Gurnemanz

Operatic character in the opera Parsifal

Appears in 5 videos · 10 passages, 5 of them in depth.

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Summary

Dominique Pagani discusses Gurnemanz when commenting on Wagner's Parsifal, in sessions from 2022 and 2024. He presents him as the old knight-narrator who tells the sacred history to the squires and "teaches the catechism" to the young, acting as the historian of the Grail1 2. He notes that this bass role weighs so heavily on the work that it resembles a rhapsody for bass and orchestra3. He dwells above all on the scene of the slain swan. Gurnemanz questions Parsifal there and asks his name, and Parsifal cannot remember any name4 5. He then forces him to look at the bird's blood to make him feel guilty, an attitude in which Dominique Pagani finds a sadistic streak6 7. Finally, he recalls that Gurnemanz drives Parsifal away with the words "go chase the geese and leave the swans alone"8 9. From one session to the next, he presents the character the same way: a pious transmitter of tradition who is also harsh and fails to recognise the newcomer.

Summary produced automatically from 10 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

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Cycle 11 · 12 Dec 2022Hesitation fascinated by hearing and by sight: Siegfried and Perceval

27:20Old knight-narrator who teaches the squires sacred history.
57:43He makes Parsifal feel guilty by forcing him to look at the swan's blood.
1:14:33He drives him away: "go chase geese and leave the swans in peace."

Cycle 12 · 4 Jun 2024The matrix of all illusion: the past lived as present

14:03The old knight who instructs the young in the catechism.
1:56:02He makes Parsifal feel guilty for the swan's death, with a sadistic streak.

Cycle 12 · 21 Apr 2024Saving the saviour? Redemption, the end of the cycle or its new beginning?

37:54The pious knight who recounts sacred history.
1:19:10He interrogates Parsifal after the killing of the swan.

Cycle 12 · 1 Apr 2024The quest for the Grail, sanctimony or sacrilege?

1:22:56The bass who delivers the catechism; the work is like a rhapsody for bass and orchestra.

Cycle 12 · 30 May 2024From fidelity to grace: from substance to subject

8:50The old knight who acts as historian of the Grail, then drives Parsifal away.
1:34:22He asks Parsifal his name, which Parsifal cannot remember.