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Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: I cannot recommend this too highly as an introduction to what many regard as Richard Wagner's most problematic work. Peter Bassett's book restores balance to modern perspectives on Wagner's "stage dedicating festival-drama"; a balance that has been missing from (most significantly) Robert Gutman's eccentric interpretation and Lucy Beckett's interpretation from a narrowly Christian perspective. As Peter Bassett makes clear "Parsifal" is a work that can be meaningful to adherents of any religion or none. He discusses the roots of Wagner's drama in the Grail legend as it appears in medieval romances; he also explains how the work relates to Wagner's interest in Buddhism. The book includes a prose translation of Wagner's 1877 German text into modern English. This translation is more literal than rhyming translations such as those made by Andrew Porter or Lionel Salter. The reader will find Bassett's "free translation" useful both for study of the text alone and when listening to a recording of "Parsifal".
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