Opera Scotland

Parsifal 1976Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf & Duisburg

Read more about the opera Parsifal

The company from Düsseldorf had already made a successful visit to Edinburgh in 1972, and if they had then succeeded in fitting Die Soldaten into the King's, then Parsifal and Moses und Aron must have seemed a fairly simple challenge.

Of all Wagner's stage works, Parsifal seems most to demand the wide-open spaces of a large opera house. It had not been performed in Edinburgh since the days of BNOC, half a century earlier. Yet even in the King's this enterprise was thoroughly enjoyable, with a number of noted performers in the two casts. Sven Olof Eliasson gave a pleasantly lyrical account of the title role. Eva Randová, who gave a hugely impressive performance, had just been singing Kundry at the 1976 Bayreuth Centenary Festival to great acclaim, and must have found the King's an odd contrast.