Genesis Myths: Anna Stoll Knecht assesses a new study of the creative process of ‘Parsifal’

Review of William Kinderman, Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’. Studies in Musical Genesis, Structure, and Interpretation (Oxford University Press, 2013).

March 2016, Volume 10, Number 1, 80–84.

The Oxford series Studies in Musical Genesis, Structure, and Interpretation aims, as its editor Malcolm Gillies puts it, at ‘elucidating the detail of musical creation’ in a specific work by ‘placing it in a continuum not just from sketch to score but also to premiere and reception’ (p. v). William Kinderman has achieved such a task with remarkable success, offering a rich genetic study of Wagner’s Parsifal that allows him to reassess the finished work in the context of its ‘disturbing’ reception history.