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“Die Feen” by Richard Wagner libretto (English)
| Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three |
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The vestibule of the palace in the capital of Arindal's Kingdom. Chorus of the warriors and the people Chorus Woe to us, we are beaten and have flown from the enemy! Already he is raging outside the walls and threatening us with ruin! To you above, O mighty God, we sound our cry of deep distress! Hear us and help us! The fear of death urges us, we call for help in vain! Doom awaits us and threatens torturous death! (Lora appears in armor.) Lora What strikes you so hard with fear of death, that you fill the air with such cries? Chorus We are defeated once more, we are doomed! Lora Faint of heart! Why despair so soon? Who has been surrounded with more misfortune than myself, who is but a weak woman? My father died, my brother is far away, and his dear friend missing! Have you forgotten Groma's prophecy, that this empire will never be lost, once Arindal has returned? |
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Chorus But who can say to us, that he will ever return? Lora Did I not send dear Morald himself to seek him and to bring him back? Chorus Unfortunate woman! Arindal has been gone so long! Lora What are you saying! Woe to me if it were possible! You awaken in my heart a dark suspicion: they will never return to me Oh! Hope! must you dwindle, you who have been my only consolation, you who, in my painful suffering, embraced me with your comforting arm! To see my brother soon, was for me a happy hope, to embrace my friend soon, was for me supreme bliss! And if neither returns, what a painful fate! So I, completely abandoned, must perish alone! (A messenger enters.) Messenger Hail all! I bring good news: Morald returns to us with Arindal! Chorus What does he say? God, can it be possible? Lora I scarcely trust my ear! Where did you see them? |
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Messenger I went with them to seek the king, we found him and persuaded him to return! Lora They return to me! How can I contain my great delight! How can I contain my blazing bliss! I feel my bosom swell, and joy shakes my burning heart! My dear brother, I will see, whose downfall I was lamenting! Beloved Friend, you return again, and rush into the arms of your faithful one! Chorus What a great joy to us again, the dear one has returned to us, hope will raise us once again! Every heart beats in full delight! (Lora rushes off and comes back with Arindal and Morold.) O king, be greeted by your faithful people! The jubilation of your return eases their pain! Arindal O restrain these jubilant sounds, they impress on me a warning of terror, For alas! The rich royal mantle is to me my father's funeral shroud! Morald O Lora, look, what I promised I held to in spite of dangers: your dear brother I have brought back again, are you mindful of my sweet reward? |
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Lora O, what reward shall I give you for this supreme delight! My friend and my brother, I have back: All suffering is past! Lora and Morald I see fate countered by joy and feel newly prepared for battle; for rescue approaches the Fatherland and love beckons in your arms! All suffering has fled and is replaced by joy! Let us then march to the last battle, which will lead us to happiness! Arindal I fear that fate is turning against me and feel almost discouraged; so much misery in the homeland and new torments await me. How do I bear all these sorrows, how can I be strong for battle! Already the present oppresses me, and greater horrors await! (All leave. Gernot and Gunther come.) Gernot How is it, Gunther, that you can still stand on your own feet? Gunther O what a bad night it was! I have never dreamed of such abominations! Gernot But this morning! Was it not as if the bloody sun wanted to scorch everything? The earth shook under my feet, the lightning blinded my vision, the thunder my hearing! |
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Gunther The King himself, how he was shaken! Gernot And what do I find here now? Everywhere full of enemies, barely a foot's width of land belongs to us! Gunther O evil signs, evil times! Gernot To me it is as if after a long bout of drink, the misery shooting through all my limbs! If only I could find my Drolla! Tell me: is she still young? Gunther That's a stupid question; since last you were with us, she is eight years older, then ... she was a child! Gernot I mean, pretty? Gunther Certainly! I was often tempted. Gernot How? Gunther Now, to comfort her! |
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Gernot You dared do that! Did she remain faithful to me? Gunther I believe so; ask her yourself, she is coming here, I'll leave you two alone! (Exits. Drolla enters). Drolla and Gernot What? Do I see right, is this not Gernot? (Drolla?) It's you! Oh what joy! Ah, after such a long time we finally see each other again! To press you to my heart is a complete delight! O tell me, tell me, how have you fared? O tell! O tell! Gernot Things go well with me! I was with my Lord for so long with a beautiful queen. In her castle, the choice among all the pretty girls was really difficult. They were all made to be kissed, one blonde, the other brown, with black and with blue eyes! Drolla Certainly, certainly, quite charming! Gernot And since I am also a handsome fellow, they all fell in love with me, and I, well, and I.. |
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Drolla aside Now truly his words falter! O wait, you wicked rogue! To say this to my face, that's truly outrageous! Gernot aside Now I will learn from her, whether she really still loves me. Her jealousy will tell me, if she believes what I have said! Drolla So let me also tell you about myself, and how I fared for this long time! At court I've been here so long as Lora's chief servant. To court her a large number of the finest knights moved here, they were all made to be kissed, one blonde, the other brown, with black and with blue eyes Gernot I'll turn black and blue myself! Drolla And since I'm not ugly, they all fell in love with me, and I, well, and I... Gernot aside Now truly her words falter! O wait, you wicked wench! To say this to my face, that's truly outrageous! |
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Drolla aside He can barely control himself for anger! So he should be with his flighty spirit! May he quietly despair from jealousy, if he believes what he heard from me! Drolla and Gernot Depart from me, you liar! I want to see you no more! So you kept the faith, that you so often swore to me? You fall in love with strange men (girls), while I am far away, truly I call that cheating, to do this to your beloved! (They run away to different sides, but remain at the extreme ends, and look shyly at one another from a distance.) Gernot Drolla! Drolla Gernot? Gernot Are you not yet gone? Drolla Are you still there? Gernot I think, you are crying? Drolla What do you care, faithless man! |
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Gernot I faithless? Oh indeed, I'm not! Drolla Did you not tell me so yourself? Gernot Lies, oh, I lied! No one has fallen in love with me, and I have yearned only for you, I wanted to discover how things stood with you? Drolla And I truly also have lied No one has fallen in love with me, nor I with anyone. I have remained faithful to you! To punish you, I lied to you before. Gernot What do I hear? Let us embrace at once! (Embrace) Forgiveness! Drolla and Gernot So we are united, never more to be separated, no mistrust, no suspicion will ever be able to separate us You love me, what joy, oh what bliss! Fabrications and lies were what divided us! (Embrace and kiss.) They will separate us never more, so to be eternally happy! (They go out. Ada, Farzana and Zemina appear.) |
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Ada O cruel ones, have you no mercy to drive me coldly to these horrible deeds? Farzana Forgive us, we are not to blame for the fate that you have forged with your own will. Ada But since you know what painful fate awaits me, if I am defeated, do you rejoice so in my pain? Zemina O do not believe it, it beings me to tears! But listen: you can easily withdraw from all this still, as soon as you renounce the mortal! Farzana There is still time and the choice is clear: here, long death, and there, eternal life! Zemina and Farzana Remember, your choice becomes your fate! (They disappear. Ada alone) Ada Woe is me, the terrible hour is close, when all my happiness and all my misery will be revealed! O why do you wake in my soul doubts about that bitter choice! Unhappy, where shall I turn? My downfall seems so sure, and oh, how uncertain my victory! I myself pile up the horrors, the torments that I lead him to, I awaken in him doubts, that no mortal can bear! |
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From all sides, misfortune storms, his last star, my love, falls. The night confuses his mind, he takes revenge and curses his wife! Woe is me! And this curse separates me from him, and ages come between us! Despair, madness, then death is his lot, and mine, terrible: for one hundred years turned into stone! I could avoid all this, am I not free to do so? Eternal beauty, immortal, in bloom unfading? The fairy world pays homage to me, I am their splendor and their treasure! The everlasting kingdom honors me, its high queen! I could avoid all this, and bloom forever in the magnificence of the fairies! Deceived, unhappy woman! What is immortality? A boundless, eternal death! Yet every day with him is a new, eternal life! So be it! The choice is made, for that life I will sacrifice everything! My Arindal! Love will also inspire him and bestow courage in battle, boldly he will defeat the doubts and free me from my bonds! The false malice will be destroyed, which aims to separate him from me! All your efforts will be in vain, you who want to kill my love! Yet should he be defeated, and I be shut up in the rock, (with great sadness) so should my love make the stone itself cry tears of longing! And these tears would my husband feel, that sigh would reach to him, the lament would shake him, |
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not let him rest, drive him here! Love will also inspire him and bestow courage in battle, boldly he will defeat the doubts and free me from my bonds! (Exits) The stage remains empty for a while. The chorus of the people and the warriors appear from different sides. Lora, Drolla, Arindal, Gunther, Morald and Gernot enter. All Do you hear the tempest roar, the raging outside the walls? It is the hordes of the enemy awakening to new rage! Arindal How my heart is filled with fear! Lora Up then, my friends, move out! Arindal Oh, how can I endure all this misery! Lora Free us from this misery! Drolla So march out gladly to the struggle for freedom! Chorus So we march out to the final battle of death! |
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Arindal To fight, oh, I can not! Morald You warriors, come, I will lead you! (Exits with the warriors) Lora Brother, how is it that you can withdraw from the holy battle? Arindal O Lora, my soul is sick, and sickly lies my courage! Drolla and Gernot Do you see the king's gloomy gaze, as he struggles in vain to remain calm? Arindal How should I endure this further torment, if mine is already unbearable? Lora How should I interpret his mood, which weighs so heavily on him! (As Arindal turns away, he confronts Ada.) Ada Woe to you, if this is the hardest thing you will face! Arindal Oh heavens, my wife! All What, is this his wife? |
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(Ada gives a sign; her two children appear and rush into Arinda's arms.) Ada Now, Arindal, remember your oath! Lora, Drolla, Gunther, Chorus Oh, see the sweet little ones, how lovely to behold! Gernot These are the pretty things, which she gave to him! Arindal Oh, I see my children again, what a joyous unexpected good fortune! I will never be robbed of them, and no cunning will snatch them from me! All Behold, O see the lovely little ones, etc. Ada O that you had never seen them! The sight will lead you to grief! (On her nod, a fiery abyss opens.) Gunther and Gernot What the devil do I see there? Chorus Horror! What is happening? |
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Arindal Ha, what are you about? Ada Give me back my children! Arindal Ha, never! What would you do? Ada Let me be, as they are not yet yours! (She wrests the children from him) Arindal Terrible! Are they not mine? Ada The fiery abyss will receive them! Lora, Drolla, Gunther, Chorus Ha, what does she dare! Attack and hold them back! Ada Back from me, bold man! Arindal O woman, I'll not let you do this! Get away! (She throws the children into the abyss; they disappear immediately.) All Oh God, what have we seen? Was it deception, was it the truth? Horrible woman, what have you done? Can anyone call you a mother? |
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Arindal How powerfully my heart is perturbed with a mixture of reproach and suspicion! Ada How powerfully his heart is perturbed! Heavens protect him from suspicion! (Refugees from the Chorus of the Warriors enter.) Chorus Flee, we are defeated! All What new evil rushes upon us and threatens us with destruction! Ada This disaster is worse for me than for him! It ordains my doom! Arindal Here is discord, outside is destruction, what new evil! Oh, Ada, have you no comfort for me in these grievous sorrows? Ada I did not come for your consolation, for your torment have I appeared! Arindal She coldly rejects me. How could she comfort her husband, when she has murdered her children? Lora My last hope is sinking! The faithful Harald has failed to appear with |
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the help which he promised to procure from the neighboring shores! O, help, now or never! Chorus of the people The storm passes even closer, do you hear the awful noise? New refugees appear Chorus of the warriors Lost, alas, lost, nothing can save us now! Lora You cowards, why do you flee, does not the brave Morald lead you? Chorus of the warriors He has vanished from us, trapped or dead! Lora (with a cry) Dead! All Everything is falling to ruin, The bravest have fallen! Ada He still does not suspect that I am to blame for all his misery! Chorus Behold, here comes Harald, with the aid promised us! |
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Arindal The last ray of hope! Ada It will be my downfall! Lora Speak, where are the warriors, that you bring to save us? Harald Woe to you, I bring nothing! My work is destroyed! All What does he say? No help, only new destruction? Harald The best warriors I had recruited; we were barely out of the city, when appeared to us an army before us, at its head an armed woman. They attacked us with unprecedented might, and we all were dispersed in a short time. Then the woman said, "Go home to Arindal, tell him I am Ada, the Queen!" Ada (for herself) Oh, must I yet endure this! Arindal What do you say? Is it this woman, who gave you the order? Harald My king, yes, it is! |
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All Dreadful! His wife is in league with the enemy! Arindal Ha, now I see the awful truth! I was betrayed in everything! Ha, shameful woman, now you are exposed, and the goal of your wicked malice! You are one of those sorceresses, who ensnares us with love to our ruin! You held me firmly in vile fetters, seducing me with evil deception! Ada My Arindal! Arindal To cruelly torment me, you sent my children to a fiery death, shattered my kingdom with monstrous evil, I myself am abandoned to despair! Ada Stop it! Arindal Why do I protect you anymore; to punish you, you gave me the power! Infamous woman, be then cursed! Ada Arindal, stop! Ah! (Horrible scream) Perjurer, what have you done! (Zemina and Farzana appear.) Zemina und Farzana Ada, the bonds are dissolved; you remain immortal, as before! |
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All Oh God, what do we hear, what does it mean? Ada (with raging pain) Monstrous! Is this how you keep your oath? With such courage do you prove your faithfulness? Lost, oh, lost! Alas, unhappy you have made your wife forever! Know therefore how great the outrage is! From a mortal and a fairy did I spring, and so was immortal like my mother. Since I saw you, it was to you, unfaithful one, that I turned all my burning love! It was so great that in order to be yours, I voluntarily renounced immortality! The fairy king was angry with me over this, and since he could not oppose it, he sought to discourage me; he set this condition: for eight years to conceal from you who I was, and then on the last day to heap upon you so much agony and terror, as might convince you to curse me! Only if your heart were steadfast in love would I be rewarded the fate of mortality. If not, I should remain immortal and then atone for my desires by being for one hundred years transformed into stone! Well, now you know my fate! Arindal O God, how it roars in my brain! Tell me, are you not responsible for the ruin of my kingdom? |
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Ada It will be over faster than it started! Arindal Well, are those warriors slain, who were sent to my aid? Ada I did it all! Those were your enemy's warriors, with whom Harald wanted to betray you. (Harald is seized and taken away.) Arindal And Morald, he did not fall, it was only an illusion? Ada By my power, he has now defeated the enemy! Arindal What more can I ask? Already the madness touches me! But my children's murder condemns you! (At Ada's gesture their two children rush into Arindal's arms.) Ada Pure since their birth, take them, the world's most beautiful destiny gladdens them; I alone suffer boundless misery! Arindal (Falls at Ada's feet) Now, in despair, I hear you! Chorus of the warriors (Behind the stage) Triumph! We are free, |
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the enemy is slain! (Morald enters with the warriors.) Morald I bring joy and victory, the enemy is destroyed! All What do I hear? We are free! Chorus, Drolla, Gunther, Gernot Ring out, sounds of exultation to the sky high above, now the chants of victory alone resound! Lora and Morald I press you victorious to my joyful breast! Such unspeakable joy (to be freed by you) (to free you, fairest!) Zemina and Farzana So she is saved, and returned to us. After suffering exile she will be immortal! Ada Depart from me, traitor, I thrust you from me! Ere the day ends I will be surrounded by stone! (Arindal writhes at Ada's feet.) Arindal Oh Ada, have mercy, do not send me away from you! Despair must take me, madness must be my end! (The stage darkens Ada sinks with Zemina and Farzana amid thunder and lightning. Then the curtain falls quickly.) |
| libretto by John McKenna, Feb. 2013 |
| Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three |