Amfortas's Prayer to Titurel and the Role of D in "Parsifal": The Tonal Spaces of the Drama

and the Enharmonic C/B

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to 19th-
Century Music.

http://www.jstor.org
Amfortas's Prayer to Titurel
and the Role of D in Parsifal:
The Tonal Spaces of the Drama
and the Enharmonic C0/B
DAVID LEWIN

The section of the drama to which the title re- Stollen: My father, ... most blessed among
fers is Act III, mm. 933-93. This section begins heroes ... thou purest one,... I gave
with the change to a D-minor key signature and thee death!
the first entrance of the new Weihegruf3 motive,
Stollen: O, as thou now... beholdest the Re-
deemer, entreat Him . . . to bestow
as Titurel's coffin is opened and all break into a death finally upon me.
woeful cry. There follow, with some tonal sub- Abgesang: Only this mercy! ... I cry to thee; cry
stitutions we shall presently explore, two Stol- thou to Him: "Redeemer,grantrest to
len in D minor and an Abgesang in D major. The my son!"
Abgesang turns back to D minor as it ap-
proaches the final cadence of the section, at m. The formulas of the prayer are in thrilling dra-
993. The cadential formula in the vocal part is matic dissonance against the bizarre, well-nigh
especially conventional; the spectacularly de- blasphemous, network of substitutional trans-
ceptive cadence at "Ruh!" is all the more formations it employs. The father has died for
wrenching. the sins of the son; following this, the sainted
The musical Bar Form sets an equally formu- father, Hochgesegneter der Helden, is to as-
laic prayer in the text: sume the role of the Holy Mother, blessed
among women; he is asked to intercede with
the Redeemer for the sinner Amfortas, now and
in the hour of his death.'

19th-CenturyMusic VII/3(3April 1984)O by the Regentsof

336
 The symbolic substitutions in the spiritual The numbered brackets on fig. 1 indicate DAVID
LEWIN
drama interact with transformationalsubstitu- tonal substitutions other than interchanges of Amfortas's
tions in the tonal realm. Justas the father in the D minor with D major. Bracket 1 asserts that Prayer
formulaic prayer is inflected substitutionally, the D# minor of the music substitutes for the D
first by the Holy Son who died for our sins and minor of the figure over m. 939. Bracket2 again
then by the Holy Mother who intercedes in our asserts the functioning of D# minor as a substi-
behalf, so is the D minor/major of the formulaic tute for D minor, now in a more indirect way.
Barstructure inflected substitutionally, first by Over mm. 947-52, various Stufen of D# in the
the thorny D# minor of the first Stollen and then music substitute for the corresponding Stufen
by the consoling Db majorof the second Stollen of D in the figure. So, for example, the F#-minor
and Abgesang. I do not want to push any harder harmony in the music of m. 947 is a substitute
the analogy of the chromatic keys with the for the F-majorharmony of the figure:alteredIII
members of the Holy Family. Mainly, I wish to of D# minor for IIIof D minor. (The alteration,
draw attention just to the idea of transforma- A? for A#, reflects the persistent residual force
tional substitution in both text and music, sub- of D-minor scale degrees.)Similarly, the GOhar-
stitution in each case within a highly formal- mony in the music of m. 949 is analyzed as IVof
ized structure. D# minor, substituting for the IV of D minor
Figure 1 clarifies both the substitutions and that appearsin fig. 1. The B-major? chordof the
the classic formality of the music. One might music at m. 950 substitutes for the B1-major
even say "neoclassic": we could almost take chord of fig. 1: VIof D for VIof D. The substitu-
this Auf.ensatz as the plan for an ariaby Gluck, tions of mm. 951-52 are trickier, as the scale de-
if we ignore the chromatic substitutions and the grees of D minor intrude more and more into
harmonic activity of the inner voices.2 the music. Figure 1 asserts the somewhat "mo-
dal" progression which I hear underlying the
passages.
without such intercession. Wagner emphasizes the point by
The first Stollen, in sum, develops the musi-
building Amfortas's first-act aria to its climax precisely at
the words: "Du Allerbarmer! Ach, erbarmen!" (I, 1393-96). cal idea of D# minor-for-D minor, along with
2My reading of the Bar Form here differs from that proposed the textual idea that Titurel has died in the
by Alfred Lorenz in his monumental study, Das Geheimnis
der Form bei Richard Wagner, Band IV: Der Musikalische place of Amfortas. ("Der einzig ich sterben
Aufbau von Richard Wagners "Parsifal" (Berlin, 1933), p. wollt', dir gab ich den Tod!") The second Stol-
176. Lorenz extends the Abgesang of his Bar through the len and the Abgesang develop the ideas of D?
grisly cadence at m. 993 where the Prayer itself, as a set
piece, ends. His Bar includes not only the D-minor Prayer
major-for-D minor and Db major-for-Dmajor,
proper, but also the highly chromatic (E-minor?) choral frag- along with the fantastic conceit that Titurel, a
ment that follows, etwas beschleunigend, during which the Stellvertreter for a Stellvertreterin, might sub-
knights press ever closer in upon Amfortas with their night- stitute for the Holy Mother, interceding with
marish commands. Lorenz's Bar then continues yet farther,
through the even more chromatic-virtually atonal-music the Redeemer on Amfortas's behalf. The musi-
of Amfortas's raging despair, during which he violently ex- cal idea of Db major-for-Dmajoris "dual"to the
poses his wound to the knights and frantically urges them to idea of D# minor-for-D minor. There does not
slay him, all lebhaft. Lorenz uses the word Verzweiflung to
label the entire passage from the opening up of the coffin up seem to be any analogous duality in the sym-
to the entrance of Parsifal, though Wagner uses the word bolic substitutions of the text.
only in connection with the raging atonal music toward the Bracket 3 on fig. 1 asserts D? major as a sub-
end. (The word appears in the stage directions where the leb-
haft music begins.) Obviously I hear nothing of Lorenz's ex- stitute for D minor aroundm. 959. The Db ma-
tended Bar Form. I am sympathetic to his difficulties in ac- jor Engel motive of mm. 959-60 is "corrected"
commodating the beschleunigend and lebhaft passages
within his theoretical model. Still, it is essential in my read-
ing that the Prayer should close very strongly, as an inter-
nally coherent set piece, right at m. 993, where the prayer sertions. My critical attitude does not arise from a low opin-
text ends. And it seems ruinous to suggest to the actor play- ion of his achievement. Lorenz was the first to provide solid
ing Amfortas that Verzweiflung should somehow dominate critical ground for our intuitions that Wagner's mature mu-
the tender, fantastic, and intimate pathos of the prayer it- sic dramas are organic unities. Even more important, he was
self. (Consider how one would light these sections of the the first to sense and claim that these dramas could be ana-
drama!) lyzed in that connection. Any critic whose work still gener-
I have been critical of Lorenz here, and I shall again be ates lively contention fifty years after its publication must
critical later, whenever I find it important to contest his as- have been doing something right!

337
 19TH la. Stollen 1.
CENTURY (Weihegrus) 1
MUSIC 933F - E 938 942

L 946 9. 54

lb. Stollen2. 3
(Engel)
956 959 962 965 F E F--E F

-0- -0-0

4
(Liebesmahl)
E 969 E E F E 974 E

# 24 -

#I
J.

1c. Abgesang.

i978 E 981

#2 4
bq #

6
986 989 993

(Mit-Leid)

Figure 1
338
into D major at mm. 962-64; thereby one might the events connected with bracket 4 on fig. 1. DAVID
consider analyzing Db major as a substitute for LEWIN
Starting at the D major of m. 962, the music Amfortas's
D major, not D minor. The substitution for D moves back toward D minor, searchingfor a ca- Prayer
major will emerge later, in the Abgesang. It is dence in that key. Measures 9651/2-671/2 elabo-
indeed being prepared here; nevertheless the rate the cadence-seeking F-E gesture in the mel-
analysis of fig. 1, i.e., the D-minor model for ody.4A half-cadence on the "dominant of D" is
mm. 958-61, predominates in my ear. That is finally attained at m. 969, according to fig. 1.
not only because some D-minor scale degrees, Still according to the figure, this "dominant"is
especially F and C, persist over the music of then prolonged, together with the "E" of the
those measures, but also because the music pro- F-E gesture; then at m. 9721/2 the entire F-E ges-
jects a strong transformational relation be- ture recurs in the melody, now with a "domi-
tween the D-minor Weihegruflmotive and the nant" bass at m. 9731/2. Following that, there is
Db-majorEngel motive. The Weihegruf/of mm. yet another half-cadence in D minor at mm.
933-35 recurs to open the second Stollen at 974-76, with the cadence-seeking E in the top
mm. 956-58, except that the fifth degree of D voice. All very clear, except that the actual mu-
minor is changed at mm. 958, in both the mel- sic under bracket 4 appearsin Ab, substituting
ody and the harmony, to the fifth degree of Db for the "dominant of D." Once again, the substi-
major. Then the rhythm and the bass arpeg- tution Ab-for-A-as-dominantappears.And now
giation of the Weihegru/] recur again immedi- its structural weightiness is quite apparent.For
ately at mm. 959-60, but now the music is com- the Ab music at mm. 969-70 presents the
pletely in Db and the melodic intervals of the Liebesmahl motive itself in its original key,
Weihegrufl are compressed into those of the that is the Hauptmotif of the entire music
Engel motive.3 drama.And this is not all; the last half-cadence
Let me draw particular attention to the way just discussed, back in D minor again at mm.
in which Wagnerpreparesthis first substitution 975-76, clearly refers to the beginning of the
of Db for D within the Prayer.He does not sim- Thorenspruchmotive, specifically to the pedal
ply state Db major with the entrance of the A-as-dominant that summons the Thoren-
Engel motive itself, at m. 959. Rather, he pre- spruch, together with the harmony that
pares Db-for-D-as-tonic, by using Ab-for-A-as- launches the Thorenspruch on the text word
dominant in m. 958. We have alreadynoted the "Mitleid" of that motive. It is appropriatethat
transitional variant of the Weihegruf3to which the music of m. 975, essentially repeatedat m.
this gives rise. The idea of Ab-for-A-as-domi- 976, sets the repeated word "Tod!"in the text:
nant will become progressively more signi- Amfortas, longing throughout the D-minor
ficant as we approachthe end of the opera. Prayer for death to put him out of his misery,
The potency of the idea is alreadymanifest in had already come to believe in Act I that the
promised savior of the Thorenspruchwas none
other than Death himself.
3Lorenz draws special attention to this motivic transforma- At this point, it will be useful to consider
tion (Parsifal, p. 176). He does not discuss the implications
of the tonal substitution, Db-for-D. With reluctance, I
some broadand abstractstructuralimplications
forego discussing the connections between the rising half- of the tonal relations we have just been discus-
step sequence of the Engel motive here, and its earlier such sing. Wagner has informed us, via bracket 4,
sequences in the drama. In general, I shall have to forego that the Ab which substitutes for A-as-domi-
such discussions except where they impinge directly upon
my announced topics. The Weihegru3 is related not only to nant is in fact the very Ab which is the tonic key
the Engel motive but also to the Liebesmahl. For instance, of the drama. When this Ab appearsin a domi-
the melody of mm. 942-431/2 retrogrades exactly the first
six notes of the (transposed) Liebesmahl. Despite the trans- nant role, it suggests tonicizing a subdominant
position and reharmonization, one recognizes the expand-
ing series of falling diatonic intervals here, retrograding the
contracting series of rising intervals that characterizes the
beginning of the Liebesmahl as a sort of scenario-like 4The F-E gesture arises locally from mm. 936-37. The har-
source-motive: M3, m3, (M?!)tone, (m?!)tone, semitone. mony of mm. 9651/2-671/2 reminds us that the melodic ges-
The metaphoric logic of the retrograde relation is clear ture was embedded in the motives of Ode (III, 1-2) and Waf-
enough. Amfortas is "pushing back" his obligation to con- fenschmuck (the transformation of Parsifal's horn call, at
duct the service. III, 169-71, that directly precedes his third-act entrance).

339
 19TH
CENTURY Db from which one might build a final plagalca- tute for the D-major music we expect here, the
MUSIC dence for the opera. But, since Ab-as-dominant music which finally does come at mm. 986ff.,
is a substitute for A-as-dominant, since it in- preparedat mm. 983-85 by the returnof the ca-
flects Db only as a substitute for D-as-local- dence-seeking melodic F-E over A-as-domi-
tonic, the abstractpossibility arises that D itself nant. A fine touch at m. 978 is the reversalof the
might serve as a functional (substitute) sub- F-E gesture to E-F, caused by the slippagefrom
dominant, so that the alternative plagalcadence D major to Db. As before, the Db tonic sub-
might proceed from D-for-Db to Ab-as-tonic. stitution is prepared here by a preliminary
And in fact the idea that we are awaiting D as substitution of Ab for A-as-dominant.
the structural key for an ultimate cadence is Wagner's use of the major mode to portray
supportedby the structure of the Thorenspruch. the most sublime extremity of pathos is espe-
That motive begins over a sustained dominant cially in the spirit of Gluck. One can hardlytake
of D and tells us to await something. We can sehr langsam slowly enough. Along with
presume the "something" in question to in- Wolzogen and against Lorenz, I take the new
volve a tonicized D. Indeed the extended theme of the Abgesang to be derived from the
Thorenspruch, extended to include the text 2. Herzeleide or Liebesweh motive. The corre-
"harresein, den ich erkor," does cadence in D, spondences of rhythm and contour are decisive.
though it does not tell us just who the reine (The earlier motive has also become associated
Thoris to be.5Lateron in this paper,we shall see with an extreme slowdown to sehr langsam,
how these abstract ideas are worked out con- around II, 947-50.) Amfortas has killed his fa-
cretely at the close of the music-dramaitself. ther as Parsifal has killed his mother (II,923-
Bracket5 on fig. 1 analyzes the Db-majormu- 26). The motivic association reminds us that
sic at the opening of the Abgesang as a substi- Amfortas, along with everybody else, never
mentions his mother. We have already noted
how, during the Prayer,he deputizes his father
'Over Act I the Thorenspruch music occurs only in D, intro- to assume a maternal role.
duced by a sustained A dominant, right up until the end of The tonal double-take of the Abgesang, pre-
the Grail scene. The motive occurs in this way four times. It
first appears at mm. 177-82, where Gurnemanz opines, senting new thematic material first in Db-for-D
"Thoren wir, auf Lind'rungzu hoffen, wo einzig Heilung and then in D itself, is preparedby the analo-
lindert!" The words are prophetic of the events at the end of gous presentation of the Engel motive toward
the third act. The musical play on "Heilung lindert" and the beginning of the second Stollen. In the sec-
"Herzeleide" is nice. The next Thorenspruch occurs at I,
318-27, where we learn the text, up through "der reine
ond Stollen, Dbmajorand its dominant were an-
Thor." Amfortas diffracts and tropes both the music and the alyzed as substitutes for D minor and its domi-
text; he says he has come to believe that the promised savior nant; in the Abgesang, Db major substitutes for
is Death. As we have noted, this belief underlies the D-mi-
nor tonicity of Amfortas's Prayer in Act III, where he pleads the expected (Gluckian)D major.
for death (especially in mm. 975-76, on the word "Tod!" Beyond the five brackets on fig. 1, I have also
over the opening Thorenspruch chord). The third Thoren- labelled the cadential Mystic Chord of m. 993
spruch in Act I occurs at mm. 727-35; Gurnemanz is report-
ing the story of its origin. Text and music are here extended
with a numeral: 6. Though I do not pretend to
for the first time, through ". ..den ich erkor." The squires assert an exact event in D for which this chord
echo the first half of the Thorenspruch; this is the first cho-
ral music in the opera. The fourth Thorenspruch occurs at
substitutes, I do hear it clearly as part of a "five-
mm. 1404-11; here, the invisible boys' choir sings the ex- flat" world that enjoys a kinship with the sub-
tended music and text, as Amfortas sinks back in a faint af- stitutional Db major.The kinship functions be-
ter finishing his rant. I am not sure what is supposed to be cause we are familiar with Db as a substitute
going on here. Presumably the invisible chorus is inside
Amfortas's head; but the music is also audible to the region, and the chord of m. 993 is obviously a
knights on stage, who comment upon it. If they are hearing substitute chord. If we want to, we can find the
it miraculously, they seem awfully calm about the miracle.
same pitch-class configuration within the Db
Only during the last thirty-one measures of Act I does the
Thorenspruch appear in keys other than D. During this brief region of the Prayer, underlying for instance all
span, it appears in A, in CO, and several times in B. These of m. 979 ("einz'ge Gnade"), or at the attack of
peripatetic tonal wanderings fit the dramatic situation: the second quarter in m. 981. But I would not
both Parsifal and Gurnemanz significantly misapprehend
the situation at hand. The upshot is that we are all the more make too much of this: at m. 993 the focus of
convinced of D as the "correct" key for the Thorenspruch. stage activity flashes back to the knights, away
340
from Amfortas, so we are bound to take in the Of course we know the solution to this prob- DAVID
LEWIN
sonority to a large extent as pertainingto the Bb- lem. It is Parsifal, the reine Thor of the proph- Amfortas's
minor funeral world of the knights, only indi- ecy, who is to take upon himself the indicated Prayer
rectly related to Amfortas's private D6 fantasy.' subdominant weight of D-or-Db,just as he takes
This concludes our survey of the annotations Amfortas's office upon himself; in that capacity
on fig. 1. Let us review it briefly. Brackets 1 and he will performthe plagal cadence and uncover
2 show how DOminor is used as a substitute for the Grail. This is the point of the tonal plan for
D minor during parts of the first Stollen. The III, 1030-88. A major,to become dominant of D,
substitution prepares the later dual substitu- underlies the events of mm. 1030-56, from Par-
tion of D6 majorfor D majorin the Abgesang(at sifal's appearanceto the change of key signature
bracket 5). Because of the dual relationship, the at m. 1057, where the Parsifal motive is stated
Db-for-D major substitution, when it occurs at broadlyin D majoras Parsifaltakes command of
the beginning of the Abgesang, is felt to be bal- the stage. The curing of Amfortas's wound is
ancing and compensating, hence more weighty "thrown away" on the stage, during the A-ma-
and cadential than it would be without the dual jor passage. Our analysis shows us the logic
foreshadowing. During the second Stollen, an here: it is not the pain of the physical wound
intermediate substitution is given rein: Db ma- which Amfortas finds unbearable,and it is not
jor for D minor (brackets3 and 4). An important the healing of the wound which the drama
aspect of this substitution is the concomitant makes obligatory. Rather, it is Amfortas's in-
substitution of Abfor A-as-dominant (at m. 958 ability to performhis office which he finds un-
and during bracket 4; later also approachingthe bearable, and it is the relieving of Amfortas
opening of the Abgesang):Wagneridentifies Ab from that duty which is the obligatoryevent. So
in this connection as the Liebesmahl Ab, the the healing of the physical wound is under-
tonic of the opera. Further, he identifies A in played on stage during the A-majormusic; then
this connection as the dominant that summons Parsifal explains: "Behealed and absolved, for I
the Thorenspruch. The abstract implication of shall now administer thy office." The future-
these identifications is that Ab-or A-as-domi- tense nuance is important, according to my
nant will summon a tonicized Db-or-D, fulfill- reading;the Schirmertranslation ("Ido hold thy
ing the prophecy of the Thorenspruch;at that Office now") is inadequate. The "office"is not a
point the subdominant Db-or-D can cadence static position of royalty, it is rather a perfor-
plagally into Ab-as-tonic (Liebesmahl),and the mance, i.e., unveiling the Grail and conducting
opera can end with the communion service it- the service. Parsifal, while speaking these
self. Amfortas believes that the obligatory Db- words, is not yet performing the office; he be-
or-D is his own death, for which he pleads elo- gins to performit precisely at m. 1057, where A
quently during the Prayer and the subsequent majoryields as dominant to D major,where Par-
Verzweiflung. But the knights know better, as sifal takes over the stage from Amfortas, dis-
the deceptive cadence of m. 993 tells us, deny- playing the Spear,the emblem of office that le-
ing Amfortas his D cadence with a gruesome gitimizes his authority. This is the obligatory
shock. Forif Amfortas dies, cadentially toniciz- "subdominant" beat, the long-awaited D of the
ing Db-or-D, who will be left to uncover the Thorenspruch;once it has arrivedthe music can
Grail, i.e., to execute the obligatory plagal ca- move "plagally"to a final tonic Ab, in which the
dence from D6-or-D to Ab-as-tonic? Liebesmahl service can be performedcorrectly
once more. The A major of mm. 1030-56 is the
familiar dominant preparationfor the D-as-Db
of m. 1057.
6The similar sonorities earlier in the act, at III, 777 and III,
The idea that the D-major beat of m. 1057
795ff., would no doubt reward study in this connection. III,
795ff., like sonority 6 of fig. 1, leads to an entrance of the fulfills the Thorenspruch is made clear by the
Glockenlidute figure. Both the earlier sonorities, like sonor- six preceding measures of stretto on the Thoren-
ity 6 of the figure, intrude upon a locally very stable D tonic. spruch Kopf. We have heard this stretto before.
The earlier D tonic is the tonality at the end of the Good Fri-
day music; the sonorities certainly have to do with the ap- A more extended version led to Parsifal's coro-
proach of the funeral procession. nation earlier in the act; there the stretto led to a

341
 19TH similar triumphant display of the Parsifal real D major, restored from the substitute Db.
CENTURY
MUSIC theme, then in B major as Parsifal reached an We know that the Thorenspruchis fulfilled by
important preliminary goal in fulfilling the D, not Db. Fromthis chordin m. 1084, a chain of
prophecy. The way to D often leads throughB in Liebesmahl incipits leads directly to the tonic
this drama.7The D majorof m. 1057ff. reminds Ab downbeat four measures later. The stage
us, too, that Parsifal first seized control of the action concomitant with this obligatory struc-
spear, toward the end of the second act, in D ma- tural D-to-Ab progression is the obligatory
jor. (And that D came out of the B ambiance in structural gesture of the opera: Parsifal,firmly
Klingsor'srealm.) in command of the office, dischargeshis foreor-
Following the big D-major wash at III, 1057- dained duty by directing the unveiling of the
60, the harmony roves chromatically, not ap- Grail.
proaching a cadence until mm. 1080-81 I am puzzled by the harmonies of mm. 1084-
("Grales Welle"). The preceding two measures 87, the measures that span this D-to-Abprogres-
indicate that this cadence "should"be in A mi- sion. Why should the huge Ab arrival, so
nor, landing on an A-minor ? chord at the bar strongly plagal on a large scale, be approached
line of m. 1080. Instead, Ab major substitutes locally from its dominant, Eb in m. 1087?And
for A minor. The substitution is the "domi- why should that Ebbe precededby its own dom-
nant" version of the D? major-for-Dminor sub- inant in m. 1086? I am not sure exactly what
stitution encountered duringthe second Stollen Wagner had in mind here, but two consider-
of Amfortas's Prayer. The A and Ab tonalities ations seem to the point.
here are then to be taken as dominants. And in- First, in performinghis office, Parsifalis per-
deed the cadential Ab harmony of m. 1081 is forming the function last carried out correctly
stated as a dominant ninth chord. (It has the by Titurel, and Titurel directs the unveiling of
Mystic Chordfrom m. 993 over an Ab bass.)Not the Grail from a dominant vantage point. He
only is the Ab chord a dominant, it is a highly sings over a tonicized Eb pedal at I, 1246-58
thematic dominant, specifically the dominant ("Mein Sohn...."); he sings a cadence in E6 at I,
that introduces the Thorenspruch. So Ab-as- 1417-18 ("Enthifllet den Gral!");and this gen-
Thorenspruch-dominant substitutes for A- erates an E6 pedal that leads directly to the un-
as-Thorenspruch-dominant, all according to veiling itself. So Parsifalin Act III,singing "En-
the abstract network of ideas discussed earlier. thiillet den Gral, /ffnet den Schrein!"
Thus when the music reaches the "D-major" approachesAblocally from Ebharmony with a
chord of the transposed Thorenspruchmotive, certain consistency. PerhapsEbis the key that
three measures later, we do not hear that har- unlocks the shrine?
mony only, or even primarily,as an EbbNeapoli- The second, and related, consideration is
tan of a tonic Db. Rather, the harmony is also, this: the chain of Liebesmahl incipits that act as
and primarily, a restoration on a largerscale of a Leitmotiven over mm. 1084-87, leading the
music and hence the harmony from D to Ab,
does not constitute a new motivic idea. Rather,
70r is it to EbbthroughCb?And if so, how can Ebb,as altered it arises transformationallyfrom a similar moti-
fifth degree of Ab major, have a "plagal"function? I shall vic chain that closed the first-act Prelude over
discuss the Cb / B enharmonyand the methodologicalprob-
lems of substitute degreesand substitute functions later at an Ebdominant pedal. Fig. 2 shows the transfor-
length. mational relation.
a. I, 106 S SpD
S ASp r
r --.

' I I I
,(D)1
b. III, 1084

r
I (T)
substitute S-functions? D

Figure2
342
 As fig. 2b shows, the harmony of III,1084-87 But, just as Lorenz's dominant readingfor D DAVID
LEWIN
is to a large extent determined by the triadic minor goes too far as a large-scalephenomenon, Amfortas's
structure of the Leitmotif succession. And as so my plagal reading of III, 1084-86 goes too far Prayer
the relation of fig. 2b to fig. 2a shows, the Leit- as a local reading, insofar as it denies any force
motif succession in III, 1085-87 is rigorously to the obvious local reading (D+ D D) [D]; T.
derived from that of I, 106-09 by the following Still, I think the plagal local readingneeds to be
rules: substitute D for Db; substitute A for Ab; suggested and investigated, if only because the
omit the Db of I, 108-09. The first two of these more "natural" local reading makes the music
rules should be familiar to us by now! In partic- sound so unbearablybanal. It seems more legiti-
ular, they result in the substitution of a D-mi- mate to attempt inferringa local readingfrom a
nor triad outline, at III, 1085, for the Db-major large-scale one, as I am doing here, than to at-
triad outline at I, 106. It is perhapsrelevant that tempt an inference in the reverse direction, as
the Db and Bb triads of fig. 2a are arpeggiated Lorenz appearsto have done.
over an Ebpedal, and so cannot realize their pla- One furtherword of caution is in order.While
gal harmonic potential; in contrast, the D-ma- fig. 2 may legitimately be used to help us enter-
jor, D-minor, and Bbtriads of fig. 2b are free of tain the plagal local reading, the figure cannot
any dominant pedal, and so have the potential be used to "prove" the "correctness" of that
to project any plagal function they may be carry- reading. One cannot legitimately infer from an
ing. (This must be phrased very carefully.) We isomorphism in motivic scale-step function (as
have already noted that III, 1084 is approached, between figs. 2a and 2b) an isomorphism in har-
both locally and on a large scale, as a strongly monic Riemann function. Later in this paper,I
plagal event. shall devote considerable attention to the point.
Still, it is hard to override the more natural Whatever the meanings of the local domi-
reading one constructs from the four measures nant functions at III, 1086-87 (and I do not
of fig. 2b in their own context, along with the claim to have fathomed them fully), it is clear
tonic Ab: in the context of these measures that once past the tonic Ab downbeat, we are in
alone, D major is major of D minor, D minor is a paradise of plagal luxury. A few of the events
Leittonwechselklang of Bbmajor, and Bbmajor deserve special commentary in the context of
is dominant of Eb,which in turn is dominant of this essay. The Ab cadence of mm. 1092-94 is
the tonic Ab. Lorenzcertainly hears this natural answered by the texturally parallelDb-to-Abca-
reading. Indeed, he appearsto infer from it that dence of mm. 1100-02; the resulting I V / IV I
the mass of D-minor events from Amfortas's progression is itself, on a largerscale, a "plagal"
Prayer on function in the large just as III, 1085 version of the more familiar "authentic"I IV /
does in the small, as Leittonwechsel for the V I formula. This brings us harmonically to m.
dominant of the dominant. Thence he infers a 1106, where the Thorenspruch music com-
large-scale progression governing the second mences yet once more with Ab-as-dominant.
half of Act III,comprising the B6-minorfuneral And once more the music breaks off on the D-
music, the D-minor "Verzweiflung," and the major harmony, locally a Neapolitan but glob-
Ab-majortonic. He analyzes this progressionas ally a restored substitute for Db.
Sp,(D) [D], T. So his D minor plays a large struc- At last the awesome plagalpotential of D ma-
tural role as a (dominant of the) dominant, not jor is fully unleashed, as the music moves half-
as a (substitute) subdominant.8 This reading way around the circle of fifths in an unbroken
does extreme violence to all the plagal features chain of plagal cadences all the way from D to
of the large-scale D; it surely goes too far. Be- Ab. B is notated, along the way, as enharmoni-
sides, his progression is abstractly bizarre: his cally equivalent to CL. The timbres of the
(D) [D] tonicizes a large-scale Eb which never ap- voices, and their spatial placement in the the-
pears, unless Lorenz means the solitary Ebhar- ater, ascend steadily along with the ascending
mony of fig. 2b to carry the structural dominant fifths that connect adjacent keys in the plagal
weight for the entire second half of Act III. chain. The penultimate key in that chain, Db, is
prolonged and elaborated; as a result, the ap-
proach to Ab at the curtain close is locally as
8Parsifal, p. 182. well as structurally heavily plagal.
343
 Ab. To bolster Lorenz'spoint even more, we can
19TH We can reflect the plagal power of D major
CENTURY
MUSIC here by labelling its function as (S(S(S(S(S(S)))))). observe that the harmony of m. 1109, even if
After all, that is precisely what we hear. Ex- functioning globally as a substitute for Db,
pressed in this way, the function of D majoras a surely functions locally as a Neapolitan of Db,
super-amplification of "S" becomes manifest and this makes it again Ebb.Now, since we lo-
and vivid. cally approach the harmony at issue, from the
Lorenz insists emphatically that the enhar- tonic Ab, as an Ebbharmony, and since we lo-
monic shift from B to C6 is purely notational in cally return from it, to the tonic A6, still as an
this chain, that we ought to hear D major for Eb6harmony, then why not just call it an Eb6
what it "really"is, Ebb,the better to appreciate harmony? Why keep insisting that it is a D
the ride around the circle of fifths.9In a certain harmony?
sense he has an obvious point. But he misses an A provisional answer is, because D clearly
analytic component of the situation, and he has a strong global plagal function here, in
courts a theoretical danger. The analytic com- which it substitutes for Db, the paradigmatic
ponent is the highly thematic characterof the subdominant of Ab. Hence the harmonyat issue
enharmony B/Cb in the music drama as a should receive the same letter name as D6,
whole.1' The theoretical danger involves the rather than the same letter name as E6.But, one
uses and misuses of Riemann theory, particu- might respond, why should it receive a letter
larly as it interacts with Stufen theories. The name at all? And this gets to the heart of the
theoretical problems here are central to Wagner issue.
study and of intrinsic interest, so I shall exam- For the great virtue and power of Riemann
ine them at some length. function theory, which is also the source of its
problems and difficulties, is precisely its ability
We can start by observing that the function to avoid assigning letter names (i.e., implicit
does indeed make the harmony
(S(S(S(S(S(S)))))) scale-degreefunctions) to its objects. Let us con-
of m. 1109 come out as Ebb,if we count five scale sider the chord of III, 1109 from this point of
degrees per "S," back from the eventual tonic view. As a global substitute for the pure sub-
dominant its function can be expressedby "#S."
9Parsifal, p. 180. Approached locally as the Neapolitan of the
'oItunderlies the function of the second act, as we shall see same subdominant, its function is Leftlo-
later. An interesting manifestation of the enharmonyon a o?$(S).
cally via six plagal cadences into the tonic, its
local scale is the music of I, 147-60, where Gumemanz Now all of these var-
function is (S(S(S(S(S(S)))))).
prodsthe dramaticaction out of its Ab lethargyfor the first
time afterthe curtainrises, getting it "Jetztauf!"Obviously ious contextual functions demonstrate various
the "B-major"key of mm. 147-50 is purelynotational, i.e., aspects of the chord'sS-ishness. In none of these
"really"Cb major.But "Heil euch!"at m. 158 is equallyob- contexts does the chord have anything the least
viously sung on C and Ab, not on Dbband Bbb;we can cer-
tainly rememberwhere C andAb are,afterhearingthe mu- bit T-ish or D-ish about it. However, when we
sic of the dramaso far. The harmony of "Heil!"is prepared assign the chord the letter name Ebb(andnot D),
by its dominant, which is thereforea dominant of C (not of it is hardto avoid the implication that the chord
Dbb).And the high and low Cbs of the vocal line that begin
the passageare clearly the same pitches as the high andlow executes certain tonal functions we conven-
B s of the vocal line later on, within the dominant-of-Char- tionally associate with the fifth, and not the
mony. So there is a real enharmonic shift within the pas- fourth, degree of A6. But that implication is not
sage. It is significant that this is our first move away from
Ab, and that it takes us to and throughthe enharmonic C6 / accurate. Or more precisely, I believe the impli-
B. I would put the moment of shift at "Zeit ist's." The spe- cation to be inaccurate as regardsthe particular
cific augmentedtriadhere suggests Klingsor'srealm,andso harmonic event under examination. Hence I
does the locution. (Cf. "Die Zeit ist da.") Without this en-
harmonic shift (N.B.),the first Thorenspruchmusic of the want to avoid the danger of even suggesting
drama (mm. 177-82) would come out in Ebb,not D! This such an implication. I do not feel that it is so
state of affairs is also thematic, and bound to the Cb / B
enharmony.Abstractly,if we get to Cbandthen rise a minor dangerous to label with a fourth-degree letter
third, we will land at Ebbunless Cbhas undergonethe the- name an event I hear with powerful subdomi-
matic enharmonicshift to B;in that case, we will end up on nant Riemann function(s). But strictly speak-
D. The ramifications of that abstractideawill be examined
in depth later on. They have a greatdeal to do with the "pla- ing, that is a matter of convention. One might
gal D" of Act III,particularlyas it involves the Spear. ask why we should necessarily identify sub-

344
dominant Riemann function a priori with Riemannian tonal space are not isomorphic DAVID
LEWIN
fourth-degree scale function, and I for one do with the nature and logic of scale-degree space. Amfortas's
not believe there is a good answer to that ques- The musical objects and relations that Riemann Prayer
tion in the abstract.I would only arguethat ana- isolates and discusses arenot simply the old ob-
lytic discourse becomes awkward if we do not jects and relations dressed up in new packages
attach letter-name labels to harmonies in a with new labels; they are essentially different
piece we are discussing, that it is hard to avoid objects and relations, embedded in an essen-
implicity asserting degree functions when we tially different geometry. That is so even if in
use the letter names, and that in referringto an some contexts the two spaces may coexist lo-
event which lies one, two, or six "S-stages" cally without apparentconflict; in this way the
from a Riemann "T"in various of its contextual surface of a M6bius strip would locally resem-
relationships, we court less implicit danger if ble the surface of a cylinder to an ant who had
we conventionally use a fourth-degree letter not fully explored the global logic of the space.
name than we would if we used a fifth-degree Though we may be prepared to take this
letter name. point in intellectually, we must still work to ap-
The danger, if we strictly identify Riemann- preciate fully the extent to which it impinges
ian D's and S's with motions through 4 or 5 upon our immediate perceptual experience in
measured scale degrees, is that we can end up listening to Wagner. It is indeed the basis for
with glaringlyfalse "logical syllogisms." Forex- many of his best conjuringtricks.
ample: as (S(S(S(S(S(S)))))),
the harmony "is" Ebb;
but Ebbrepresents the fifth scale degree of the Consider for example fig. 3a below, a schematic
tonic Ab; "therefore" Ebb has some sort of representation of the Grail motive prolonginga
Riemannian D-function; and "therefore" six dominant function in Ab major. Scalar dis-
plagal cadences piled consecutively one on an- tances are written as numerals between notes of
other execute a "dominant" function. Or:as oS the outer voices: "2"means some species of sec-
(S),the Neapolitan of the subdominant, the har- ond; "3" means some species of third; etc. Be-
mony "is" Ebb;but Ebb(etc.); "therefore" the neath fig. 3a, a legitimate Riemann analysis
Neapolitan of the subdominant has a dominant appears.
effect. Figure 3b displays a chromatic transforma-
The false syllogisms demonstrate an impor- tion of fig. 3a, spelled so as to preserve all the
tant theoretical point. The nature and logic of scalar distances of fig. 3a. The Riemann analysis

a. b.
2 2
2 3 2 2 2 32 2
.2

bb INlAW b

A
3 3 3 2 D
3 3 3 2
D Dp (S Sp D) [D] (bD)p (S) [bD] (Sp D) [ bbD]

c. d.
1?? 3 2 2 62 1_2?? 2

4? 3 24? 2

D ( ) [+ ] Do D ( =C )o + Do

(Sp D) [S] (Sp D) [S]

Figure3
345
 19TH beneath fig. 3b attempts to follow the resulting
CENTURY 3c, 3d does justice to the passage as an object in
MUSIC degree relationships along, so as to accommo- Riemann space, and like fig. 3c it thereby does
date itself isomorphically to the Riemann violence to the passage as an object in motivic
analysis of fig. 3a. Thus the thirdharmonyof fig. Stufen space.
3b, for instance, is analyzed as some species of A Now, all this is not to say that the intervallic
harmony, accordingly in an S-relation to the structure of fig. 3b is "wrong."On the contrary,
opening Ebharmony, just as the third harmony it is absolutely right as concerns the musical ob-
of fig. 3a was in an S-relation to the first har- ject in Stufen space; its correctness in that
mony of fig. 3a. But this analysis is clearly un- space is what makes the magic trick come off. In
tenable. We hear too strongly that the "A6b6" of that space, the final harmony is indeed on E6bb.
the third harmony, in fig. 3b, is the same pitch- What is "wrong" is to infer, from the letter
class as the G that appearedas the third of the name in Stufen space, an isomorphically deter-
opening triad. Hence the third harmony pro- mined function in Riemann space, as in the er-
longs the (function of the) first harmony; it is roneous Riemann analysis for fig. 3b. The E6bb
not a subdominant for it. Likewise, given the chord does not have a dominant function. In-
overriding A6 tonality, there is no way we can deed, strictly speaking, the E6bb chord does not
hear the final chord of fig. 3b as projecting a have a subdominant function either. It simply
dominant function in A6, prolonging the func- does not exist as an object in Riemann space,
tion of the opening harmony. Rather we must though it does in Stufen space. If we imagine
hear the final chord as the subdominant of A6, pressing together between our fingers a section
and the music of fig. 3b overall as in motion of a M6bius strip and a section of a cylindrical
from D to S functions. loop, then the E6bb chord can be imagined meta-
Figure3c respells fig. 3b with Wagner'sspell- phorically on some partof the loop that diverges
ing. The passage is III, 1098-99, which is where from the strip, and the subdominant function
the Grail begins to shine; it is the "modulation" can be imagined on some part of the strip that
from V to IVwithin the largeplagalformulaI V / diverges from the loop, as an imagined opaque
IV I, which we discussed earlier. The Riemann projector shines the actual music to project
analysis beneath fig. 3c clearly does justice to upon both the loop and the strip.
the essence of the passage as we perceive it in The illusion that the Ebbb chord has a sub-
Riemann space: the passage as a whole begins dominant function, while also reflecting the
by prolonging the opening D-function; the pas- persistence of the fifth degree we can associate
sage then pivots on the fourth harmony and with the opening dominant function of the pas-
moves on to tonicize the closing S-function. sage, is exactly the illusion upon which
The analysis recognizes the D-function of the Wagner's magic relies; it depends on our will-
pivotal fourth harmony, a triad involving the ingness to suppose an isomorphism of Riemann
same root and fifth as the opening D-function space with degree space. From this illusion, we
harmony. The Riemann analysis of fig. 3b was infer that we have heard a dominant triad be-
oblivious to that aspect of the progression.On come a subdominant triad before our very ears.
the other hand, in orderto do minimal justice to And there are plenty of critics to supply us with
the passage as an object of Riemann space, the mystic effusions and vulgar profundities, to ar-
analysis of fig. 3c must do violence to the pas- gue a Brummagem sublimity for the sleight-of-
sage as an object in motivic Stufen space: the hand.
degree distances between the outer voices of the Other critics, upon hearing the middle-
opening two chords are changed. ground inconsistency within Stufen space, be-
Figure 3d is an alternate reading of the pas- come hostile; they infer, from Wagner's fond-
sage, respelling the second chord enharmoni- ness for magic tricks, that his entire craft is
cally. Its Riemann analysis portrays more effec- naught but shoddy Kitsch. But that sort of cri-
tively than fig. 3c the aural connection between tique equally fails to do justice to the passage at
the second and the fourth harmonies, and the hand. There is in fact no enharmonic relation
functional proportion: harmony 4 is to har- between the Ebb triad of fig. 3b and the D! triad
mony 3 asharmony 2 is to harmony 1. Like fig. of figs. 3c-d. The former triad exists only in Stu-

346
fen space; the latter exists only in Riemann the music moves," "a fault in the terrain DAVID
LEWIN
space (so far as the context of the figure itself is through which we can move" from one space of Amfortas's
concerned). the dramato another and back. The castle is on Prayer
There is to be sure a functional enharmonic the borderbetween the Gothic, diatonic Stufen
relation on which the trick relies, but it is not world of Monsalvat, Act I, and the Arabian,
the relation of Ebbbwith D1. It is, rather,the en- chromatic, Riemann-transformationalworld of
harmonic equivalence of C1 with B. Figures3c magic and miracle. In the diatonic Stufen space
and 3d make this clear. The functional enhar- of the Grail brotherhood in Act I, we do not go
monic shift occurs either just beforeor just after wrong if we measure topography by scale de-
the second chord of the passage. Our ears have grees. But the magic and miracle of things has
started to follow the Grail motive in Stufen been lost; we know it only in story (Gurne-
space, as in fig. 3b. But by the thirdor fourth har- manz) and as a residual trauma (Kundry,Amfor-
mony, and certainly by the final harmony, we tas). In this Stufen-world, things are exactly as
realize that we areperceiving another object, an they seem, for all the miracles have been expro-
object in Riemann space. We move from one priatedby the forces of evil. Only by voyaging to
space to another, in our perception, without be- and through the magic C6 / B castle, the seam
ing fully aware that we have done so until some that permits an interface with the other world,
time after. Reconstructing the passage as an ob- can Parsifal ultimately repatriate the miracu-
ject of Riemann space, after it is over, we find lous for the forces of good, returning with the
the necessary enharmonic shift to have oc- Spear.
curred around (orbefore or after)the C6 / B har- And the Spearbringsus back again to the role
mony. Since the two musical spaces do not con- of D, the miraculous plagalD that enables Parsi-
form isomorphically over this passage, there fal, wielding the Spear at the end of Act III, to
must be a flaw, a splice, a hidden seam, to create relieve Amfortas of his office and open the
the impression that they do. This flaw, this shrine, cadencing into A6; the miraculous D
splice or hidden seam, is the enharmonic shift with which Parsifal repossesses the Spearfrom
from C1 to B. It enables us to slide smoothly Klingsorat the end of Act II,the "plagalD" that
from one space to the other underthe illusion of launched us into this lengthy theoretical excur-
isomorphic continuity. sion." The excursion, in fact, now allows us to
As I pointed out earlier,the enharmonic iden- analyze very carefully the large-scale magic
tification of C1 with B is thematic in the drama, trick that makes the "plagalD" work. We pro-
and it is thematic in precisely this way. That is, gress in Stufen space from the Al majorof Act I
we recognize it as a topographicalor geological to the Cl tonality that opens Act II;this Cl rep-
feature of the spaces in which the music moves, resents the normal minor third of Al in Stufen
a fault in the terrain through which we can space. But then, duringAct II, Cl undergoesthe
move from Stufen space to Riemann space and thematic-enharmonic transformation to B,
back. Very frequently we encounter the enhar- Klingsor'scastle acting as the topographicinter-
mony embedded in a melodic or harmonic aug- face just discussed. I think one can even locate
mented-triad complex: Eb-CI / B-G. Such is the the exact moment at which the enharmonic
case in the passage just examined (figs. 3c-d). shift occurs: the moment of the kiss. Once the
Such, too, was the case with the enharmonic enharmonic shift has occurred, Parsifal can
C6 / B at "Zeit ist's" in Act I (m. 151),discussed
in footnote 10. Klingsor's music is saturated "The "plagalSpear"figuresa good deal in Act I, but there it
is only Stufen-plagal,not miracle-plagal.I mean it is associ-
with that augmented-triadcomplex. The music ated mainly with DbandDbmajor,not with D andD major.
of figs. 3c-d recalls Klingsor and the events of Indeed, when the Speer motive first appearswithin the
Act II in moving from Eb to CG/Bto G (and back opening Liebesmahl of the opera,it points firmly in m. 4 at
the fresh tone Db, a D6 which replaces the D? we heard
to EbJ)harmonies. within the C-minorSchmerzensfigura measureearlier.The
Indeed, Klingsor's magic Cl / B castle is itself D6 of the Speermotive has a strongplagaleffect, leadingthe
an embodiment of the geographical metaphor. Liebesmahl to its cadence. Later on, at the beginning of
Gurnemanz'snarrative,the DbStufen-functionof the spear
It is a "flaw," a "splice," a "hidden seam." It is a and its motive takes on massive harmonicweight (I, 506-
"topographical... feature of the spaces in which 07, "Oh, wundenwundervollerheiliger Speer!").

347
19TH
CENTURY
MUSIC
Ab: I V briI
Cb: I V bill v ii IV vi iii iii I
Ebb I iii/ eb: iv i V i (x

Figure4
seize the Spearin D major,the third of B minor. ter note of the figure representsa measure of the
In passing throughthe enharmonicsplice Cb / B, music.
we have lost one degree of Ab, just as we lost a As the figure shows, traditional Sthfen analy-
degree in figs. 3c-d, traversing the same splice. sis is perfectly adequate here. The sequence
So when we return to Stufen space in Act III,we moves from Ab through Cb to Ebb,and the re-
find that the Spear'sD majorin fact representsa mainder of the passage works itself out with
fourth degree, not a fifth degree, of Ab, despite perfect logic in Stufen space. There are no func-
the fact that we traversedtwo rising minor third tional enharmonic relations. Wagnerspells Ebb
progressionsto get to that D major.In figs. 3c-d, major as D major, over mm. 51-52, but that is
we traversed two falling thirds in the root-pro- only a notational convenience. (Perhapshe also
gression Eb-Cb / B-G, and we found we had intended it as a sort of "conceptual"gesture, to
fallen a sixth instead of a fifth; just so the large- foreshadow later events in D. Then, too, the in-
scale progressions now under discussion, creased timbral resonance of the trombone
Ab-C&/ B-D, rises two thirds and finds itself pickup into m. 51 makes it hard to believe that
having risen a fourth, not a fifth. In each case, the sounds notated as A andD are "really"so re-
the breakdown in the logic of Stufen geometry mote as Bbband Ebb.)
occurs because of a transition through the the- Conceptual and timbral subtleties aside, it is
matic enharmonic splice Cb/ B, the flaw that al- clear that the Ebb-majorharmony of fig. 4 is in a
lows Stufen space to communicate effectively substitutional relation to the Eb-minorcaden-
with Riemann function space. tial harmony under the fermata. The two har-
We have noted that the relation Eb-Cb/ B-G monies representvariant third degreesof Cband
is often manifest in the drama. So, of course, is hence, indirectly, variant degrees of Ab. If we
the relation of Ab-Cb / B-D. We have just dis- graphthe consecutive local tonics of fig. 4, then
cussed one of its very large-scale manifesta- the "correct"graphis fig. 5a, not fig. 5b.
tions. In that manifestation, we are quite sure
that the enharmonic shift actually occurs in Act a. b.
II, so that we hear B-D and not Cb-Ebbthereaf- 6n
ter. That is confirmed in Act IIIby the corona- "aII-
Al
r- f
tion in B, the motion from B to D during the
Good Fridaymusic, and the mass of "plagalD" Figure 5
events, including the return of the Thoren-
spruch stretto from the B-major coronation We are tempted to consider fig. 5b here only
scene, to prepareParsifal'sbig D-majortakeover in hindsight, because of various subsequent ob-
just before the final unveiling of the Grail. The jects and events in Riemann space. (Those in-
D minor/major of Amfortas's Prayeris heardin clude a later enharmonic shift on Cb / B within
this largercontext. the first-act Prelude itself.) But as of I, 45 we
In some of the early manifestations of the for- know only Stufen space. Listening to fig. 5, one
mula Ab-Cb / B-D, it is not so clear that an en- hears immediately that a paradigmatic"subse-
harmonic shift actually occurs; we can indeed quent object" is the Zauber motive. Figure 6
hear Cb-Ebb.This is a possibility beforewe have displays that motive in the form that most
made the trip through Klingsor'scastle. Forex- closely links it with fig. 5.
ample, consider the treatment of the Faith mo- As the figure indicates, this form of Zauber
tive as it is introduced in the first-act Prelude. appears spanning the kiss attack (a felicitous
Figure4 schematizes aspects of I, 45-55; a quar- term) at II, 986. Wagnerwrites no key signature
348
 II, 985 DAVID
kEs Es clear just what the Stufen transformationis that
LEWIN
. . "brings Zauber back to the Liebesmahl." One Amfortas's
can certainly consider each of the possibilities Prayer
kiss -- -- shown in fig. 7a-c.
Figure6 Figures 7a and 7b are equally compatible
with the kiss harmonization. Figure 7a con-
from m. 972 to m. 1041; most of this music is
forms with fig. 5a; fig. 7b is one of the "subse-
highly chromatic and vagrant. Wagnernotates quent objects" that suggests fig. 5b. Figure 7c
fig. 6 an enharmonic comma away, writing B? clings desperately to the "logic" of motivic Stu-
where fig. 6 has Cb, etc. Kundry has just ca-
fen space; like fig. 3b earlier, it thereby leads us
denced in the local key of Cb, and her vocal
to a functional absurdityin Riemann space.
cadence on the word "Kuf3"at m. 983 is notated
as a Cb; thereupon Wagner begins notating the Thus, with suitable reservations and quali-
orchestra in B, making the notational shift at fications, we can find an interesting transforma-
tion in the character of the pitch class D / Elb
that key word. Here we are at the very crux of
over the drama.In fig. 4 it is unambiguously Ebb,
the enharmonic shift involving CGand B in Act
a third degree of C6 and hence indirectly a fifth
II, and hence in the operaas a whole. In contrast
to our sense of fig. 5, we are highly unsure as to degree of Ab. In fig. 6, the function of the pitch
class as a degree of A6 is virtually indecipher-
whether the indicated note on fig. 6 "should"be
able: it may be D or Ebbor even C#0.By the
spelled D? or Ebb,or even C##.More exactly, we end of the opera the pitch class is D, a global
hardly care about the issue, so immersed are we substitute for Db that executes formidable S-
in the thick of Riemann space at the very brink
function in Riemann space.
of the Cb / B interface.12
Amfortas's Prayer, while ineffectual as a
At yet at other moments in Act I and Act II,
we do puzzle over the spelling of the indicated prayer,plays a vital role in establishing the sub-
stitutional role of D vis-a-vis Db. We already
tone in the Zauber motive. The motive engages
know by this time that D is not Ebb;what we
Stufen space because we associate it with the learnfrom the Prayeris that D is hencefortha pla-
opening of the Liebesmahl, particularlywhen it gal substitute for D6; it will not become a leading
appearsat the pitch-class level of fig. 5 andfig. 6. tone to Eb(as in fig. 5b and fig. 7b).The puzzling
We can recall the role the Grail motive playedin
local events of fig. 2 qualify that assertion a bit,
connection with fig. 3 earlier:it engagedour dis-
but they do not substantially disturb its large-
cussion of that passage with Stufen space.
scale validity. Amfortas does not know how to
Zauber, in its relation to the Liebesmahl, plays use his plagal D, but Parsifaldoes, and that rela-
an analogous role, engaging our perception (for
tionship legitimizes Parsifal's takeover from
example) of fig. 6 with Stufen space. Amfortas as much as does his possession of the
Indeed, the dramatic action of the opera in- D-ish spear. Amfortas gives to Parsifal some-
volves precisely "bringing the magic back" to
the communion service. Significantly, it is not thing essential about the plagal D, something
that does not directly involve the Spear.Parsifal
"1Theorchestration makes m. 983, where Kundry sings
tells us just this in the text that precedeshis big
"Kuf3,"a convenient place to change the notation enhar- D-major takeover at III, 1057: "Gesegnet sei
monically. It seems clear, though, that the actual moment dein [plagal D] Leiden, das Miteid's h6chste
at which the magic shift occursis at first lip contact, which I
take to be the barline of m. 986, as indicatedin fig. 6. That is [plagalD] Kraft,und reinsten Wissens [plagalD]
one reasonI am quite willing to shift the spelling of fig. 6 by Macht dem zagen
an enharmonic comma from Wagner'spracticalnotation. Thorengab!" ,-.

a. b. C.

1 miHuf j["
Figure 7
349