It is one of the scandals of our misguided age that people do not adhere to the original staging instructions for operas. For example, here - in translation - is what is written in considerable detail on the first page of the first act of
Parsifal:
SCENE: In the Grail district. - A wood, shadowy and serious, yet not dark. A clearing in the centre. Rising up to the left begins the path to the Castle of the Grail. In the centre, at the rear, the ground sinks down to a forest lake at a lower level. - Daybreak.
GURNEMANZ (an ancient rustic) and two LADS (tender adolescents) are camped under a tree, sleeping. - From the left, as though from the Castle of the Grail, is heard the solemn morning call of the trombones.
If at this point I see no trees, no lake, and no lads I can without further ado condemn the show as a failure. It would be no more than an irritating waste of time to sit through the rest.
