The urbanization of Parsifal : opera and urban culture in German-speaking Europe, c. 1876–1932

Abstract This article examines the history of Richard Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal , in Central Europe between roughly 1870–1932 as a way to promote new perspectives on the relationship between music and the city during the height of European urbanization. Although Parsifal was conceived as an anti-urban opera, and until 1913 its performance was restricted to provincial Bayreuth, even during this period the work’s performance and reception were affected by urban-based cultural systems. With the end of copyright protection for Parsifal in 1913, the process of Parsifal ‘becoming urban’ began in earnest. While the flood of new productions in Europe’s cities during 1914 marked the work’s urban debut, it was only in the late 1910s and the 1920s that it became more fully integrated into the urban cultural environment. This development was marked by a growing distance from certain Bayreuth performance traditions and participation in early urban radio culture.