I’ve just finished reading Roger Scruton’s Wagner’s Parsifal. It was Scruton’s last book, about Wagner’s last work, and though I struggled to get through his Fools, Frauds, and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left, I thought I’d try Parsifal anyway.

To be clear: I’m ignorant of opera. I once saw Carmen in Warsaw, but that and What’s Opera, Doc? are my forays into that intimidating, expensive art form.

It turns out Wagner’s Parsifal is a wonderful book. It is accessible and clear. Scruton’s sympathy for Wagner’s work is palpable, even honorable. Though the book has been criticized for not exploiting the link between Schopenhauer and Wagner, the truth is that there’s not even a lot of Nietzsche in the book. Scruton concentrates on the meaning of Parsifal.

Now, the plot of Parsifal is complicated. It is the story of an innocent fool, Parsifal, who, through compassion and mercy, saves king Amfortas and the castle of Monsalvat, home of the Holy Grail. That salvation involves the recovery of the Holy Spear (used to pierce Jesus’ side when He hung upon the cross) from the wicked Klingsor. So you can see that Parsifal is part of the great stream of Grail mythology. But the plot is complicated, so much so that I recommend you read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia if you want the whole story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal).

For Scruton, Parsifal is the story of a non-Christian redemption. The “original sin” that brings about the ruin of Monsalvat is not a fall from God, but a fall from being what humans are meant to be, involving the priest/king Amfortas, whose dalliance with the sorceress Kundry has brought desuetude and collapse to Monsalvat. Only the compassion of the innocent fool Parsifal can redeem the king, his castle, and his kingdom. Parsifal accomplishes this redemption by entering into the interior lives of others, and “rescuing” them by resisting temptation and destroying Klingsor by seizing the Spear and making the sign of the cross with it. The kingdom of Monsalvat is restored as Parsifal brings healing to Amfortas. Though it is filled with religious rites and imagery, the religion of Parsifal is entirely this-worldly. Sin and redemption are viewed only through the lens of human yearning, betrayal, and restoration.

Scruton spends about two-thirds of the book explaining Wagner’s treatment of the Parsifal story, and another third explaining how the music explicates and enlarges the meaning of the story.

I’ll have this book in hand when I listen to Parsifal when I listen to it, probably here:

But you don’t have to read music or listen to the opera to understand Wagner’s Parsifal. It will enrich your life to read it.