Thinking with Opera 07: Paul Mason and Frank Finlay on Parsifal

“What is the tension between this ugly ideology, the beauty of the music, and the agony of the man producing it?”The final podcast of our trilogy focusing on Wagner's epic last opera is a wide-ranging, unflinching discussion between the journalist, writer and filmmaker Paul Mason and Professor Frank Finlay of the University of Leeds.Paul traces the composer’s changing philosophical viewpoints, from his early identification with the Young Hegelians and Ludwig Feuerbach, to the later influence of Arthur Schopenhauer and Buddhism on the themes of suffering and enlightenment through compassion in Parsifal, as well as the more baneful influence of the racial theorist Arthur de Gobineau.Wagner’s antisemitism is discussed in the context of his works and the problems it presents for their audiences. Another tension – between the composer’s anti-modernist, proto-fascist sympathies, and the radicalism in his music – is identified.Parsifal is put in the context of Wagner’s oeuvre as a whole, in particular the Ring cycle and Die Meistersinger, illuminated throughout by Paul and Frank’s deep but complex engagement with the works.Excerpts of the cast, Chorus and Orchestra of Opera North in rehearsals for the 2022 concert staging of Parsifal are heard throughout.Thinking with Opera is produced by the DARE partnership between Opera North and the University of Leeds.