The title character of Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal is Parsifal.
Wagner described Parsifal as a Bühnenweihfestspiel, or “festival drama for the consecration of the stage.” The opera draws on medieval legends about the Holy Grail and follows Parsifal’s transformation from an inexperienced, wandering youth into a compassionate Grail knight.
The opera premiered at Bayreuth on 26 July 1882, with Hermann Levi conducting. Wagner wrote both its music and libretto, making it one of his final completed stage works. Its three acts are set in a legendary landscape associated with the Grail community and the wounded king Amfortas.
Parsifal is sometimes confused with Lohengrin, another Wagnerian hero connected with the Grail legend. Lohengrin is Parsifal’s son in Wagner’s mythology, but he is the title character of a separate opera. The two works share medieval and Grail-related themes while telling different stories.