. Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore was the season’s 11th Saturday matinee broadcast. L’Elisir d’Amore aired Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018, at 12 p.m.

The season’s 13th Saturday matinee broadcast is Puccini’s La Bohème. La Bohème is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2018, at 12:30 p.m.

Online database Operabase places Richard Wagner in fifth place in a worldwide ranking of 1,281 composers for the five seasons from 2011/2012 to 2015/2016. Fourth and sixth places are occupied by Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (Feb. 29, 1792-Nov. 13, 1868) and Italian bel canto composer Gaetano Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848), respectively.

Parsifal holds place 60 in the worldwide list of 2,658 most popular operas. Places 59 and 61 are held by German-born French 19th century composer Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux Enfers ("Orpheus in the Underworld") and Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, respectively.

Parsifal’s Metropolitan Opera debut took place Dec. 24, 1903. Prior to the 2017-2018 Met Opera season, Parsifal’s most recent Met Opera performances occurred with François Girard’s debut during the 2012-2013 season.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Repertory Report provides statistics for the opera house’s operatic performances. Parsifal occupies place 27. Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera holds place 26. L’Elisir d’Amore occupies place 28.

The takeaway for Parsifal as the Feb. 17, 2018, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is that the 2017-2018 Met Opera season’s 12th Saturday matinee broadcast presents a timeless tale, via Richard Wagner’s libretto and music, about flaws and triumphs as humans confront disappointment and suffering.

Gurnemanz, elder Knight of the Grail, encircled by the Grail Knights. in a striking mise-en-scène from Canadian director Patrice Chéreau's production of Wagner's Parsifal at The Metropolitan Opera: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2018

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Wagner's Parsifal is the first of two 2017-2018 Met Opera season operas conducted by Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin; cartoon by French-born graphic artist Emmanuelle Ayrton: "A snapshot of Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin as we embark on Parsifal together!": METOrchMusicians @METOrchestra, via Twitter Jan. 22, 2018, @ https://twitter.com/METOrchestra/status/955498509989490701

Gurnemanz, elder Knight of the Grail, encircled by the Grail Knights in a striking mise-en-scène from Canadian director Patrice Chéreau's production of Wagner's Parsifal at The Metropolitan Opera: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera, via Facebook Jan. 25, 2018, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10160035656420533

For further information:

Bartsch, Karl. Wolfram’s Von Eschenbach Parzival und Titurel. Deutsche Classiker des Mittelalters: Elfter Band, Dritter Theil. Leipzig, Germany: F.A. Brockhuas, 1877.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/parzivalundtitu01eschgoog

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

“Debut: John Keenan.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 302390 Don Giovanni {405} Metropolitan Opera House: 11/1/1990.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=302390

“Debut: Klaus Florian Vogt.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 351514 Lohengrin {617} Metropolitan Opera House: 05/03/2006.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351514

“Debuts: Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Semenchuk . . . Evgeny Nikitin . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 350257 War and Peace {1} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/14/2002.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350257

“Debuts: Joan Rodgers, René Pape.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 322610 Die Zauberflöte {311} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/2/1995.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=322610

“Debuts: Peter Mattei, Soile Isokoski.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 350065 Le Nozze di Figaro {392} Metropolitan Opera House: 01/24/2002.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=350065

“Debuts: Yannick Nézet-Séguin . . .” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 353274 Carmen {946} Metropolitan Opera House: 12/31/2009.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=353274

Everett, Derrick. “Wolfram von Eschenbach.” Monsalvat - the Parsifal Pages > Parsifal Index of Articles > Wagner’s Sources.
Available @ http://www.monsalvat.no/wolfram.htm

“Fidelio.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 308150 Fidelio {191} Metropolitan Opera House: 06/1/1992.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=308150

Marriner, Derdriu. “L’Elisir d’Amore Is Feb. 10, 2018, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast.” Earth and Space News. Monday, Feb. 5, 2018.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/02/lelisir-damore-is-feb-10-2018-met-opera.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Yannick Nézet-Séguin Conducts Strauss and Wagner in 2017-2018 Season.” Earth and Space News. Monday, July 10, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/07/yannick-nezet-seguin-conducts-strauss.html

METOrchMusicians @METOrchestra. "A snapshot of Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin as we embark on Parsifal together!" Twitter. Jan. 22, 2018.
Available @ https://twitter.com/METOrchestra/status/955498509989490701

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "'... [Parsifal is] a crucial turning point in music history that in many ways brought Romanticism to an end and paved the way for the music of the 20th century.' Director François Girard discusses Wagner's meditative final masterpiece. Parsifal opens Feb 5." Facebook. Jan. 25, 2018.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/posts/10160035656420533

“New Production: Parsifal.” MetOpera Database > [Met Performance] CID: 354861 Parsifal {289} Metropolitan Opera House: 02/15/2013.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=354861

"Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml