VERY HEAVY BOOKING.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1975, 4 February 1914, Page 7

VERY HEAVY BOOKING.

FOR PARSIFAL, •DEMAND FOR FIRST NIGHT SEATS ' UNPRECEDENTED. By Telegraph-Praia Atsbciation-Copyrlffht Uondon, February 2. • Extraordinary interest is being manifested in twelve performances of .the opera .-"Parsifal" at Covont Garden. ..The.season commences to-day. There will..be remarkablo' scenic effects, particularly "The Temple of the HvJy Grail." The, demand for.'first-night seats is unprecedented, |equal to tifteenfold of tho houses capacity. Tho seats for almost, the entire season's performances havo already been booked. A queue was formed at midnight. The performance will commence at 5 o'clock, and an adjournment will be made for dinner.

BRILLIANT SOCIETY AUDIENCE. 'v. (Roc. 'February.^"lliSO p.m.) ■ ■ , ' : , London, February 3. . , J. here was a brilliant Society audience Ot the production of "Parsifal." It was.a.splendid performance. ~ This opera was' interdicted ifroni performance, m, any place'but Beyreuth for thirty years, by a clause hi Wagner's will. 'That wish' has been, respected by •all countries, save America—which,'•/ respects nothing. The opera .was- produced in New. York about two years ago."Parsifal"was the last of Wagner's operas.' He took the poem with him to London in liny, 1877, and read it to a circle of frieiids at Ornio Square on the 17th of thatmdnth,; It was published in December of the same year. .'Tho coriiposer began to sketch the music in his 65th year. The Sketch of the first act was • completed ea.rly in the Bpring of 1878, and the second apt was completed -oh October 11 of the same yeaiv Tho third act was begun after Christmas and completed in April, 1879. The instrumentation of the work-was (Completed, at Palermo, (whither life' had (gone for the sake of his- health) on January 13, 1882. In July and August of ■ that year sixteen performances. ■• of "Parsifal" were Riven, the alternating artists, being.:—Parsifal: Winkelmann, Gudehii"!. and Jager. Kundry: Fr|vn Maternn, Fratileins Brandt, aiid Mai ten. Ournemanz:'Scaria arid'Siohr. Amfortns: JJeiohman and Fiichs. KHngsor: Hill, Tlesrele. and Plank: The conductors were Herr H. Levi and Franz Fischer. , The work' was repeated ,in.1883 and 1884, and ha? alwnvs been 'included', in .the. works :performed .'• at the great• Wagnerian .festivals held at Beyrouth.