Edward A. Bortnichak and Paula M. Bortnichak, ‘Parsifal’ as Contagion Narrative and Discourse of Mourning

July 2013, Volume 7, Number 2, 29–43.

The Parsifal movie of the complete opera by Hans Jürgen Syberberg was released to great acclaim in 1982 as part of the celebration of the centenary of this masterpiece, and is widely considered one of the most successful cinematic treatments of an opera ever made. Even though the late-Romantic music drama has been interpreted in a myriad of ways, and the Syberberg film has, similarly, been the subject of much analysis, a comprehensive evaluation of the ‘contagion narrative’ aspects of each, which enables Wagner’s masterwork to have special relevance to post-Holocaust societal ‘recovery’ in our own time, has not yet been attempted. The present article will demonstrate why the work itself, and its cinematic treatment by Syberberg, warrant such a perspective. It is our contention, supported by the Weltanschauung of both the 19th-century composer and the modern-day director, that the inherent characteristics of the opera and the film can serve these modern societal functions.