I think the opera he really liked was Meistersinger. This one is a five-hour sit without (as Mark Twain noted) any good tunes for the vocalists.
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Wagner’s inspiration was a medieval Grail poem, which he expanded in his own libretto. It’s a mess, but this much comes across: (1) Women are dangerous; (2) If you just say “no” to sex with them, you could be king; (3) But not if you castrate yourself to avoid temptation.
But get yourself a cup of coffee at the first intermission. You want to be awake for the second act which, comparatively, rocks. It has sets and costumes that are Flash Gordon crossed with Arabian Nights, as well as the opera’s most riveting character, the nasty Klingsor, admirably inhabited by baritone Tomas Tomasson. It’s also the point where the wild woman, Kundry (soprano Daveda Karanas), gets her Cinderella moment, transforming into seductress mode and putting the moves on Parsifal.
