Halvard Johnson wrote:
> Reminds me of the (possibly apocryphal) story about the Ginza
> store not long after VJ-Day trying to get US culture right in a
> store window by featuring a Santa Claus nailed to a cross.
>
I've never heard of a crucifixion in Parsifal except as represented by
the prolonged (years) torment of Amfortas, a symbolic crucifixion based
on his wound from the same spear that was used on Jesus. The modern
versions that sneak out of Europe and find their way here can be a bit
odd. In Chicago back in 2002, Act III took place beside a railroad
track, and after healing Amfortas, the trio of Gurnemanz, Parsifal and
Kundry herself (in this version she did not die) begin to walk along the
tracks and out of sight, the better to proclaim the miracle of
Resurrection to all humanity. [Sadly, it did not help the Parsifal, the
Swedish tenor Gösta Winbergh, who died in Vienna of a heart attack nine
days later].
The reference to Santa on the cross brings back the most oddly named
band in history, Kinky Friedman and His Texas Jewboys, and a song called
"They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore": "We Jews believe it was
Santa Claus that killed Jesus Christ." I can buy that.
Oh...swans. Yes, Parsifal is supposed to have trashed a swan. Even back
in the Middle Ages, apparently, swans were regarded as having some sort
of mystical properties beyond turning into gorgeous ballerinas in the
theater. About 25 years ago some man was arrested and hauled into Town
Court in Mattituck, Long Island. He had shot and killed a swan. Shades
of The Ancient Mariner and that frickin' albatross. The town Justice
asked him why he did it. "I was hungry" the shooter replied. To which
the Judge is supposed to have said "It's going to be a very expensive
meal. I fine you $1,000."
Ken
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