1882
Parsifal: Karfreitagszauber
Richard Wagner
The Good Friday Music from Wagner's last opera, Parsifal, a calm, glowing orchestral scene that is often played on its own.
What to listen for
In the opera this scene comes in the third act, when the hero Parsifal returns to the grail knights after a long search. The music is slow and radiant. Violins and winds carry a rising, gentle melody over a soft background, and horns and low strings add warmth. The opera's story says the meadow and the flowers seem to share in the sorrow and the hope of Good Friday, and the music tries to capture that stillness. Near the end the sound grows fuller, then fades quietly. In concert it is played by the orchestra alone, without the singers.
The story
Wagner finished Parsifal in 1882 and it was first staged that year at his own theater in Bayreuth, Germany. It was his last opera. The Good Friday Music belongs to the third act. Conductors have long taken it out of the opera as a concert piece, and in concert programs it is often paired with the Prelude.
First time hearing it?
- It runs about ten minutes and the mood stays slow and quiet throughout.
- There are no singers; the orchestra plays the music alone.
- Listen for the long, peaceful swell near the end.
Written by OrchestraFinder, reviewed October 2026.