make the English words fit the music, and the result was far from
satisfactory. The literal translation also unfortunately over-emphasizes
certain parts and phrases in the drama which are somewhat harsh, but
which at Bayreuth become much modified and refined, and are, therefore,
so represented in this version.

The present telling of the story will be found to use all that Wagner
has given in the words, but with the addition here and thereof
interpretative phrases, suggested by the drama itself at Bayreuth. Its
purpose is to give an interpretation, a _cumulative impression_, the
spirit of the words, music, and mystic meaning, blended together into
one story and picture. It is made after a very careful study of the
German text of Wagner for essential meanings, and after an appreciative
hearing of the great drama itself, on two occasions, at Bayreuth. We
present it in the form in which such sacred legends seem to find their
most natural English setting,--in the form made classic in Tennyson's
Idylls of the King.

It may also be interesting to note that the present version was planned
ten years ago on a first visit to Bayreuth. Critical work on the German
text and in the literature of the Parsifal legends was done later during
two years at the universities of Berlin and Oxford. But the actual work
of this translation and interpretation was done in the summer of 1902 at
Bayreuth, and in part at Nuremberg and Munich. It may also be stated
that this version is issued with the kind permission of Messrs. Schott
and Company of London, the owners of the copyright of Wagner's words and
music.

The music of Parsifal has been so often described and analyzed in
critical papers that it is not necessary here to speak of it in detail.