“Il trittico (Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi)” by Giacomo Puccini libretto (English)

Contents: The Cloak; Sister Angelica; Gianni Schicchi

The Cloak

Characters

Michele, a barge-owner (age 50) — baritone
Luigi, longshoreman (age 20) — tenor
'Tinca' ('tench'), longshoreman (age 35) — tenor
'Talpa' ('mole'), longshoreman (age 55) — bass
Giorgetta, Michele's wife (age 25) — soprano
La Frugola ('the rummager'), Talpa's wife (age 50) — mezzo-soprano
A Song Seller — tenor
Longshoremen, Midinettes - Chorus
Two Lovers — soprano, tenor
An Organ Grinder.

Place: A barge on the Seine in Paris.
Time: 1910.

A bend in the Seine where Michele's barge is moored.
A gangplank connects the barge to
the quay. The Seine stretches away into the
distance. In the background the outline of old
Paris and the mighty bulk of Notre Dame
stand out against the red sky. Also in the
background, on the right, are the tenements
which line the river and tall leafy plane trees.

The barge is just like the usual vessels
which ply the Seine. The wheel can be seen
projecting above the cabin, which is neat and
freshly painted, with small green windows, the
chimney and the flat roof, which serves as a
sort of terrace. On it are some pots filled with
geraniums. Clothes are hanging out to dry on
a line. Above the cabin door is a birdcage with
canaries in it. It is sunset.

There is a horse and cart on the bank with
sacks of cement piled up against it; the
stevedores come up from the hold with heavy
sacks on their backs and carry them to the cart.

Michele is sitting motionless at the wheel,
watching the sunset. His pipe has gone out.
Giorgetta is busy with various chores: she
takes down some of the washing from the line,
fills a pail from the river and waters her
flowers; she cleans the birdcage. Car horns
and tugs’sirens are heard.

GIORGETTA
Oh Michele, Michele?
Aren’t you tired of dazzling your eyes in the
sunset?
Is it such a marvellous sight?

MICHELE
Certainly!

GIORGETTA
I can see that: the white smoke has
stopped coming from your pipe.

MICHELE (referring to the stevedores)
Have they finished down there?

GIORGETTA
Do you want me to go down?

MICHELE
No, stay, I’ll go myself.

GIORGETTA
They’ve worked so hard! Like they promised,
the hold will be empty,
and we can load up tomorrow.

STEVEDORES
Ho! Heave ho!

GIORGETTA
We should reward them for their hard work:
a good glass of something!

MICHELE
Well of course. You think of everything,
you’ve a heart of gold!

STEVEDORES
Ho! Heave ho! One more turn!
If we work slowly
the boat will stay moored
and Margot will go off with someone else.

MICHELE
Take them something to drink.

GIORGETTA
They’re coming to the end, it will strengthen them.

MICHELE
My wine will quench their thirst and refresh them.

STEVEDORES
Ho! Heave ho! One more turn!
Don’t get tired, boatman;
afterwards you can rest,
and Margot will be happy.

MICHELE
(going towards Giorgetta affectionately)
And haven’t you thought about me?

GIORGETTA (moving away a little)
About you? What?

MICHELE (putting his arm around her)
I’ve given up wine;
but, although my pipe has gone out,
my passion hasn’t.

STEVEDORES
Ho! Heave ho! One more turn!
Now the hold has been emptied,
the long day has ended
and Margot will love you.

MICHELE
A kiss, my love...
(He kisses her: Giorgetta gives him her cheek
and not her lips to kiss. Michele goes off
towards the hold and goes down into it.)

LUIGI
(crossing from the bank on to the barge)
We’re choking, patronne!

GIORGETTA
I thought so. I’ve got what’s wanted.
Just taste this wine!
(She goes into the cabin.)

TENCH
(coming out of the hold with a load on his back)

Damned sacks! Rotten world!
Hurry up, Mole! We’re off to eat!

MOLE
(coming up from the hold with a load on his back)

Stop hurrying! Don’t aggravate me!
Oh, this sack is breaking my back!
(shaking his head and wiping off the sweat
with the back of his hand)
God, it’s hot!
Hey, Luigi, another round.

LUIGI
Here’s the round! Lads, we’re drinking!
Here, all of you, quick!
Quick! hurry!
We’ll get the energy to finish from the wine!

(They all surround Giorgetta who passes round
the glasses.)

GIORGETTA
How oddly he talks!
But certainly, wine for everybody!
Here, Mole! Tench! Here, take it!

MOLE
We drink to your health!

Raise your glasses! I drink! Cheers!
As much happiness as the pleasure it brings!

GIORGETTA
Some more?

MOLE
It won’t be turned down!
(Giorgetta refills Mole’s glass.)

GIORGETTA (to the others)
Bring up your glasses!

LUIGI
(pointing out an organ-grinder
passing along the bank)
Look at the barrel-organ there.
It’s come at the right time.

TENCH
I drown my sorrows in this wine.

I drink to the boss! Cheers!
(to Giorgetta, who fills his glass again)
Thanks, thanks.
My one and only pleasure is found at the
bottom of a glass.

LUIGI (to the organ-grinder)
Hey there, Maestro! Come here.
(to his mates)
Wait till you hear what an artist he is.

GIORGETTA (to Luigi)
There's only one sort of music I understand;
dance-music.

TENCH (coming forward)
But of course!
I'm always at your command, and best foot forward.

GIORGETTA
Ho! I'll keep you to your word.

TENCH
I'm dancing with the patronne!
(Tench and Giorgetta dance. Luigi and Mole
block their ears because of the out-of-tune
organ. Tench cannot keep in step with
Giorgetta.)

LUIGI
The music and the dancing are well matched!
(to Tench)
It looks as if you're scrubbing the floor.

GIORGETTA
Ouch! You've stepped on my foot!

LUIGI
(pushing Tench out of the way and taking his place)

GO on, leave off, I’m here.
(Luigi and Giorgetta dance; she abandons
herself in his arms.)

MOLE
Lads, it’s the boss.
(Michele appears from the hold. The dancing
stops. Luigi signals to the organ-grinder to stop
playing and gives him a coin. The organ-grinder
goes off. Luigi and the other stevedores go
down into the hold while Michele comes up to
Giorgetta. She tidies her hair.)

GIORGETTA (to Michele)
Well, what do you think?
Will we leave next week?

MICHELE
We’ll see.

GIORGETTA
Will Mole and Tench be staying?

MICHELE
Luigi will stay too.

GIORGETTA
YOU didn’t think so yesterday.

MICHELE
Well, I do today.

GIORGETTA
Why?

A SONG-PEDLAR
Who will buy the latest song?

MICHELE
Because I don’t want him to die of starvation.

GIORGETTA
He always gets by.

MICHELE
I know, he does, it’s true...

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Who will buy it?

MICHELE
...and that’s why he doesn’t finish anything.

GIORGETTA
You never know with you who is
doing well and who isn’t.

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Who will buy it?

MICHELE
I keep the ones who work.
(A distant tug’s siren is heard.)

GIORGETTA
Already the evening is falling.
Oh, such a red September sunset,
a shiver of autumn!
Isn’t it like a huge orange,
the sun going down on the Seine?
Look at Ferret over there!

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Who will buy it, with words and music?

GIORGETTA
Do you see her?
She’s looking for her husband and won’t
leave him in peace.

MICHELE
It’s only right; he drinks too much.

GIORGETTA
Don’t you know that she’s Jealous?
(gazing quizzically at Michele)
Oh, you’re in a bad mood, my husband.
What’s wrong? What are you looking at?
And why are you silent?

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Who will buy the latest song?
(The song-pedlar comes into view on the road
on the other side of the Seine, followed by a
man carrying a little harp slung across his

back. Some dressmakers are coming out of a
dress shop and they surround him.)

DRESSMAKERS
Oh, good!
Yes, yes!
(The harpist sits down on a little portable stool
and gets ready to play.)

MICHELE
Have I ever made scenes?

GIORGETTA
I know, you don’t beat me.

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Springtime, springtime,
look no more for the two lovers...

MICHELE
What? Would you like me to?

GIORGETTA
Yes, sometimes instead of your silence I’d prefer
to be bruised and beaten!

THE SONG-PEDLAR
...there in the shadows of the evening.
(Michele, without replying, goes back on to the
barge, and starts to inspect a mooring-rope.)

Springtime, springtime!
She who lived for love died for love.
That’s the story of Miml.
(The girls buy the song-sheet.)

GIORGETTA (having followed Michele)
At least tell me what’s wrong.

MICHELE
Nothing, nothing.

THE SONG-PEDLAR
Knowing while she waits that she’s dying,
counting the days, hour by hour,
with the beats of her heart...

GIORGETTA
When we’re in Paris
I feel happy.

MICHELE
Of course.

GIORGETTA
Why?

THE SONG-PEDLAR
...counting the days, hour by hour.
But the lover did not return,
and Miml’s heart
stopped beating.
(The song-pedlar goes off, followed by the

harpist; the girls, reading from the song-sheets
they have bought, crowd together and leave,
repeating the last lines of the song.)

DRESSMAKERS
Counting the days, hour by hour.
But the lover did not return,
and Mimì’s heart,
lara, lara, lara,
stopped beating.

(Ferret has appeared on the bank, and crosses
the gang plank on to the barge. On her
shoulders she has an old bag stuffed with all
sorts of things she has collected.)

FERRET
Oh, the great lovers, good evening!

GIORGETTA
Oh, good evening, Ferret.
(Michele greets Ferret with a nod then goes off
into the cabin.)

FERRET
Has my man finished work?
This morning he could take no more with
the pain in his back.
I was really upset.
But I cured it myself with a good massage,
and his back drank up my rum!
(She throws her bag on to the ground and

rummages in it, pulling out various objects.)
Oh, look, Giorgetta: a brand-new comb!
if you want it I’ll give it to you.
It’s the best thing
I’ve picked up all day.

GIORGETTA (taking the comb)
They’re right to call you “Ferret”:
you ransacked every corner and your bag is full.

FERRET
If you knew what curious things
are contained in this bag!
Look, look!
This is for you, this aigrette.
Laces and velvets, rags and Jars.
Mixed up in here are strange objects,
odd relics,
the evidence of a thousand love stories.
Joy and anguish I collect in here
with no distinction between rich and poor.

GIORGETTA
And in that paper bag?

FERRET
Ox-heart for Corporal,
my tawny-coloured tabby cat,
with his funny look, there’s no cat like him.

GIORGETTA
Your tabby eat is spoilt.

FERRET
He deserves it! You should see him!
He’s the most beautiful eat, my greatest romance.
When my Mole is out, he keeps me company,
and together we run our love affair
with no spite and no Jealousy.
Would you like to know his philosophy?
Purr, purr, purr:
better to be master in a hovel
than a servant in a palaee.
Purr, purr, purr, purr, purr:
better to feed yourself on two slices of heart
than waste away your own in love.

MOLE
(coming up from the hold, followed by Luigi)

Ho! Look at my old woman!
What were you talking about?

FERRET
I was talking to Giorgetta about our tabby eat.

(A distant car horn is heard.)

MICHELE (coming out of his cabin)
Oh, Luigi, tomorrow we’ll be loading iron.
Will you come and give us a hand?

LUIGI
I’ll come, patron.
(Tench comes up from the hold, followed by
the other stevedores who go off along the
bank, having said goodnight to Michele.)

TENCH
Goodnight, everyone.

MOLE (to Tench)
Are you in such a hurry?

FERRET
Are you running off to get drunk?
Oh, if I were your wife!

TENCH
What would you do?

FERRET
I would torment you until you stopped
spending the night out drinking.
Aren’t you ashamed?

TENCH
No, no, no! Wine is good for you!
It drowns thoughts of rebellion:
for if I drink I don’t think,

and if I think I don’t laugh.
Hal ha! ha! ha!
(He walks away, laughing scornfully, while
Michele goes down into the hold.)

LUIGI (stopping Tench)
You’re quite right; it’s better not to think,
head down and bend your back.
For us life is worth nothing any more,
and every happiness turns to misery.
Sacks on your backs and bow your head to the ground!
If you look up, watch out for the whip.
You earn your bread with the sweat of your brow,
and a moment of love is snatched in secret.
It is snatched between pain and fear,
which cloud the most heavenly ecstasy.
Everything is obstructed, everything is stolen from us,
in the morning the day is already dark.
You’re quite right; it’s better not to think,
head down and bend your back!

TENCH
Follow my example: drink!

GIORGETTA
That’s enough!

TENCH
I’ll say no more.

Till tomorrow, lads, and take care!
(He walks away and disappears along the bank.)

MOLE (to Ferret)
Shall we go too?
I’m tired out.

FERRET
Oh, when shall we ever be able to buy a
cottage of our own?
There we’ll rest.

GIORGETTA
That’s your obsession, the countryside.

FERRET
I’ve been dreaming of a cottage
with a tiny little garden.
Four walls, quite snug,
and two pine trees for shade.
My old man stretched out in the sun,
Corporal at my feet,
and waiting like that for death,
which cures all ills.

GIORGETTA
My dream is quite different!
I was born in the suburbs,
and only the Paris air excites me,
it excites and nourishes me.
If Michele would one day leave
this weary nomadic life!
That’s no life in there

between the bed and the stove.
You should have seen my room, once!

FERRET
Where did you live?

GIORGETTA
Don’t you know?

LUIGI
Belleville!

GIORGETTA
Luigi knows it.

LUIGI
I was born there too.

GIORGETTA
He’s like me, he’s like me, it’s in his blood.

LUIGI
You can’t come away.

GIORGETTA
You need to have felt it.
Belleville is our homeland, our world.
We can’t live on the water.
You need to put your feet on the pavement.
There is a house, there are your friends,
happy meetings and great friendliness.

LUIGI
Everyone knows everyone.
It's all one family.

GIORGETTA
In the morning there's work waiting.
In the evening, coming home in a crowd.
The shops are lit up
with lights and appealing things,
cabs are crossing paths,
Sundays are noisy.
Little trips for two to the Bois de Boulogne.
Open-air dances, flirting, loving.
It's hard to say what it is,
this longing, this strange nostalgia.

GIORGETTA, LUIGI
But whoever leaves the suburbs wants to come back,
and if he comes back, he won't be able to leave.
Over there is Paris calling to us,
its thousand happy voices telling of
its eternal enchantment.

FERRET
Now I understand you;
life is different here.

MOLE
Should we go and eat?
(to Luigi)
What do you say?

LUIGI
I’m staying,
I’ve got to talk to the boss.

MOLE
In that case, till tomorrow.

FERRET
Old friends, good night.
(She goes off arm-in-arm with Mole.)

FERRET, MOLE
I’ve been dreaming of a cottage
with a tiny little garden.
Four walls, quite snug
and two pine trees for shade.
My old man stretched out in the sun,
Corporal at my feet,
and waiting like that for death,
which cures all ills.
(Distant voices are heard singing.)

GIORGETTA
Oh, Luigi! Luigi!
(Luigi comes up to Giorgetta but she stops him
with a gesture.)
Watch out, he may come up in a moment.

Stay far over there.

LUIGI
Then why do you make my suffering worse?
And why do you call me for nothing?

GIORGETTA
I shiver all over if I think of last night,
of the passion in your kisses!

LUIGI
You know what was in those kisses.

GIORGETTA
Yes, my darling, my darling, but be quiet.

LUIGI
What mad fear has come over you?

GIORGETTA
If he discovers us, he’ll kill us!

LUIGI
I prefer death
to the fate which keeps you bound!

GIORGETTA
Oh, if we were alone, far away.

LUIGI
And always together.

GIORGETTA
And always in love.
Tell me you won’t fail me.

LUIGI (about to run to her)
Never!

GIORGETTA
Watch out!
(Michele appears from the hold.)

MICHELE (to Luigi)
What? Haven’t you gone?

LUIGI
Patron, I’ve been waiting
because I wanted to have a word with you:
firstly to thank you for keeping me on;
then I wanted to ask you if you could
take me to Rouen and drop me off there.

MICHELE
At Rouen? Are you mad?
Things are depressed there,
you would be worse off.

LUIGI
Okay. I’ll stay then.
(Michele goes off towards the cabin.)

GIORGETTA (to Michele)
Where are you going?

MICHELE
To get the lanterns ready.

LUIGI
Goodnight, patron.

MICHELE
Good night.
(He goes into the cabin.)

GIORGETTA
Tell me;
why did you ask him to drop you in Rouen?

LUIGI
Because I cannot share you with him.

GIORGETTA
You’re right; it’s torture.
I’m gripped by it too, I feel it too,
a lot stronger than you, this chain.
You’re right;
it’s torture, torment, pain;
but when you take me
the reward is great.

LUIGI
We seem to be stealing something from life.

GIORGETTA
The pleasure is more intense!

LUIGI
This is the happiness snatched between pain and fear.

GIORGETTA
In an anxious embrace.

LUIGI
Between stifled cries,
and endless kisses.

GIORGETTA
And muffled words.

LUIGI
And endless kisses.

GIORGETTA
Vows and promises...

LUIGI
...for us to be alone.

GIORGETTA
Alone, far, far away.

LUIGI
Quite alone, far away from the world.
(startled)

Is it him?

GIORGETTA
No, not yet.
Tell me you'll come back later.

LUIGI
Yes, in an hour's time.

GIORGETTA
Listen:
the same as yesterday I'll leave the gangplank.
I'm the one who takes it away.
DO you have your plimsolls?

LUIGI
Yes.
Will you give the same signal?

GIORGETTA
Yes, the lighted match.
How it flickered at the end of my arm,
the little flame.
I seemed to be lighting a star,
the flame of our love,
a star that will not set.

LUIGI
I want your mouth,
I want your arms.

GIORGETTA
SO you feel it too,
the madness of desire?

LUIGI
The madness of Jealousy!
I’d like to hold you close as my own.
I don’t want to take any more, to bear
another man touching you,
and, to hide from everyone
your divine body,
I swear to you, I swear
that I am not afraid to twist the knife
and from drops of blood
to fashion you a Jewel.
(Giorgetta pushes Luigi away and he runs off quickly.)

GIORGETTA
HOW hard it is to be happy!
(Michele comes from the cabin, carrying the lighted lanterns.)

MICHELE
Why don’t you go to bed?

GIORGETTA
What about you?

MICHELE
NO, not yet.

GIORGETTA
I think you were right to keep him on.

MICHELE
Who?

GIORGETTA
Luigi.

MICHELE
Perhaps I was wrong.
Two men will be enough:
there’s not much work.

GIORGETTA
You could get rid of Tench -
he’s always drinking.

MICHELE
He gets drunk to drown his sorrows.
His wife is a whore!
He drinks so as not to kill her.
(Giorgetta appears disturbed and nervous.)
What’s wrong?

GIORGETTA
It’s all these stories
which are of no interest to me.

MICHELE
(going towards Giorgetta with emotion)
Why, why don’t you love me any more?

Why?

GIORGETTA
You’re wrong, I do love you.
You are good and honest.
Now let’s go to sleep.

MICHELE
You don’t sleep.

GIORGETTA
You know why I don’t sleep.
And then, I’m suffocated inside there.
I can’t take it, I can’t take it!

MICHELE
The evenings now are so cool.
And last year, there in that dark den
there were three of us,
our little boy’s cradle was there.

GIORGETTA
Our little boy! Be quiet, be quiet!

MICHELE
You would stretch out your hand
and rock him gently, slowly,
and then you would fall asleep on my arm.

GIORGETTA
I beg you, Michele, don’t talk about it.

MICHELE
They were evenings like these.
If a breeze was blowing

I would gather you together under the cloak
as If In an embrace.
I can feel your blonde heads
on my shoulders.
I can feel your mouths
close to my mouth.
I was so happy! Oh, so happy!
Now that he’s no longer here
my grey haIr
seems lIke an Insult
to your youth.

GIORGETTA
Oh, I beg you, Michele,
don’t talk about It. Oh, no!

MICHELE
Oh, It seems like an Insult
to your youth.

GIORGETTA
No, calm yourself, MIchele.
I’m tIred, I can hardly stand up, come on.

MICHELE
But you can’t sleep!
You know that you mustn’t sleep.

GIORGETTA
Why do you say that?

MICHELE
I don’t know.
But I do know that you haven’t slept for a long time.
(He tries to pull Giorgetta close to him.)
Stay close by me.
Don’t you remember other nights,
other skies and other moons?
Why do you close your heart?
Remember the hours
that used to fly past on this barge,
borne away on the tide?

GIORGETTA
Don’t remember.
Today it’s gloomy.

MICHELE
Oh, come back, come back to those days,
come back and be mine,
when you used to love me,
and you would look for me passionately
and kiss me.
When you used to love me.
Stay close by me! The night is beautiful!

GIORGETTA
What do you expect! People get older!
I’m not the same any more.
You’ve changed too.
You don’t trust me, but why?

MICHELE
I don’t know myself.
(A distant church clock chimes the hours.)

GIORGETTA
Goodnight, Michele.
I’m faint with tiredness.

MICHELE
Well, on you go; I’ll Join you later.
(Giorgetta goes into the cabin.)
Slut!
(Michele hangs out the red, green and white
lanterns in their places on the barge.
Meanwhile the shadows of two lovers pass by on the street.)

TENOR
A mouth like a fresh rose...

SOPRANO
And kisses of dew...

TENOR
Oh scented lips...

SOPRANO
...oh scented evening...
There is the moon...

TENOR
...the moon that is spying on us...

SOPRANO
...till tomorrow, beloved!

TENOR
...tomorrow, my darling!

SOPRANO
Till tomorrow, beloved!

TENOR
Tomorrow, my darling!
(From barracks in the distance a bugle calls
“lights out”. Slowly and cautiously Michele
goes towards the cabin, and listens closely.)

MICHELE
Nothing!...Silence!
(creeping up to the cabin and squinting inside)
She’s there. She hasn’t undressed, she’s not sleeping.
She’s waiting. For whom? What is she waiting for?
Who? Who? Perhaps it’s for me to go to sleep.
Who has changed her?
What hateful shadow has come down between us?
Who has ensnared her?
Mole? - Too old.
Tench perhaps? No, no, he doesn’t think - he drinks.
So who then? Luigi?
No, if Just this evening he wanted to leave,

and he asked me to drop him off in Rouen.
So who then? Who then? Who can it be?
To penetrate the darkness!
To see, and to crush him like this, in my hands!
And shout: it’s you, it’s you!
And shout: it’s you, it’s you!
Your livid face used to smile at my torment!
It’s you! It’s you! come, come, come!
Share this chain with me.
Join your fate to mine.
Down together into the deepest whirlpool.
Share this chain with me.
Join your fate to mine.
Peace is found in death!
(Worn out, he slumps to the ground. It is totally
dark. He takes his pipe out of his pocket and
lights it. After a few moments, Luigi, who has
been waiting on the bank for the signal, runs
across the gangplank and jumps on to the barge.
Michele sees the shadow, starts, then lies in
wait. He recognises Luigi, then suddenly
pounces and grabs him by the throat.)
I’ve got you!

LUIGI
Oh God! I’m caught!

MICHELE
NO screaming!
What did you come for?
Did you want your mistress?

LUIGI
It’s not true!

MICHELE
You’re lying!
Admit it, admit it!

LUIGI
It’s not true!

MICHELE
Did you want your mistress?

LUIGI (pulling out a knife)
Ah, by God!

MICHELE
(grabbing Luigi’s arm and forcing him
to drop the knife)
Drop the knife!
You won’t escape me, scum!
Jailbird! Worm!
You wanted to go down to Rouen, didn’t you?
You’ll get there, dead, in the river.

LUIGI
Murderer, murderer!

MICHELE
Admit that you love her.
Admit it, admit it!

LUIGI
Get off, get off, get off me!

MICHELE
No, villain, villains!
If you confess, I’ll let you go.

LUIGI
Yes.

MICHELE
Say it again, say it again!

LUIGI
Yes, I love her.

MICHELE
Say it again, say it again!

LUIGI
I love her.

MICHELE
Say it again!

LUIGI
I love her.

MICHELE
Again.

LUIGI
I love her. Ah!
(Luigi’s body, twisted in death, remains clinging
to Michele.)

GIORGETTA (from the cabin)
Michele! Michele!
(She opens the door of the cabin.)
I’m scared, Michele.
(Hearing Giorgetta’s voice, Michele quickly
wraps Luigi’s body, which is still clinging to
him, under his cloak, and sits down. Slowly
Giorgetta comes up to Michele, looking around
her nervously.)

MICHELE
I was quite right; you were not to sleep.

GIORGETTA
I’m sorry that I hurt you.

MICHELE
It’s nothing, your nerves.

GIORGETTA
Yes, that’s it, you’re right.
Say that you forgive me.
Don’t you want me close by you any more?

MICHELE
Where? Under my cloak?

GIORGETTA
Yes, close, close, yes.
You once told me:
“We all carry
a cloak that conceals
sometimes happiness,
sometimes sorrow.”

MICHELE
Sometimes a crime.
Come under my cloak! Come!
Come!

GIORGETTA
(Michele rises frighteningly: he opens the
cloak and Luigi’s body rolls out up to
Giorgetta’s feet; he grabs Giorgetta, drags her
over and presses her against the face of her dead lover.)

Ah!

End of Opera

libretto by Kenneth Chalmers

Contents: The Cloak; Sister Angelica; Gianni Schicchi