Parsifal, The Search for the Grail

Plácido Domingo himself, offers a description of Parsifal's plot and explores theories about the origins of the myth and its considerable sphere of influence.

The Grail – the cup which Jesus Christ used at the Last Supper, and which subsequently collected His blood as He bled on the Cross – is one of the most powerful symbols in the last two thousand years of Western culture. Parsifal, Wagner' three-act opera, is the most famous work to celebrate the Search for the Grail. First performed in 1882, the opera was written especially for the composer's revolutionary theatre in Bayreuth.

Tony Palmer's film centers round a performance of Parsifal, with the unmistakable Plácido Domingo in the title role, and conducted by the distinguished Valery Gergiev. The music was recorded at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and in the gardens of the Villa Rufolo in Ravello, Italy, which had been a principal source of inspiration for Wagner. This powerful and controversial film provides an invaluable opportunity to explore Wagner and his most intense opera.