from the music of Wagner's ' Parsifal'
The BBC Orchestra
(Section A)
Leader, Paul Beard
Conductor, Sir Adrian Boult
Roy Henderson (baritone)
ORCHESTRA
Prelude, Act 1
ROY HENDERSON AND ORCHESTRA
Amfortas's prayer
ORCHESTRA
Klingsor's magic garden and flower maidens scene
The Good Friday spell
The idea of writing an opera on the subject of Parsifal had occupied Wagner's mind many years before he actually set to work on the poem, which, like that of the texts of most of his other music dramas, was written first as a self-contained drama without music. When the Parsifal poem was completed Wagner brought the manuscript to London in May 1877 and read it to a circle of friends at a house in Orme Square. It was published in December of that year. Then Wagner began the music which was completed on January 13, 1882, a year before he died.