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Anna Bolena (Anne Boleyn) — soprano Enrico (Henry VIII) — bass Giovanna Seymour (Jane Seymour), Anna's lady-in-waiting — mezzo-soprano Lord Rochefort (George Boleyn), Anna's brother — bass Riccardo Percy (Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland) — tenor Smeton (Mark Smeaton), musician — contralto Hervey, court official — tenor Courtiers, soldiers, huntsmen Scene 1 A room in Windsor castle in the apartments of the Queen. The place is lit up. Numerous people come and go on every side: some walk and talk together: some remain seated etc. CHORUS I OF KNIGHTS: (in low voices) Is the King coming? CHORUS II OF KNIGHTS: Nothing but silence. He hasn’t come yet. CHORUS I OF KNIGHTS: And she? CHORUS II OF KNIGHTS: Her heart groans but she covers it up. CHORUS I OF KNIGHTS: Her star is setting now. ALL: Henry’s fickle heart burns with another love. CHORUS I OF KNIGHTS: Everyone is talking about it. CHORUS II OF KNIGHTS: The dark looks of the Sovereign… CHORUS I OF KNIGHTS: His short manner of speech… CHORUS II OF KNIGHTS: The way he suddenly keeps his distance from her… ALL: A sudden calming of his jealous mood. TOGETHER: Oh, how swiftly the lightening descends on her head! How justice avenges the banished Aragon! Perhaps, poor woman, there is stored up for her greater shame and pain… Scene 2 Giovanna Seymour and above JANE: She has asked for me more eagerly than usually. She…why? what a fearful thing! What a doubt has arisen within me! Before my victim my heart loses all courage. Either render me deaf to remorse or extinguish yourself in me, Love. Scene 3 Anna appears from the back followed by her ladies, pages and servants. All make way for her and respectfully form a circle around her. Smeton is in the cortege. Silence. ANNA: So silent and sad have I never seen the assembly… Even you, once so happy, cannot summon (to Seymour) a smile to your lips. JANE: And who could show themselves to be serene when they see their Queen afflicted ANNA: Afflicted I truly am… Nor do I know why… an unknown, uneasy restlessness has stolen my peace for a few days. SMEATON: (Poor woman!) JANE: (I fear every word of hers) ANNA: Smeton, where is he? SMEATON: My Queen! ANNA: Come close to me. Do you now wish for a short time to cheer my court with your melodies until the king has arrived? JANE: (My heart, you can breathe again.) ANNA: Ladies, take your places. SMEATON: (Oh! love, inspire me.) (All sit. The courtiers arrange themselves here and there in groups. A harp is given to Smeton. He plays for a while then sings the following ballad.) Ah! Do not desire to constrain your face to feigned joy: your sorrow is as lovely as your smile. Thus is the dawn still beautiful when girded with clouds, the melancholy moon is lovely in its pallor. (Anna becomes more thoughtful. Smeton continues in a more animated voice) Who beholds you thus pensive and silent, would believe you to be an innocent maiden who sighs for her first love: and forgetting the crown which covers your head, will sigh with you, and he would feel that he was that first love. ANNA: (rises, moved) Cease…Alas! Cease… SMEATON: My Queen! Oh heavens! CHORUS: (She is troubled, oppressed.) ANNA: (How that innocent boy, how he has shaken my heart! The ashes of my first love are still warm! Ah! if my heart was not open to another attachment, I would not be so unhappy in this vain splendour of mine.) (to the onlookers) But little remains of the night now I believe. CHORUS: Dawn is close to breaking… ANNA: Sirs, I give you your leave. It is vain to wait in hope any more that the King will come now. Let us go, Seymour. (leans towards her) JANE: What troubles you? ANNA: Could you but read it within me! To no gaze has it been granted to penetrate this sad heart; An incomprehensible cruel fate condemns me to sigh in sorrow. Ah! if ever the splendour of the royal throne seduces you, remember my pain don’t let yourself be dazzled. JANE: (I dare not raise my eyes to her, nor can I make bold to speak) CHORUS: (A few moments of rest might give her some sleep.) (Anna leaves, accompanied by Seymour and by the maids. The company depart gradually. The stage empties and there remains no light but one large lamp stand which lights the room.) Scene 4 Giovanna returns from the departments of the Queen. She is disturbed. JANE: Oh! what words were hers! My heart condemned me! Betrayed perhaps, will I be discovered? Did she read the misdeed on my countenance? Ah, no, she clasped me tenderly to her bosom; she remains ignorant that she has clasped a serpent. Would that I could at least have withdrawn my feet from this abyss; and have prevented the time from happening; Ah! my fate is sealed, sealed in Heaven as the final day. (there is a knocking at the door, she goes to open it) Behold…behold the King… Scene 5 Enrico and above. HENRY: Are you trembling? JANE: Yes, I'm trembling. HENRY: What is she doing? JANE: She is resting. HENRY: I'm not. JANE: Do you think that I am at rest? Let this be our last colloquy… the last, o Sire: I implore you… HENRY: And that it will be. We must see each other in plain daylight Heaven and Earth must know that I love you. JANE: Never, never… I would want to hide my shame beneath the earth. HENRY: It is glory, the love of Henry And thus it was for Anna in the eyes of all of England. JANE: After marriage it was… Only after marriage. HENRY: And does Seymour love me in this guise? JANE: And does the King also love me thus? HENRY: Thankless girl, and what do you desire? JANE: Love and honour. HENRY: Honour! Yes: you will have it and such that in the world there is no equal; my splendour will pour out over you completely only on you. Seymour will have no rival, as the sun has no rival. JANE: My honour is at the feet of the alter: elsewhere shame is put by for me: and that altar is forbidden to me, Heaven knows that, the King knows it. Ah! If it is true that I am dear to the King then my honour too will be dear. HENRY: (resentfully) Yes…I understand you. JANE: Oh Heavens! And are you so full of disdain? HENRY: It is disdain and pain. JANE: Sire! HENRY: Do you only love the King? JANE: I?... HENRY: Does the throne alone concern you? Anna too offered me love, longing for the English throne, she too coveted the crown of the lofty lady of Aragon… She had it at last, but she no sooner had it, than it tottered on her head, to her cost, to her grief my heart was tempted by another lady. JANE: Ah! not I, I did not offer to you this heart to cause wrongful offense… My King took it from me, let my King give it back to me. More unhappy than Bolena I will cry more. I will have the pain of repudiation, without having offended a husband. (Jane goes off weeping) HENRY: You are leaving me? JANE: I must. HENRY: Stop. JANE: I cannot. HENRY: Stop: I wish it. The altar is already prepared for you: you will have a husband and sceptre and a throne. JANE: Heavens! And Anna? HENRY: Heavens! And Anna? JANE: Ah! Sire HENRY: The day has arrived for her punishment. JANE: Ah! For what crime? HENRY: The blackest. She gave me a heart that was not hers… she deceived me before she was my wife; as my wife she deceives me still. JANE: And your bond to her? HENRY: The King unties it. JANE: By what means? HENRY: I alone know how. JANE: Ah! what they might be I dare not seek to know… The oppressed heart doesn't permit it. but let me hope that it might not be by cruelty. May a royal husband not cost me further remorse I beg of you. HENRY: Reassure your doubtful heart, let your King set your mind at rest… that he may see you happier from now on with the love that made you his. Your peace, your quiet, I want it to be complete, and thus it will be. (Henry leaves by the secret door. Jane enters the apartments.) Scene 6 A park in Windsor castle. It is day. Percy and Rochefort from different directions. ROCHEFORT: (on meeting) Who do I see?…In England (they embrace) You, my Percy! PERCY: I was recalled here, friend by an order from Henry… and my decision is to present myself to him on his passage to the hunt. After such a long exile, breathing the ancient airs and the native skies are sweet to every heart but bitter to mine. ROCHEFORT: Dear Percy, sorrow has not so changed you that I was not quick to recognise you. PERCY: My sorrow is not one that is matched by my face: everything is gathered deep in my heart. I dare not, my friend, enquire about the fate of your sister… ROCHEFORT: She is Queen. This is all her joy. PERCY: And does rumour speak true? That she is unhappy? That the King has changed? ROCHEFORT: Does happiness ever last? PERCY: Well said…let him live without hope, as I do. ROCHEFORT: Lower your voice. PERCY: What should I fear? From that day in which I lost her I went in desperation, into exile, from that day when I crossed the sea, my death began Every ray of light was changed for me I separated myself from the living, every land on which I came to rest seemed a tomb to me. ROCHEFORT: And you’ve come to make your condition worse close to her? PERCY: Without mind, without heart, blindly I follow my destiny. It's just that sometimes, in my fiercest pain the certainty smiles into my thoughts that fortune will vindicate my sufferings. (the sound of the hunt is heard) ROCHEFORT: The hunt is assembling… Be quiet: someone could hear you. Scene 7 Troops of huntsmen enter from every side: all is movement at the back of the stage, pages, stable hands, men armed with pikes, etc CHORUS: Look out! the pages, the stable hands are running around… the greyhounds are ready saddle the chargers… more eagerly than usual the King rides out today. PERCY: And Anna also!… ROCHEFORT: Calm down. Perhaps she is not with him PERCY: Ah! thus in those smiling days of my first happy love I felt my heart beat when I had to see her. Merciful Heaven, give me back just one of those sweet and lovely moments; then take my life from me again that I might die in peace. CHORUS: The King is approaching: line up... Give honour to the King. Scene 8 All those present array themselves in two lines. Rochefort takes Percy to one side with him. Enter Enrico and passes in the middle of the rows. Meanwhile, amongst them, Anna is revealed with her ladies. Little by little, Percy places himself so that Henry can see him. Hervey and the guards. HENRY: Awake so early, and taken today from your rest. ANNA: In me, the desire to see you was stronger than the desire to rest. Several days have now passed without my enjoying the appearance of my lord. HENRY: Many serious cares weigh on my heart. Now my attention is completely on you: my vigilant gaze does not turn from you for one single moment. You here, Percy? ANNA: (Heavens! What do I see!…Riccardo!) HENRY: Come closer. PERCY: (I'm afraid) HENRY: You were truly prompt… PERCY: Each moment, o Sire that I was delayed in revealing my thankful heart, might seem an error to others' to me it seemed a crime. The hand which when I was banished gave me back my homeland and old home, I kiss in devotion… HENRY: Not the hand of Henry. Assurance was given of your innocence a long time ago by one who being nourished and brought up with you knew the purity of your spirit. It was Anna, in fact… PERCY: Anna! ANNA: (Do not betray me, O my heart!) PERCY: You, the Queen!…Then it was really true that you took thought of me! ANNA: Innocent…the whole kingdom believes you to be and defends you… HENRY: And innocent I believed you to be, since thus you seemed to her… All the kingdom, believe me, was surety for you in vain. PERCY: Ah, Queen? (He kneels at her feet and kisses her hand) ANNA: Oh God! Get up. ROCHEFORT: (He losing control!) HENRY: (with the greatest indifference) Hervey. HERVEY: Sire. (Percy approaches Rochefort. Enrico withdraws in the opposite direction with Hervey. Ann in the middle, forces herself to hide her perturbation.) ANNA: (I felt his tear flow on my hand… and an even hotter flame spreads though my heart.) PERCY: (to Rochefort) (Ah! She thought of me far away: she couldn’t bear my wandering my heart forgets every anguishI am born again, I hope once more) ROCHEFORT: (to Percy) (Ah! What are you doing? Control yourself, madman. Every eye is turned on you, you’ve turned pale, on your face is written the disorder of your heart.) HENRY: To you awaits the task of ensuring that the great design is not in vain; be the constant examiner of every step, of every word. HERVEY: (to Henry) (Not in vain does my Sovereign entrust in me his design; I will be, I pledge my oath, the executor of his orders.) CHORUS: (Whatever is happening? Why is the King so mild to humane today, so happy of countenance? His smile is deceptive, precursor of fury.) HENRY: (to Percy with the greatest kindness) Now so that you may be delivered back to the shores of your homeland and fully absolved, I very much hope that you will remain in my court amongst my most faithful men. PERCY: Gloomy, O Sire, by nature, destined to an obscure life… I would ill know how… HENRY: (interrupting him) No, no, I desire it. Rochefort, I entrust him to you. Let us now leave for the hunt… (with indifference) Anna, farewell. ANNA: (curtseying) I am beside myself with sorrow. (The horns give the signal of the hunt. All move having formed into various groups.) ALL: May this day which dawned with such happy and lucky auspices, shine, crowned with even happier successes. PERCY and ANNA: (Ah! may there not be trouble for me by the time that the day ends. May a friendly fate guide another prey into my nets.) (Anna leaves with her ladies, Henry with all the followers of the hunt. Rochefort takes Percy with him in another direction.) Scene 9 A room in the castle which leads into the rooms of Anna SMEATON: (alone) All is deserted…Intent on their duties the maids are in other rooms… and if any should see me here she knows that in these innermost rooms, once Anna invited me to sing to her privately. This which I took (he reveals a portrait in his breast) her beloved image, I must return before my boldness is discovered, one more kiss, a kiss, beloved countenance…Farewell beauty which rested on my heart, and which seemed to beat with my heart Ah! it seems as if by magic it had responded to your sufferings: every tear drop of mine was aroused by one of your sighs. To such a sight, a bold heart full of hope and desire unveiled its hungry ardour which I dare not reveal any other way. (goes to re-enter the apartments) I hear a sound…someone is approaching this room…I delayed too long. (he hides behind a curtain) Scene 10 Anna and Rochefort. ANNA: Watch out, watch out you are going too far… you persist too much, O brother…. ROCHEFORT: Let it please you to listen to him for a single moment: believe it, you cannot run into any danger though he does, and grave danger, your strictness combined with sorrow overcomes all reason in him. ANNA: Stop it! To think that I was the cause of his return! Well…lead him to me, and keep careful watch that no one gets to us who isn't faithful to me. ROCHEFORT: Rely on me. (exits) Scene 11 Anna and Smeton, hidden. SMEATON: (appearing, cautiously) (Can’t I come out? What’s to be done!) ANNA: I was weak…I should have firmly denied him... Never to see him… Alas! in vain does reason advise me: the craven heart does not listen to its voice. Scene 12 Percy and Anna. ANNA: There he is! I’m trembling! I’m cold! PERCY: Anna!… ANNA: Riccardo! Let our words be brief, cautious, low. Have you come perhaps to reproach me with my broken pledge? The penalty, you see, I have paid the full penalty for it: ambitious, I wanted a crown, and a crown I received, of thorns. PERCY: I see you unhappy, and my anger has an end; you see my brow furrowed with sorrow: I pardon you for it: I feel that close to you, I could forget the anguish of the past as the shipwrecked pilot forgets the billows when he reaches the shore. Every cruel tempest calms itself near you and from you comes my light. ANNA: Wretch, what hope now seduces you? Don’t you know that I am a wife, that I am the Queen? PERCY: Ah! do not say it, I must not, I do not want to know. To me you are Anna, only Anna, and am I not your same Riccardo who loved you for so long, who first taught you to love?… And does not the King hate you? ANNA: He hates me, it is true. PERCY: If he hates you, I still love you as I first loved you in your lowly state Forget with me your ungrateful husband’s contempt and sternness ANNA: Ah! you do not know that my bonds are as sacred as they are dreadful, that beside me on the throne are seated suspicion and terror. Ah! never again, if it is true that you love me, speak with me of love. PERCY: Ah! Cruel woman. ANNA: Madman. Flee, I beg you to. PERCY: No, never… ANNA: Fate places between us an invincible barrier. PERCY: I scorn it. ANNA: Let the new dawn not find you in England. PERCY: Ah! Let it find me a corpse under the ground and yet with you. ANNA: Flee. PERCY: No. ANNA: Riccardo! Ah! From pity for my fear, for the horror in which you see me give way to my please, to my tears give way; earth and sea divide us. Seek elsewhere a contentment for your heart which isn’t a bitter pleasure. PERCY: At your feet, pierced and dead I will fall if you ask for it but grant only that I remain and sigh Near to you , suffering and pain are contentment to me. ANNA: (resolved) Leave, I wish it; another could hear you within these walls. PERCY: I will leave, but first tell me, will I see you? Promise…swear. ANNA: No: never again. PERCY: Never again! Let this be my reply to your oath. (unsheathes his sword to stab himself) ANNA: (letting out a cry) Ah! What are you doing! Pitiless man. Scene 13 Smeton and above. SMEATON: Stop! ANNA: Righteous Heavens! PERCY: Don’t come any closer. (They want to throw themselves at each other.) ANNA: Alas! Stop…I am lost. Someone is coming…I can bear no more. (she falls onto a seat) Scene 14 Rochefort runs in, terrified. ROCHEFORT: Ah! sister… SMEATON: She has fainted. ROCHEFORT: The King is coming. PERCY and ROCHEFORT: The King! Scene 15 Enter Enrico and Hervey. HENRY: What do I see? Hands bearing weapons within these portals! Drawn swords in my palace! Ho! Guards! Scene 16 At the voice of the King, courtiers, ladies, pages and soldiers come running. Later Giovanna Seymour. PERCY: Contrary fate!! CHORUS: Whatever is happening? SMEATON and ROCHEFORT: What to say? What to do? (a short silence) HENRY: Everyone is silent and everyone trembles! What misdeed is taking place here? I read in your countenance that my shame is complete: the whole kingdom is witness that she has betrayed the King. SMEATON: Sire…Ah! Sire…It isn’t true. I swear it at your feet. HENRY: Are you so brazen. So expert already at betrayal, O youth? SMEATON: Kill me if I’m lying; bared and unarmed I offer you my breast. (Anna’s portrait falls out) HENRY: What ornament is this? SMEATON: Oh heavens! HENRY: What I see my own eyes can scarcely believe. Behold the true accuser of his bold betrayal PERCY and ANNA: Oh! What anguish! SMEATON and ROCHEFORT: Oh! What terror! ANNA: Where am I! Oh my lord! (Recovers herself, approaches Henry: he is fuming. All are silent and lower their eyes.) Stamped on these faces I see your suspicion; but I ask for mercy, do not condemn me, O King. Let this oppressed heart recover itself for a bit. HENRY: In my hand behold the proof of your abominable intemperance. Tears won't help; depart far from me. It would be better for you now if you were able to die. PERCY: (Heavens! A rival in him. A rival of mine happy! And the deceiver wanted to banish me from her? Let all the wrath of fate be poured out on you, in me now.) JANE: May I be able to find myself close to the unhappy ones, O Heaven. Is not my heart as if overtaken by horror, by ice? My black excesses extinguished every virtue in me. SMEATON and ROCHEFORT: Ah! I myself have ruined her, I have intensified her misfortune! The day turns to darkness for me. I can barely stand up. It would be better for me if I could die now HENRY: To separate prisons let them be taken. ANNA: All! Alas! Sire… HENRY: Go away! ANNA: Only one word… HENRY: Get back! Not I, the judges alone should hear your excuses. ANNA: Judges…for Anna! PERCY, SMEATON and ROCHEFORT: Alas, poor girl! JANE and CHORUS: (Her death is marked!) ANNA: (Ah! My fate is sealed, if the one who accuses me is the one who condemns me. Ah! I will succumb to the power of such a tyrannical law. But after my death I will one day be exculpated and absolved.) HENRY: (Yes, your fate is sealed, if only I could have a suspect Whoever shares my throne can have no stain on earth. I will feel sorry for your death but I will still give you death.) PERCY, JANE,SMEATON and ROCHEFORT: (Ah! My fate is sealed; every attempt to escape it is vain. No skill on earth or human strength can allay it now. Death is already in my heart and I'm not even dead yet.) CHORUS: (Ah! By how many adverse evil fates is the English throne afflicted. A more deadly one has not descended on it than that which has broken forth here. Innocence has the death here which sin plotted.) Scene 1 An entrance hall which leads to Anna's rooms and to a room where the Counsel is gathered with guards at the entrance. CHORUS: Oh! wherever have the sycophantic crowds gone, who gathered around her in her happy days! Seymour, Seymour herself has distanced herself from her. But we will always be with you, unhappy girl. Either your triumph or your ultimate disaster prepares itself: Fate has left you few hearts but they are tender ones. Behold her…afflicted and pale, she drags her feet wearily. Scene 2 Enter Anna. All gather around her. She sits. Anna and above. Hervey with soldiers. CHORUS: Queen! Take heart, put your faith in Heaven, let tears be banished, virtue cannot die. ANNA: O my faithful ones, o the only ones who remain as consolation to me in my misfortune, every hope, it is true, is placed in Heaven and in it alone…On earth there is no remedy for my ruin. (Hervey enters) What do you carry, Hervey? HERVEY: Queen!… The bitter commission pains me to which the Counsel of Parliament elected me. ANNA: Well, speak. HERVEY: He calls these servants before him. CHORUS: Us! ANNA: Then the King is firm in his resolution? He will require so much from my wounded heart. HERVEY: What can I say? ANNA: I needs must bow my head to the royal will, whatsoever it might be. Be you the witnesses of my innocence tender friends. CHORUS: Oh! What a terrible day! ANNA: (embracing them) Go. (Partono con Hervey) Scene 3 Anna, then Giovanna Seymour ANNA: (after the servants have left she raises her hands to Heaven, kneels and says.) God who sees within my heart, I turn to you…judge you if I deserve this shame. (sits and weeps) JANE: The afflicted lady weeps…Alas! how will I bear her gaze? ANNA: Ah! yes: the anguish of the unhappy lady of Aragon must not be in vain, and your severity has determined a terrible punishment for me… But it is too terrible… JANE: (approaches weeping: kneels at her feet and kisses her hand) Oh, my Queen! ANNA: Seymour…returned to me! Have you not forgotten me? Arise…What do I see? You are pale! Are you trembling? Are you bringing me new misfortune perhaps? JANE: Dreadful…extreme! Could I give you joy? Ah! no…listen to me. The trap is thus laid that you are lost. At any cost the King wants to shatter the unfortunate knots that bind you to him… your life at least… if not your royal name, alas, save your life at least! ANNA: And how? Explain yourself. JANE: I tremble to say it… yet say it I must. Confessing yourself to be guilty will unbind you from the King and rescue you from death. ANNA: What are you saying? JANE: The fate which pursues you, leaves no other means of escape to you. ANNA: And thus you can advise me, my Seymour… JANE: Alas, have mercy. ANNA: That I should purchase my life with infamy? JANE: Do you wish infamy and death? Queen, oh Heavens, give in… The King advises you to do it…the wretched woman who Henry has destined for the throne implores you. ANNA: Oh! Who is this woman? Do you know her? Speak. Was she so impudent as to advise me to villainy? Villainy to her Queen! Speak: who is she? JANE: (sobbing) An unhappy woman. ANNA: And she is doing this to me. Let God place on her head his punishing arm. JANE: Alas! Listen to me. ANNA: Let her vile heart be tortured just as mine is. JANE: Ah! Pardon! ANNA: Let the crown with which she coveted for her head be of thorns; (in growing fury. Jane little by little is bewildered) let watchfulness and suspicion lie on the pillow of the royal bed…. let a menacing spectre arise between her and her husband the king… and let the axe which is assigned to me more cruelly deny her the King. JANE: (A cruel sentence! I feel like I'm dying…) Ah! Cease! Alas, have pity, pity…on me! (kneeling and clasping Anna's knees) ANNA: You! What do I hear! JANE: Ah!…yes, prostrate at your feet is the traitress. ANNA: My rival!… JANE: But tortured by remorse and unhappy. ANNA: Go away…go away… JANE: Forgive me: I am punished by my heart (with growing passion. Anna, little by little, softens) Inexperienced…enticed… I was seduced and dazzled… I love Henry…and it embarrasses me… My torture is this love… I groan and weep, and yet love is not smothered by my tears. ANNA: Get up! Ah! get up… The only one who is guilty is the one who lit such a flame in you. (raises her and embraces her) Go unhappy girl, to you is given the pardon of Bolena. in my furious and blind sorrow I cursed you with terrible suffering… Now I ask for your pardon from God, and it will be granted to you. In this farewell there remains to you my love and my pity. JANE: Ah! worse is your pardon than the scorn which I feared, You leave me a throne as a punishment for the crime of which I am guilty. There a great God awaits me who will punish the sin. Ah! This farewell is the first of the torments which he gives me. (Anna goes back into her rooms. Jane leaves greatly afflicted) Scene 4 Chorus of courtiers then Hervey FIRST CHORUS: Well? which of the villains was taken before the judges? SECOND CHORUS: Smeton. FIRST CHORUS: Has the lad perhaps revealed some misdeed?… SECOND CHORUS: No one knows the outcome of the investigation. He's been enclosed with them for a whole hour. ALL: Ah! Heaven prevent the weak and inexperienced heart from letting itself be either seduced or overcome by hope or by fear; let it never allow him to forget that the accuser is the King. (The doors open, enter Hervey.) CHORUS: Behold, behold Hervey. HERVEY: (to the soldiers who are leaving) Let Anna and Percy be led in. CHORUS: (surrounding him) What is happening? HERVEY: Smeton has spoken. CHORUS: Has he accidentally accused Anna? HERVEY: He confessed a crime which makes one tremble and blush. She is lost. CHORUS: Alas! Poor girl! (The accuser is the King.) Scene 5 Enrico, Hervey and the chorus HERVEY: Go away…the King is arriving… (the chorus retreat) And who drives you away from the meeting? HENRY: My presence would be inappropriate. The first blow has descended; the one who stuck it hides himself. HERVEY: Oh! how Smeton fell into the trap! HENRY: The blind boy returns to his prison, and he still believes, since the hour of my vengeance has been suspended, that he has saved the life of Anna. Let her come forward. HERVEY: And hence Percy comes, brought in by his guards. HENRY: (about to leave) I'll avoid them. Scene 6 Anna and Percy from opposite ends between guards. Enrico and Hervey. ANNA: (from a distance) Stop, Henry! (Henry wants to leave; she approaches with dignity) Stop…and hear me. HENRY: The Counsel will hear you. ANNA: I prostrate myself at your feet. Slay me yourself but don't exhibit me, O Sire, to the shame of judgement: ensure that my royal name is respected. HENRY: Have you respected the royal rank? The wife of Henry to descend to a Percy. PERCY: (who had drawn apart, at these words comes forward) and yet you didn't disdain to make this despised Percy your rival… and take his lover from him HENRY: Felon! How dare you? PERCY: I speak the truth to you, listen Soon I will be before a tribunal more holy and more terrible than yours is. By that I swear…I swear that she did not offend you…that she drove me away, that she burnt with indignation against my impudent hopes… HENRY: She made a vile page more worthy of her love…he confessed it… ANNA: (fiercely) Cease with this vile accusation I claim back my dignity, and rather than Smeton, I loudly decry you, Sire, as a seducer HENRY: Impudent woman! ANNA: I defy the powerful fear. It can give me death but not infamy. My crime is to have sacrificed for the throne such a noble heart as that of Percy; to have thought it supreme happiness to be the King's consort. PERCY: Oh, extreme joy! No, you did not nourish such a base affection… I am certain of it; and happy in that certainty I await my fate… but you will live…yes, you will live. HENRY: What do I hear! Both of you will die, O traitors; what can deliver you from death PERCY: Justice can… ANNA: Justice!! It is silent in the court of Henry! HENRY: It learnt to be silent when on the English throne a Queen had to surrender her place to you. PERCY: But she will soon speak and you must listen to her, O King. if for a betrayed nuptial bed rightful vengeance might be given, only mine may be avenged… it is written in Heaven. We were betrothed. HENRY: You betrothed! ANNA: Ah! What are you saying? HENRY: Are you so bold? PERCY: I take back my rights. let her be returned to me. HENRY: And you are his wife!… ANNA: (faltering) I… PERCY: Can you deny it?… ANNA: (Alas!…) PERCY: From your most tender years you were mine, you know it; you betrayed me; wretch that I am I loved you even though unfaithful. As he betrayed me, he has betrayed you he takes from you honour and life… I open my arms to you; I wish to give back to you life and honour. ANNA: Ah, what proof you give to me of your generous heart! Perish the day when, as a traitor I left you for that cruel man! Righteous Heaven has punished me for that betrayed faith… I found nothing on the throne other than anguish and horror. HENRY: (The deception is clear, futile the conspiracy is clear enough… But, you treacherous pair, do not think that I would ever retract… You will still be punished for your cunning deceits… You will never have a grief more cruel you will never have greater torment.) Let them be taken to the Council, O guards. ANNA: Do you still insist on that? PERCY: Let the Council hear of it. HENRY: Go, confess your former bond, Do not fear that I might want to undo it. ANNA: Heaven! Explain yourself…repressed fury most terrible is displayed in your face. HENRY: False pain! Your own deceit will fall on your hated heads! On the throne of England another lady will ascend more worthy of affection: abhorred, infamous, false, outcast your name, your blood will be. ANNA and PERCY: May another woman never learn how deadly, alas! how deadly your gift is! May England never hear again of the wicked destruction which was brought on Anna. (Anna and Percy leave between the soldiers) Scene 1 Enrico then Giovanna Seymour. HENRY: She was the wife of Percy before she was that of Henry! The wife of Percy! No, never: this is a lie with which to save themselves from the terrible law which condemns my guilty wife. And if it was true, a not less terrible law will take hold of her… and her daughter too would be involved in her ruin. JANE: Sire... HENRY: Come, Seymour…you are queen. JANE: Ah! Sire…my remorse guides me to your feet. (to worship: Henry lifts) HENRY: Remorse… JANE: Bitter, extreme, horrible. I saw Anna. I heard her; I have her tears in my heart, have pity on her and thus on me; I do not want to be the cause of her death, nor can I be… My king must have my final farewell. HENRY: More than your King, I am your lover, I am your lover who had your oaths, and who soon, before the altar will have others more sacred. JANE: Ah! If only I had never offered you those deadly oaths which doomed me; to expiate them, O Sire I will go into a remote exile where no living glance may reach where no one may hear the sound of my sighs but Heaven HENRY: Are you mad? And from where in you comes such a strange proposal, O lady? And do you hope by leaving that Anna will be saved? I hate her all the more henceforth. I hate her now more that she thus afflicts you, and troubles you. That she went so far as to extinguish your love for me. JANE: Ah! it is not extinguished… It consumes my heart! By the indomitable flame to deep-rooted virtue. by these bitter pangs, by the tears which it cost me… hear my prayer… don't let Anna die for me… Before Heaven and before men don't make me any more guilty. HENRY: Silly girl! You are not… (the doors to the rooms open) But refrain yourself: The Counsel have finished. JANE: Ah! Listen to me… HENRY: Restrain yourself. (severely; Jane remains, greatly afflicted) Scene 2 Hervey with the sheriffs who are carrying the sentence of the Counsel, courtiers and ladies run up from every side. HERVEY: Parliament has unanimously unbound the royal knot… Anna, an unfaithful wife, is condemned to death, and with her, everyone who was an accomplice and instigator. CHORUS: To you, Supreme Judge, the sentence is committed. The only hope to the unfortunate ones, is the royal clemency: merciful kings are the images of Heaven above. HENRY: I will reflect on it: justice is the primary virtue of kings. (Takes the sentence from the hands of the sheriffs. Jane approaches Henry with dignity. The Chorus stop at a distance.) JANE: Ah! Think that heaven and earth have their eyes turned on you; since every heart has its faults it has a duty to have mercy on others. Let Henry listen to pity though the King is pushed to severity. HENRY: Enough: go out and let Parliament be gathered before me again. CHORUS: Let Henry listen to pity though the King is pushed to severity. (They leave. Henry enters into the Counsel chamber.) Scene 3 Enrico enters into the Counsel chamber. A hall in the prison in the Tower of London. The back and the doors and occupied by soldiers. Percy escorted by the guards, then Rochefort. PERCY: Are you condemned to death too, you who are guilty of no fault? ROCHEFORT: My fault is serious, that of being Anna's brother. PERCY: Oh! what a terrible abyss you are drawn into. ROCHEFORT: I deserve to fall. I, who was goaded by blind ambition, seduced Anna to aspire to the throne. PERCY: Oh! friend…to my sorrow yours is added. Ah! if I could still hope for you to be saved, this hope would make death less painful and less bitter to me. ROCHEFORT: Let us share our strength…someone is coming. Scene 4 Hervey and above. HERVEY: I am the messenger of glad tidings to you. The King has mercifully granted life to you both. PERCY: Life to us! And Anna?… HERVEY: She must submit to her just condemnation. PERCY: And does he hold me to be so cowardly, so false, that I would want to live when she dies, she who is innocent! Return to him and tell him that I refuse such a deadly gift. Tell him that in this heart the flame is as sacred as my love is pure which is born of virtue, tell him that in my heart amidst my woes, honour speaks. Come, unhappy friend, this is the only comfort which remains to me, to embrace you and die. Alas, restrain your tears. Preserve yourself so that you can remember the dreadful fate of us both, and then let the knowledge console you that Percy, after the last innocent embrace of tender friendship thinking of her, of her…at least died, with her name on his lips and moreover, in his heart. Live, I entreat you, seek a land less sad less painful, in which an innocent man might have safe asylum; seek a shore in which it might not be forbidden to you to pray for us. Ah! let someone remain on earth to bewail our fate. ROCHEFORT: Oh Percy! I am no less strong, No less constant than you. HERVEY: Have you decided? ROCHEFORT: You heard… ROCHEFORT and HERVEY: Death. HERVEY: Let them be separated. PERCY and ROCHEFORT: Friend!…farewell. PERCY: Seeing your constancy reassures my heart, I feared only your pain I suffered only for your suffering Both of us can face the final hour which advances, since we leave no-one here below, nor fear, nor desire. (They bid each other farewell and leave between the soldiers.) Scene 5 The servants of Anna come out of the prison where is enclosed. CHORUS (ALL): Who can see her dry eyed in such anguish, in such mourning and not feel their heart break? CHORUS (PART): Now mute and motionless like cold stone; now at length and suddenly studying the passage; now sad now pale with a shadow over her face; now composing her face into a smile: her appearance changes as often as thoughts and sentiments are aroused in her in her frenzy, in her grief. Scene 6 Anna comes from her prison. She appears in disordered dress, her head uncovered and moves forward slowly, sunk in deep thought. A universal silence. Servants surround her, strongly moved. She observes them attentively and seems to calm herself. ANNA: Are you weeping? whence such tears? This is a wedding day. The King awaits me…the altar is lit up and bedecked with flowers. Quickly, give me my white cloak; decorate my hair with my crown of roses… Don't let Percy know of it… The King demands it. CHORUS: Oh! What sad memories! ANNA: Oh! Who is mourning? CHORUS: Oh! What sad memories! ANNA: Oh! who is mourning? Who spoke of Percy?…Don't let me see him. Let me hide from his gaze. It is no use. He is coming… He accuses me…he decries me. Oh! forgive me… I am unhappy. Take me from this extreme misery. Are you smiling? Oh joy! Don't let me die, don't let me die alone. Guide me to the sweet mansion of my birth, to the green plane-trees to the quiet river, that still murmers with our sighs. There, I forget the streams of anguish, give me back one day of my early years, just one day of our love. CHORUS: Who can see her dry eyed in such anguish, in such mourning and not feel their heart break? Scene 7 The sound of drums can be heard. The guards present themselves. Hervey and the courtiers. ANNA: (shaking herself) What is that gloomy sound?... what do I see?... Hervey, the guards? (observes them attentively. Awakes from her trance) HERVEY: (to the guards) Go, let the prisoners be brought from their cells. ANNA: Oh! You shake me from my trance at such a moment, O Heaven! To what are you awakening me… (From various prisons come Rochefort, Percy and then finally Smeton.) ROCHEFORT and PERCY: Anna! ANNA: Brother! And you, Percy! for me, for me you are dying! SMEATON: I alone ruined you, curse me… (coming forward and kneeling at Anna's feet) ANNA: Smeton! (he draws back as if terrified and covers his face with his cloak) PERCY: Wretch! SMEATON: Ah yes…I am…let me go down into the shadows with that name, I let myself be seduced by the King. I accused you believing I would save your life, and I was pushed to lie by an insane desire, a hope, which I have held repressed in my heart for a whole year. Curse me. ANNA: Smeton! Come here. Get up, what are you doing? Why don't you tune your harp? Who cut its cords? (Smeton is still on his knees; she raises him.) ROCHEFORT: Anna. PERCY: What is she saying? LADIES: She returns to her delirium. ANNA: They convey a low sound like the groan cut short of a heart that dies…it is my broken heart which sighs its last prayer to Heaven. Hear it, all of you. ROCHEFORT, PERCY and SMEATON: Oh! cruel torment! CHORUS: She's dreaming. ANNA: Heaven: grant repose at last to my long pangs and at least let these last heartbeats be ones of hope. ALL: Let her final delirium be prolonged, merciful Heaven; let her beautiful spirit rise up to your bosom. (Cannon shots are heard in the distance and the ringing of bells. Anna comes to, little by little.) ANNA: Who awoke me? Where am I? What do I hear? A festive sound? what could it be? tell me.. CHORUS: The Queen is acclaimed by a happy people… ANNA: Be silent…cease. There lacks, alas, there lacks only the blood of Anna to complete the crime, and it will be spilt. (she falls into the arms of her ladies) ALL: Heaven! Spare her wounded heart this blow which she cannot bear. ANNA: False couple, I do not call down the final vengeance in this terrible hour; I go down into the open grave which awaits me with pardon on my lips, May they obtain mercy and favour for me in the presence of a God of pity. (swoons) ALL: Unfortunate woman…she faints…She is dying! (The sheriffs appear to take the prisoners. Rochefort, Smeton and Percy go to meet them and indicating Ann exclaim:) ALL: The victim is already sacrificed. |