3-098-964 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Kundry, 1906. The main female character in Parsifal, Richard Wagner's (1813-1883) last three-act musical drama, Kundry embodies the ideal of Christian redemption (Sacred Festival). Premiered in 1882, Kundry 's character and aesthetic parallels those of Venus in Tannhäuser (1845) and Ortud in Lohengrin (1850). Her attitude is highly contradictory and perpetually divided: as an animal, she crawls and humiliates herself, serving the interests of the Grail Knights, her ultimate goal; when she serves the sorcerer Klingsor, however, she transforms into a desirable woman, possessing great erotic appeal and capable of intensely disturbing even the knights. Her vocal range corresponds to that of a mezzo-soprano or dramatic soprano.