Motif 7: Titurel

German name: Titurelvariante

Titurel (Ludwig Weber; ogg format)

Titurel's motif (A) is a simple variant of the Faith motif. Lorenz called it "the so-called Titurel variant" of Faith. A hint of it is heard at the opening of the first scene, after the morning prayer, then A is sung by Gurnemanz at the beginning of his long narrative about Titurel and the Grail. It develops into the Angels motif as Gurnemanz tells the story of Titurel the pious hero.

This simple case serves to illustrate a general feature of the motives in Parsifal: they appear first in the orchestra (with one exception) and in some cases are used later in the vocal line.