“La forza del destino” by Giuseppe Verdi libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four

ACT FOUR

In The Neighbourhood of Hornachuelos

Scene One

Inside the monastery of the Madonna of the Angels.
A simple colonnade encloses a small courtyard planted
with orange tress, oleanders, jasmines. On the left is
the door to the street; on the right another door with a
sign over it reading "Clausura" [place for seclusion].
(Father Guardiano is walking about solemnly reading
his breviary. From the left enter a crowd of beggars,
men and women of all ages, carrying crude bowls, pots
and plates.)

CHORUS OF BEGGARS
Give us charity,
we've been waiting an hour!
We must be on our way,
we must be on our way, give us charity!
(Fra Melitone enters from the right, wearing a large
white apron, assisted by a lay-brother, carrying a large
cooking pot. They put it down in the centre of the yard
and the lay-brother departs.)

MELITONE
What? Do you think you're at the inn? Be quiet...
(He begins to ladle out the soup.)

BEGGARS (pushing and shoving)
Here, quick, give me some, etc.

MELITONE
Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet.

OLD MEN
How many portions they're getting!
They want the lot for themselves.
Maria's had three helpings already!

A WOMAN (to Melitone)
Four for me...

BEGGARS
Four for her!

A WOMAN
Yes, because I've got six children...

MELITONE
And why have you got six?
A WOMAN
Because the good Lord sent them.

MELITONE
Ah, yes, the good Lord... the good Lord.
You wouldn't have them if, like me, you
whipped your back with a rough scourge,
and spent all your nights
reciting rosaries and Misereres...

GUARDIANO
Brother...

MELITONE
But these beggars are really
dreadfully fertile...

GUARDIANO
Be charitable.

OLD MEN
Give us a drop of that swill.

MELITONE
You rascals, you call this manna
from heaven swill?

BEGGARS (holding out their bowls)
Me, Father, me, me, me... etc.

MELITONE
Oh, go to perdition,
or I'll settle you with
a ladle over your heads...
I'm losing my patience! etc.

GUARDIANO
Be kind to them.

WOMEN
Father Raffaele was kinder to us.

MELITONE
Yes, yes, but in a week
he's had enough
of the poor and the soup.
He kept to his room
and unloaded the burden
on to Melitone...
And now, how can I treat
such a rabble kindly?

GUARDIANO
The poor suffer so much...
Charity is a duty.

MELITONE
Charity for people
who make a living out of it?
The sort who'd knock down a church steeple
with their fists,
who call this manna
from heaven swill...
Rogues and vagabonds!
And who call this manna, etc.

WOMEN
Oh, Father Raffaele! etc.

MEN
He was an angel! A saint! etc.

MELITONE
Don't pester me so! Don't pester me so!

BEGGARS
A saint! A saint!
Yes, yes, yes, yes, a saint! etc.

MELITONE
(kicking the pot over)
Here, take what's left,
no more argument, etc.
Get out of here, leave me,
yes, out you go into the sunshine,
leave me alone, etc.

You're beggars worse than Lazarus,
sacks of wickedness...
Away with you, to the devil, you knaves,
take yourselves off;
you're beggars worse than Lazarus, etc.

BEGGARS
Oh, Father Raffaele!
He was an angel! He was a saint! etc.

MELITONE
You're beggars worse than Lazarus, etc.

BEGGARS
Father Raffaele!
He was an angel! A saint! etc.

MELITONE
Get out of here! Leave me alone...
out of here, away with you! etc.
(In a fury the friar drives them out of the yard. Then he
takes a handkerchief out of his sleeve and mops his
brow with it. The gate-bell rings loudly.)

GUARDIANO
Someone has come. Open.
(He goes out. Fra Melitone opens the door and returns
with Don Carlo, who is dressed in a full cloak.)

DON CARLO (disdainfully)
Are you the doorkeeper?

MELITONE (to himself)
A weird one, this!
(loudly)
I just opened for you; I should think so -

DON CARLO
Father Raffaele?

MELITONE (to himself)
Another one!
(loudly)
We have two Raffaeles -
one from Porcuna, fat,
deaf as a post; the other is lean,
dark, his eyes -
(to himself)
Heaven! What eyes!
(loudly)
which one do you seek?

DON CARLO
The one from Hell.

MELITONE (to himself)
That's him, that's him!
(loudly)
And who is calling?

DON CARLO
A gentleman -

MELITONE (to himself)
What manner! A nasty kind.
(Melitone goes out.)

DON CARLO
It was useless, Alvaro, to hide from the world
and try to shield your villainy
in hypocritical robes. Hate and thirst for vengeance
showed me the road to this cloister where you hide;
no one here shall keep us apart; only blood,
your blood, can wash away the stain
which outraged my honour:
and I shall spill it all, I swear to God.
(Don Alvaro enters in monk's robes.)

DON ALVARO
Brother -

DON CARLO
Recognise me!

DON ALVARO
Don Carlo! You - alive!

DON CARLO
For five years I have followed you,
at last ah! at last I've found you...
Blood alone can cancel
the infamy, your crime;
that I should punish you one day
was written in the book of Fate.
Once you were brave; now, as a monk,
you have no sword...
But I shall have your blood -
choose, for I have two.

DON ALVARO
Once I lived among men - so I understand;
but this monk's habit - the cloister -

they bespeak my salvation from sin,
the repentance of my heart!
Leave me, leave me.

DON CARLO
Neither that garb nor the hermitage will be able
to defend you - coward!

DON ALVARO (infuriated)
Coward! What a word -
(to himself)
No, no. Help me, o my Lord!
(to Don Carlo)
Fierce words and threats,
be carried off by the wind.
Forgive, have pity, have pity,
brother, have pity, have pity!
Why offend in this way
a man who was only unfortunate?
Come, let us bow before fate,
brother, have pity, have pity.

DON CARLO
You soil the very name of pity...
Ah! When you went away, my sister remained,
abandoned and betrayed,
to infamy, to dishonour.

DON ALVARO
No, she was not dishonoured.
It is a monk who gives you his oath.
On earth, I adored her
as only one in heaven can love.

I love her still; if she still loves me,
my heart cannot ask for more.

DON CARLO
My anger will not be quieted
by base and cowardly words.
Take up you sword, and come.
do battle with me, o traitor!

DON ALVARO
If now it is too late for either remorse
or tears to speak for me.
You shall see me as none has ever seen me -
prostrate at your feet!
(He throws himself at Don Carlo's feet.)

DON CARLO
Ah, the stain upon your crest
is proved by this act!

DON ALVARO (leaping to his feet in anger)
My crest shines brighter than a jewel.

DON CARLO
It is coloured by your half-breed's blood.

DON ALVARO (unable to restrain himself)
You lie in your throat! -
give me a sword!
(He takes a sword.)
A sword! Lead on!

DON CARLO
At last!

DON ALVARO
No, the devil shall not triumph.
Go, leave me.
(throwing down his sword)

DON CARLO
You mock at me?

DON ALVARO
Go.

DON CARLO
If now, you coward, you lack courage
to measure swords with me,
I condemn you to dishonour.
(He slaps Don Alvaro's face.)

DON ALVARO (furious)
Ah, now you have sealed your fate!
Death!
(He takes up the sword again.)

DON CARLO
Death to both!

DON CARLO and
DON ALVARO
Ah! Come to your death, come!
(They rush out.)

Scene Two

Outside Leonora's cave
A valley crossed by a stream flanked by steep cliffs. To
the rear, a cave closed by a door; above it, a bell which
can be rung from within. The sun is going down, and
the scene gradually darkens; the moon comes out,
shining brightly.
(Leonora comes out of the cave, pale and distraught.)

LEONORA
Peace, peace, o my God!
Cruel misfortune
compels me, alas, to languish;
for so many years
have I suffered,
as bitterly as at first.
I loved him, its true!
But God had blessed him
with such beauty and virtue
that I love him still,
and never shall I be able
to efface his image from my heart.
Ah, destiny! destiny!
A crime divided us here below!
Alvaro, I love you,
and in heaven it is written
that I shall never see you again!
Oh God, God, let me die:
for only in death shall I know peace.
My soul sought peace in vain in this world,
my soul, the prey of eternal sorrow.

(She goes to a rock on which Father Guardiano has left
food for her.)
O wretched bread, which lengthens out
this sorry life. But who comes now,
daring to profane this sacred refuge?
A curse upon him! A curse upon him!
(She retreats rapidly into the cave, closing the door
behind her.)

DON CARLO (off-stage)
I am dying! Confession! Save my soul!

DON ALAVARO (entering with drawn sword)
This, too, is the blood of a Vargas.

DON CARLO
Confession! -

DON ALVARO (throwing down his sword)
I am damned;
but nearby there is a hermitage...
(Alvaro runs to the cave and knocks.)
Come quickly, to console a dying man...

LEONORA (within)
I cannot.

DON ALVARO
Brother! in the Saviour's name!

LEONORA
I cannot.

DON ALVARO (knocking harder)
You must.

LEONORA (within, ringing the bell)
Help! Help!

DON ALVARO
Ah, come!
(Leonora appears at the door.)

LEONORA
Rash man, flee from the wrath of Heaven!

DON ALVARO
A woman! This voice!
Ah no, a ghost -

LEONORA (recognising Don Alvaro)
What do I see!

DON ALVARO
You - Leonora -

LEONORA
It is really he...
I see you once again -

DON ALVARO
Do not come near me - these hands
are drenched with blood. Away!

LEONORA
What are you saying?

DON ALVARO (pointing to the grove)
There a man lies dead.

LEONORA
You killed him?

DON ALVARO
I did all I could to avoid fighting.
I had left the world for the cloister.
He found me, insulted me, I killed him.

LEONORA
And who was he?

DON ALVARO
Your brother!

LEONORA
O God!
(She runs towards the grove.)

DON ALVARO
Cruel destiny, how you mock at me!
Leonora is alive, and I must find her
only when I have split her brother's blood!

LEONORA (crying out, from off-stage)
Ah!

DON ALVARO
What a cry! What has happened?
(Leonora, wounded, enters supported by Father
Guardiano.)
She - wounded!

LEONORA (dying)
Even in his last hour, he could not forgive.
And he avenged our shame with my blood.

DON ALVARO
Not even with his death was the vengeance of God
satisfied! Curses!

GUARDIANO
Do not curse; humble yourself
before Him who is holy and just,
who leads us to eternal joys
over a road of tears.
Do not speak a word
of blasphemous wrath and fury.
while this angel is leaving us,
flying to the throne of God.

LEONORA
Yes, weep - and pray.
I promise you God's pardon.

DON ALVARO
An outcast, a damned soul am I.
A flood of blood surges between us.

LEONORA
Weep and pray!

GUARDIANO
Kneel!

LEONORA
I promise you God's pardon. Pray!

DON ALVARO
I cannot resist this voice any longer.
(He throws himself at her feet.)

GUARDIANO
Kneel!

DON ALVARO
Leonora, I am redeemed -
Heaven has pardoned me, has pardoned me!

LEONORA and GUARDIANO
Praise be to thee, o Lord.

LEONORA (to Don Alvaro)
Joyfully now I go before you,
into the Promised Land.
There, this strife cannot follow us,
and holiness will bless our love.

DON ALVARO
You condemn me to live on
abandoning me here on earth!
Only the guilty one, I see,
will escape punishment!

GUARDIANO
Made blessed through her martyrdom,
may she now rise to the Lord,
and may her death teach you to know
what faith means!

LEONORA
I wait for you in heaven. Goodbye!

DON ALVARO
Ah, do not leave me, Leonora, do not leave me...

GUARDIANO
And may her death, etc.

LEONORA
Ah... I go before you...Alvaro...Ah...Alvar...Ah!
(She dies.)

DON ALVARO
Dead!

GUARDIANO
She has ascended to God!

END

libretto by Dale McAdoo, 1954

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four