Parsifal conductors at the Bayreuth Festival
1882
Hermann Levi
Franz Fischer (assistant conductor)
Hermann Levi
Richard Wagner
During the final performance Wagner took the baton out of Hermann Levi's hand and conducted the last act from the transformation scene to the end.
Hermann Levi in a letter to his father: "At the end of
the work the audience broke into applaus that defies description. But the
Master did not show himself, but remained with us musicians, making bad
jokes, and when the noise of the audience showed no sign of abating after
ten minutes, I shouted ’Quiet! Quiet!’ at the top of my voice. This was
heard up above, and people did quieten down, and then the Master, still
at the conductors desk, began to speak, first to me and the orchestra;
then the curtain was raised, the whole company of singers and technical
personnel was assembled on the stage, and the Master spoke with such affection
that everyone started to weep – it was an unforgettable moment!"
As quoted in Derek Watson: Richard Wagner: A Biography
Clear message to the orchestra members about not to practice in the orchestra pit. Sign in Richard Wagner Museum, Bayreuth.
1883
Franz Fischer (assistant conductor)
Hermann Levi
1884
Franz Fischer (assistant conductor)
Hermann Levi
1886
Hermann Levi
1888
Felix Mottl
1889
Hermann Levi
1891
Hermann Levi
1892
Hermann Levi
1894
Hermann Levi
1897
Anton Seidl
Felix Mottl
1899
Franz Fischer
1901
Karl Muck
1902
Karl Muck
1904
Karl Muck
Michael Balling
1906
Michael Balling
Franz Beidler
Karl Muck
1908
Karl Muck
Michael Balling
1909
Siegfried Wagner
Karl Muck
1911
Michael Balling
Karl Muck
1912
Michael Balling
Karl Muck
1914
Karl Muck
1924
Wilibald Kaehler
Karl Muck
1925
Karl Muck
Wilibald Kaehler
1927
Karl Muck
1928
Karl Muck
1930
Karl Muck
1931
Arturo Toscanini
1933
Richard Strauss
‘It is not I who conducts Parsifal faster but rather you in Bayreuth who have got slower and slower. Believe me, what you are doing in Bayreuth is all wrong.’
Richard Strauss
"The Master has already composed Parsifal to be very slow, so one doesn't need to add to this by also conducting it slowly." (Richard Strauss to the orchestra during rehearsals)
"With Strauss, the tempo is much livelier than is usually adopted for this sacred play. Yet it loses nothing of its pious and heartfelt mood either, something which of course must always be retained. And the theatrical piece that is Parsifal also received immense drive so far as purely dramatic effect is concerned. Totally new aspects, tensions and triggers which one would hardly ever have expected are suddenly illuminated. Those long drawn-out movements, further extended by slow tempos (for instance in the case of Gurnemanz in the first act) become more comprehensible thanks to tighter tempos. Of course, Strauss is no mystic - but he is a musician of such great calibre that he managed to convince with his Parsifal performance, despite its veering away from all those well-worn paths, and left everyone deeply moved."
(Oskar von Pander in Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, 24 July 1933)
1934
Franz von Hoesslin
Richard Strauss
1936
Wilhelm Furtwängler
1937
Wilhelm Furtwängler
1938
Franz von Hoesslin
1939
Franz von Hoesslin
1951
Hans Knappertsbusch
1952
Hans Knappertsbusch
1953
Clemens Krauss
1954
Hans Knappertsbusch
1955
Hans Knappertsbusch
1956
Hans Knappertsbusch
1957
Andre Cluytens
Hans Knappertsbusch
1958
Hans Knappertsbusch
1959
Hans Knappertsbusch
1960
Hans Knappertsbusch
1961
Hans Knappertsbusch
1962
Hans Knappertsbusch
1963
Hans Knappertsbusch
1964
Hans Knappertsbusch
1965
Andre Cluytens
1966
Pierre Boulez (CD)
1967
Pierre Boulez
1968
Pierre Boulez
1969
Horst Stein
1970
Pierre Boulez (CD)
1971
Eugen Jochum
1972
Eugen Jochum
1973
Eugen Jochum
1975
Horst Stein
Hans Zender
1976
Horst Stein
1977
Horst Stein
1978
Horst Stein
1979
Horst Stein
1980
Horst Stein
1981
Horst Stein
Released on
DVD. Cast: Siegfried Jerusalem, Eva Randova, Bernd Weikl,
Hans Sotin, Matti Salminen.
Stage director was Wolfgang Wagner.
1982
James Levine
1983
James Levine
1984
James Levine
1985
James Levine
1987
Daniel Barenboim
1988
James Levine
1989
James Levine
1990
James Levine
1991
James Levine
1992
James Levine
1993
James Levine
1994
Giuseppe Sinopoli
1995
Giuseppe Sinopoli
1996
Giuseppe Sinopoli
1997
Giuseppe Sinopoli
1998
Giuseppe Sinopoli
1999
Giuseppe Sinopoli
2000
Christoph Eschenbach
2001
Christian Thielemann
2004
2005
Pierre Boulez
2006
Adam Fischer
2007
Adam Fischer
2008
Daniele Gatti
A new production. Stage director: Stefan
Herheim.
Read more about the Herheim/Gatti Parsifal production at Bayreuth here
2009
Daniele Gatti
2010
Daniele Gatti
2011
Daniele Gatti
2012
Philippe Jordan
2016
Hartmut Haenchen
"Bayreuth’s special and much praised acoustic is actually only fully functional in Parsifal. It is certainly also one of the reasons why Wagner uses a style that is far closer to chamber music for this work. In the earlier pieces, composed for other stages, but also in the Ring, which elaborates far denser structures than Parsifal, and especially in Die Meistersinger too, one is aware that the Bayreuth acoustic is by no means ideal since it blurs the contrapuntal element of these works."
Hartmut Haenchen
2017
Hartmut Haenchen
2018
Semyon Bychkov
Parsifal (complete) timings
| 3.38 | Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth 1970 |
| 3.44 | Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 (Jonathan Brown has 3.52) |
| 3.49 | Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth 1966 |
| 3.55 | Hartmut Haenchen, Copenhagen 22 March 2012 |
| 3.58 | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Milano 1951 |
| 4.02 | Christian Thielemann, recorded at Staatsoper, Wien in June 2005 (Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 4.04 | Herman Levi, Bayreuth 1882 |
| 4.08 | Michael Balling, Bayreuth 1904 |
| 4.10 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1962 |
| 4.12 | Wilhelm Furtwängler Bayreuth 1936 |
| 4.15 | Felix Mottl, Bayreuth 1888 |
| 4.17 | Herbert von Karajan (1981, Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 4.19 | Anton Seidl, Bayreuth 1897 |
| 4.22 | Siegfried Wagner, Bayreuth 1909 |
| 4.23 | Fischer, Bayreuth 1882 |
| 4.23 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1952 |
| 4.25 | Armin Jordan (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Parsifal film, 1982) (according to the cover) |
| 4.27 | Karl Muck, Bayreuth 1901 |
| 4.28 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1954 |
| 4.29 | Kaehler, Bayreuth 1924 |
| 4.33 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1951 |
| 4.33 | James Levine, Bayreuth 1990 |
| 4.42 | Arturo Toscanini, Bayreuth 1931 |
Sources: Jonathan Brown (Great Wagner Conductors), Derrick Everett, Per-Erik Skramstad, Hartmut Haenchen.
"The Master has already composed Parsifal to be very slow, so one doesn't need to add to this by also conducting it slowly." (Richard Strauss to the orchestra during rehearsals)
Timings Parsifal Vorspiel / Prelude Act 1
| 10'12" | Herbert Kegel, Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1978 |
| 10'23" | Gustav Kuhn, Tiroler Festspiele, 2006 |
| 10'27" | Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth, 1970 (Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 10'57" | Kirill Petrenko, Bayerische Staatsoper, München. Premiere 28 June 2018 |
| 11'03" | Christian Thielemann, recorded at Staatsoper, Wien in June 2005 (Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 11'05" | Bruno Walter, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (From the Album Orchestral Music - Beethoven, L. Van / Mendelssohn, Felix / Weber, C.M. Von (Studio Recordings - 1920's and 30's, Vol. 1) (Walter) (1924-1927)) |
| 11'08" | Kirill Petrenko, Bayerische Staatsoper 8 July 2018 |
| 11'25" | Bernard Haitink, Opernhaus Zürich, April 2007 (DVD) |
| 11'26" | Horst Stein, Bayreuth, 24 June - 15 July 1981 (DVD) |
| 11'35" | Erich Leinsdorf, SWR Sinfonieorchester (No year) |
| 11'40" | Kent Nagano, Baden-Baden, 6 and 8 August 2004 (DVD) |
| 11'50" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1958 |
| 11'56" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1963 |
| 11'57" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1962 |
| 12'00" | Hartmut Haenchen, Amsterdam, 1993 |
| 12'00" | Hartmut Haenchen, Paris, 2008 |
| 12'03" | Armin Jordan (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Parsifal film, 1982) |
| 12'03" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1964 |
| 12'05" | Herbert Von Karajan, Wiener Staatsoper 1961 |
| 12'07" | Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth, 1953 |
| 12'07" | Hartmut Haenchen, Copenhagen, 2012 |
| 12'07" | Jun Märkl, Semperoper Dresden, 19.Februar 2006 |
| 12'08" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1959 |
| 12'08" | Hartmut Haenchen, Brüssel, 2011 |
| 12'15" | Jaap van Zweden, Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Concert performance. |
| 12'15" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1960 |
| 12'24" | Philippe Jordan, Bayreuth 2012 |
| 12'31" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1961 |
| 12'32" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1956 |
| 12'41" | Valery Gergiev, Marinski Orchestra 2010 (Marinskilabel) |
| 12'47" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1957 |
| 12'47" | Daniele Gatti, Metropolitan Opera, 2 March 2013, live on BBC Radio 3 |
| 12'59" | Felix Mottl, Freiburg, 1907, piano roll |
| 13' | Richard Wagner, Bayreuth, 25 December 1878 (Voss: Die Dirigenten der Bayreuther Festspiele) |
| 13'03" | Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia, 1960 |
| 13'06" | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1940 |
| 13'15" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1952 |
| 13'18" | Daniele Gatti, Bayreuth, 2010 (Stefan Herheim's Parsifal production). In 2008 Gatti conducted the prelude one minute slower. |
| 13'29" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 1954 (Melodram release timing. Seven Seas has 13'15" and Tara 13'35") |
| 13'47" | Daniel Barenboim, Berliner Philharmoniker, 1989-90. Available on Daniel Barenboim: Complete Wagner Operas (34 CD) |
| 13'51" | Reginald Goodall (EMI - 1984) |
| 13'53" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Berlin, 1943 |
| 13'57" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, 31 July 1951 |
| 13'59" | Fritz Busch, Buenos Aires, 1936 |
| 14'03" | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Berlin, 1938 |
| 14'13" | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth, July-August, 1951 |
| 14'14" | Herbert von Karajan (1981, Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 14'18" | Fritz Reiner, New York, 1938 |
| 14'20" | Daniele Gatti, Bayreuth, 2008. Premiere of Stefan Herheim's Parsifal production. Two years later, Daniele Gatti conducted the prelude one minute faster. |
| 14'30" | Richard Wagner, Munich, 12 November 1880 |
| 15'06" | Arturo Toscanini, London, 1935 |
| 15'30" | Artur Bodanzky, New York, 1938 |
| 15'35" | Rudolf Kempe, Wiener Philharmoniker, 1958 (Seraphim). Concert ending. |
| 15'53" | Karl Muck, Berlin, 1927 |
| 16'23" | James Levine, Bayreuth, July/August 1985 |
| 16'38" | Erich Kleiber, New York, 1946 |
Sources: Jonathan Brown (Great Wagner Conductors), Per-Erik Skramstad, Hartmut Haenchen, Vic White, Pieter Berghs
Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival. Directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg. Reviews and comments.
- Anthony Tommasini: A Sublime and Provocative ‘Parsifal’ at Bayreuth
- Mark Ronan: Parsifal at Bayreuth, review: 'a triumph'
- A.J. Goldmann, The Forward: No Redemption For Wagner’s ‘Parsifal’ in Bayreuth
- Shirley Apthorp: Parsifal, Bayreuth Festival, Germany — ‘A washout’
- Bayreuth: Parsifal 2016 - Some Thoughts (The Wagnerian)
- Bayreuth Festival's 'Parsifal,' set in IS-occupied Iraq, railed as provincial
- Laufenberg spricht im Interview über „Parsifal“ in Bayreuth
Foto: Enrico Nawrath/Bayreuther Festspiele
Bayreuth Productions
Ring Productions at the Bayreuth Festival
