Eastern European Literature & Politics
Readings
Reading 1: Mahler, Wittgenstein, Leśmian, Miłosz
Reading 2: Kafka - The Judgment
Reading 3: Musil - The Man Without Qualities
Reading 4: WWI Poetry: Trakl and Debelyanov
Reading 5: Pavlović - Balkan Itinerary
Reading 6: Hašek - The Good Soldier Švejk
Reading 7: Gombrowicz - Diary (selections)
Reading 8: Yiddish Literature & Poetry of the Holocaust
Reading 9: Danilo Kiš - Encyclopedia of the Dead
Reading 10: Levinas - Totality and Infinity (brief selections)
Reading 11: Kundera - The Unbearable Lightness of Being (selections, with “introductions” by Kierkegaard and Nietzsche on the topic of repetition)
Reading 12: Hrabal - Closely Watched Trains (very brief excerpt!)
Reading 13: Havel - The Power of the Powerless (excerpts)
Reading 14: Alexievich - The Unwomanly Face of War (excerpts from intro)
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection” (finale, and the entirety)
O believe, my heart, believe:
Nothing will be lost to you!
Yours, yes yours, is that which you’ve desired,
Yours, that which you have loved,
What you have fought for!
O believe,
You were not born in vain!
Not in vain have you lived, suffered!
That which has come into being
Must perish!
That which has perished must rise again!
Stop trembling!
Prepare yourself to live!
O Pain, you who suffuse all things,
I have been wrested from you!
O Death, you who conquer all things,
Now you are conquered!
With the wings I have won
In the ardent striving of love,
I shall soar away
To the light to which no eye has penetrated!
I shall die in order to live!
Rise again, yes, rise again,
Will you, my heart, in an instant!
That which you have fought for
Shall bear you unto God!
O glaube, mein Herz, o glaube
Es geht dir nichts verloren!
Dein ist, ja dein, was du gesehnt!
Dein, was du geliebt,
Was du gestritten!
O glaube
Du warst nicht umsonst geboren!
Hast nicht umsonst gelebt, gelitten!
Was entstanden ist
Das muss vergehen!
Was vergangen, auferstehen!
Hör’ auf zu beben!
Bereite dich zu leben!
O Schmerz! Du Alldurchdringer!
Dir bin ich entrungen!
O Tod! Du Allbezwinger!
Nun bist du bezwungen!
Mit Flügeln, die ich mir errungen,
In heißem Liebesstreben,
Werd’ ich entschweben
Zum Licht, zu dem kein Aug’ gedrungen!
Sterben werd’ ich, um zu leben!
Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 5
Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 6, “Tragic”
Anton Bruckner, Symphony No. 8
Mozart, Don Giovanni
NOTE: Don Giovanni premiered in Prague, with Mozart conducting.
(Entra la statua. Leporello s'asconde sotto la tavola.)
LA STATUA
Don Giovanni a cenar teco
m'invitasti e son venuto!
DON GIOVANNI
Non l'avrei giammai creduto;
ma farò quel che potrò.
Leporello, un altra cena
fa che subito si porti!
LEPORELLO
Ah padron! Siam tutti morti.
DON GIOVANNI
Vanne dico!
LA STATUA
Ferma un po'! Non si pasce di cibo mortale
chi si pasce di cibo celeste!
Altre cure più gravi di queste
altra brama quaggiù mi guidò!
LEPORELLO
La terzana d'avere mi sembra,
e le membra fermar più non so.
DON GIOVANNI
Parla dunque! Che chiedi? Che vuoi?
LA STATUA
Parlo; ascolta! Più tempo non ho! ecc.
DON GIOVANNI
Parla, parla, ascoltando ti sto, ecc.
LEPORELLO
E le membra fermar più non so, ecc.
LA STATUA
Tu m'invitasti a cena,
il tuo dover or sai,
rispondimi: verrai tu a cenar meco?
LEPORELLO
Oibò; tempo non ha, scusate.
DON GIOVANNI
A tor to di viltate
tacciato mai sarò.
LA STATUA
Risolvi!
DON GIOVANNI
Ho già risolto.
LA STATUA
Verrai?
LEPORELLO
Dite di no!
DON GIOVANNI
Ho fermo il core in petto.
Non ho timor: verrò!
LA STATUA
Dammi la mano in pegno!
DON GIOVANNI
Eccola! (Dà la mano.)
Ohimè!
LA STATUA
Cos'hai?
DON GIOVANNI
Che gelo è questo mai?
LA STATUA
Pentiti, cangia vita,
è l'ultimo momento!
DON GIOVANNI (vuol sciogliersi)
No, no, ch'io non mi pento
vanne lontan da me!
LA STATUA
Pentiti, scellerato!
DON GIOVANNI
No, vecchio infatuato!
LA STATUA
Pentiti! ecc.
DON GIOVANNI
No! ecc.
LA STATUA
Sì!
DON GIOVANNI
No!
LA STATUA
Sì!
DON GIOVANNI
No!
LEPORELLO
Sì! Sì!
DON GIOVANNI
No! No!
LA STATUA
Ah! tempo più non v'è!
(La statua scompare. Da tutte le parti si alzano le
fiamme e la terra comincia a tremare sotto i piedi
di Don Giovanni.)
DON GIOVANNI
Da qual tremore insolito
sento assalir gli spiriti!
Dond'escono quei vortici
di foco pien d'orror?
CORO DI DEMONII
Tutto a tue colpe è poco!
Vieni, c'è un mal peggior!
DON GIOVANNI
Chi l'anima mi lacera?
Chi m'agita le viscere?
Che strazio, ohimè, che smania!
Che inferno, che terror!
LEPORELLO
Che ceffo disperato!
Che gesti da dannato!
Che gridi, che lamenti!
Come mi fa terror!
CORO
Tutto a tue colpe, ecc.
DON GIOVANNI
Chi l'anima, ecc.
LEPORELLO
Che ceffo, ecc.
DON GIOVANNI, poi LEPORELLO
Ah!
(Le fiamme avvolgono Don Giovanni. La scena si
calma ed escono gli altri personaggi.)
Johann Strauss Sr., Radetzky March
(The statue enters. Leporello hides under the table.)
THE STATUE
Don Giovanni, you invited me to dinner
and I have come!
DON GIOVANNI
I never would have believed it,
but I will do what I can.
Leporello, see to it
that another dinner is served at once!
LEPORELLO
Ah, master, we are lost.
DON GIOVANNI
Go, I said!
THE STATUE
Wait a moment! He who dines on Heavenly food
has no need for the food of the mortals!
Other more serious considerations
have caused me to come here!
LEPORELLO
I feel as if I have a fever,
for I cannot control my limbs.
DON GIOVANNI
Speak then! What do you ask? What do you wish?
THE STATUE
I will speak. Listen! My time is short! etc.
DON GIOVANNI
Speak then, for I am listening, etc.
LEPORELLO
For I cannot control my limbs, etc.
THE STATUE
You invited me to dinner,
now you know your duty.
Answer me: will you come to dine with me?
LEPORELLO
Oh my! Excuse him, but he doesn't have time.
DON GIOVANNI
No one will say of me
that I have ever been afraid.
THE STATUE
Make up your mind!
DON GIOVANNI
I have done so already!
THE STATUE
You will come?
LEPORELLO
Tell him no!
DON GIOVANNI
My heart beats firmly.
I'm not afraid: I'll come!
THE STATUE
Give me your hand upon it!
DON GIOVANNI
Here it is! (He gives the statue his hand.)
Oh me!
THE STATUE
What is wrong?
DON GIOVANNI
What is this deadly chill?
THE STATUE
Repent! Change your ways,
for this is your last hour!
DON GIOVANNI (trying to free himself)
No, no, I will not repent.
Let me be!
THE STATUE
Repent, scoundrel!
DON GIOVANNI
No, you old fool!
THE STATUE
Repent! etc.
DON GIOVANNI
No! etc.
THE STATUE
Yes!
DON GIOVANNI
No!
THE STATUE
Yes!
DON GIOVANNI
No!
LEPORELLO
Yes! Yes!
DON GIOVANNI
No! No!
THE STATUE
Ah, your time is up!
(The statue disappears. Flames appear on all
sides and the earth begins to tremble under Don
Giovanni's feet.)
DON GIOVANNI
What strange fear
now assails my soul!
Where do those
flames of horror come from?
CHORUS OF DEMONS
No horror is too dreadful for you!
Come, there is worse in store!
DON GIOVANNI
Who lacerates my soul?
Who torments my body?
What torment, oh me, what agony!
What a Hell! What a terror!
LEPORELLO
What a look of desperation!
The gestures of the damned!
What cries, what laments!
How he makes me afraid!
CHORUS
No horror is too dreadful, etc.
DON GIOVANNI
Who lacerates, etc.
LEPORELLO
What a look, etc.
DON GIOVANNI, then LEPORELLO
Ah!
(The flames engulf Don Giovanni. After his
disappearance everything returns to normal and
the other characters enter.)
Richard Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose), final trio
Premiered in 1911, this comedic opera is widely thought of as a kind of swan song of the Austrian Empire and high Viennese culture; in this famous closing trio (followed by a final duet, not included here), the aging Marshallin graciously surrenders her much younger lover, Octavian, to a girl he has fallen in love with, Sophie. The role of Octavian is a famous “Hosenrolle,” or “pants role,” where the role of a young man is sung by a woman. On a personal note, I saw this performed the last time I was in Vienna, at the Vienna State Opera.
OCTAVIAN
unschlüssig, als wollte er ihr nach
Marie Theres'!
Marschallin bleibt in der Tür stehen. Octavian steht ihr zunächst, Sophie weiter rechts.
MARSCHALLIN
vor sich, zugleich mit Octavian und Sophie
Hab' mir's gelobt, Ihn lieb zu haben in der richtigen Weis'. Dass ich selbst Sein Lieb' zu einer andern noch lieb hab! Hab' mir freilich nicht gedacht, dass es so bald mir aufgelegt sollt' werden!
seufzend
Es sind die mehreren Dinge auf der Welt, so dass sie ein's nicht glauben tät', wenn man sie möcht' erzählen hör'n. Alleinig wer's erlebt, der glaubt daran und weiss nicht wie - da steht der Bub' und da steh' ich, und mit dem fremden Mädel dort wird er so glücklich sein, als wie halt Männer das Glücklichsein verstehen. In Gottes Namen.
OCTAVIAN
zugleich mit der Marschallin und Sophie, erst vor sich, dann Aug' in Aug' mit Sophie
Es ist was kommen und ist was g'schehn, Ich möcht' Sie fragen: darf's denn sein? und grad' die Frag, die spür' ich, dass sie mir verboten ist. Ich möcht' Sie fragen: warum zittert was in mir? - Ist denn ein grosses Unrecht geschehn? Und grad' an die darf ich die Frag' nicht tun - und dann seh' ich dich an, Sophie, und seh' nur dich und spür' nur dich, Sophie, und weiss von nichts als nur: dich hab' ich lieb.
SOPHIE
zugleich mit der Marschallin und Octavian, erst vor sich, dann Aug' in Aug' mit Octavian
Mir ist wie in der Kirch'n, heilig ist mir und so bang; und doch ist mir unheilig auch! Ich weiss nicht, wie mir ist. (ausdrucksvoll) Ich möcht' mich niederknien dort vor der Frau und möcht' ihr was antun, denn ich spür', sie gibt mir ihn und nimmt mir was von ihm zugleich. Weiss gar nicht, wie mir ist! Möcht' alles verstehen und möcht' auch nichts verstehen. Möcht' fragen und nicht fragen, wird mir heiss und kalt. Und spür' nur dich und weiss nur eins: dich hab' ich lieb.
Die Marschallin geht leise links hinein, die beiden bemerken es gar nicht. Octavian ist dicht an Sophie herangetreten, einen Augenblick später liegt sie in seinen Armen.
OCTAVIAN
undecided, as if wanting to follow her:
Marie Therese!
The Marschallin (i.e. Field Marshal's wife) stays in the doorway. Octavian is her first, Sophie on the right.
The MARSCHALLIN
together with Octavian and Sophie
I promised to love him in the right way. That I myself would still love His love for another! Of course, I did not think that it would come so soon!
sighing
There are the many things in the world that you wouldn't believe if you simply heard tell of them. But whoever experiences it believes it, and knows not how. Here I stand, and with that strange girl there he will be as happy as possible, at least according to men's conception of happiness. In God's name.
OCTAVIAN
at the same time as the marschallin and Sophie, first in front of her, then eye to eye with Sophie
Something new has come; something has happened. I would like to ask you: may it be? and the question, I feel, is forbidden to me. I would like to ask you: why is something trembling inside me? - Has a great wrong been done? And precisely this question is the one I can't ask her - And then I look at you, Sophie, and just see you and only feel you, Sophie, and know of nothing but: I love you.
SOPHIE
together with the marschallin and Octavian, first in front of him, then eye to eye with Octavian
I feel like in church, I feel holy, yet scared; and yet it is unholy to me too! I do not know what I feel. (Expressive) I would like to kneel down there in front of the woman and would like to do something for her, because I see she's gives him to me and takes something from him at the same time. I do not know how I feel! I want to understand everything and I do not want to understand anything. I want to ask and not ask, I feel hot and cold. And I only feel you and know only one thing: I love you.
The Marschallin quietly enters the left, the two do not notice. Octavian has come close to Sophie, a moment later she is in his arms.
Arnold Schoenberg, Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night)
Arnold Schoenberg, Drei Klavierstücke (Three Piano Pieces)
Maurice Ravel, Piano Concerto for Left Hand (commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein)
Alban Berg, Violin Concerto (“To the Memory of an Angel”)
Antonín Dvořák, “Song to the Moon” (from the opera “Rusalka”)
A rusalka (or “water-sprite”) is a figure in Slavic mythology, traditionally thought of as the spirit of a girl who died unhappily, typically by suicide by drowning (out of unhappy love) who lurks in lakes and rivers trying to tempt men to the shores and drown them. In Dvořák’s opera, the Rusalka falls in love with a prince who hunts near her lake, and asks a witch to make her human, at the price of losing her speech and immortality — and death if she fails to win the prince’s love. The tale ends tragically, when the prince asks for a final kiss from Rusalka, knowing that it will kill him; she is left alone.
Rusalka
Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém,
světlo tvé daleko vidí,
po světě bloudíš širokém,
díváš se v příbytky lidí.
Měsíčku, postůj chvíli,
řekni mi, kde je můj milý!
Řekni mu, stříbrný měsíčku,
mé že jej objímá rámě,
aby si alespoň chviličku
vzpomenul ve snění na mě.
Zasviť mu do daleka,
řekni mu, kdo tu naň čeká!
O mně-li duše lidská sní,
ať se tou vzpomínkou vzbudí!
Měsíčku, nezhasni, nezhasni!
The Watersprite
O moon, in the deep sky,
Your light sees far away,
You wander round the wide world,
You peek into human dwellings.
O moon, stop for a moment,
Tell me where my dear one is!
Tell him, O silver moon,
That my arms embrace him,
Such that he might, for a moment at least,
Remember me in his dreams.
Shine for him there in the distance,
Tell him who waits for him here!
And if his human soul should dream of me,
May he be awakened by this memory!
O moon, don’t fade, don’t fade!
Leoš Janáček, “On an Overgrown Path”
Bedřich Smetana, Má vlast (My Homeland)
Lament of the Talmud Student
Lament of the Talmud Student
What's the meaning of the rainstorm?
What’s the story that it tells me?
On the window panes the rain-drops
Roll, a turbid stream of tears.
And the boots are worn and tearing,
And without ’tis muddy, stormy;
Winter, too, will soon be coming
And I have no wrap to warm me.
What’s the meaning of the taper?
What’s the story that it tells me?
The tallow downward drips and trickles,
Faintly flaring, dying slowly.
Like a taper weak and weary,
’Lone within this hut I wither,
Till some day in sullen quiet,
Dying they will bear me thither.
What’s the meaning of the old clock?
What’s the story that it tells me?
Its dial quaint and faded yellow,
Each weird stroke resounding heavy.
’Tis a lifeless, soulless object,
Merely striking at each hour,
Lacking spirit, lacking feeling,
Slave to another’s will and power.
What’s the meaning of my being?
What’s the story that it tells me?
Days of youth are vegetating
Waxing old so prematurely.
Days of fast and tears a’plenty,
Bony knuckles for a pillow,
Sacrificing all life’s pleasures
For a life that is to follow.
?מאי-קא משמע-לן דער רעגן?
?
װאָס-זשע לאָזט ער מיר צו הערן
זײַנע טראָפּנס אויף די שויבן
.
קויקלען זיך,װי טריבע טרערן
און דער שטיװל איז צעריסן
און עס װערט אין גאַס אַ בלאָטע׃
באַלד װעט אויך דער װינטער קומען -
.כ׳האָב קיין װאַרעמע קאַפּאָטע
?
מאי-קא משמע-לן דאָס ליכטל
?
װאָס-זשע לאָזט עס מיר צו הערן
ס׳קאַפּעט און עס טריפֿט איר חלבֿ
.און ס׳װעט באַלד פֿון איר נישט װערן
,
אַזוי צאַנק איך דאָ אין קלייז
,װי אַ ליכטל, שװאַך און טונקל
ביז איך װעל אַזוי מיר אויסגיין
.אין דער שטיל, אין מזרח-װינקל
?
מאי-קא משמע-לן דער זייגער
?װאָס-זשע לאָזט ער מיר צו הערן
,מיט זײַן געלבן ציפּער-בלעטל
מיט זײַן קלינגען, מיט זײַן שװערן?
,
ס׳איז אַן אָנגעשטעלטע כּלי
ס׳האָט קיין לעבן, קיין געפֿילן
,
קומט די שעה, דאָ מוז ער שלאָגן
אָן זײַן רצון, אָן זײַן װילן
?
מאי-קא משמע-לן מײַן לעבן
?
װאָס-זשע לאָזט עס מיר צו הערן
,פֿוילן, װעלקן אין דער יוגנט
;
פֿאַר דער צײַט פֿאַרעלטערט װערן
עסן ״טעג״ און שלינגען טרערן
,
שלאָפֿן אויפֿן פֿויסט דעם האַרטן
טויטן דאָ דעם עולם הזה
און אויף עולם הבא װאַרטן
Henryk Górecki, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
The next three pieces are referred to in Imre Kertész’s “Kaddish for an Unborn Child”
Gustav Mahler, 9th Symphony
Béla Bartók, Bluebeard’s Castle (The Fifth Door is Opened)
This one-act opera, in Hungarian, is based on the tale of Bluebeard. He has brought his new wife, Judith, to his castle, which has many closed doors that Judith insists be opened, while Bluebeard objects, begging her to simply love him without demanding full knowledge of his domain. A series of seven doors are opened, revealing: 1. the torture chamber, 2. the armory, 3. the treasury, 4. the garden, and — in this excerpt, 5. the kingdom. But Judith pushes further, into 6. the pool of tears, and 7. the wives —where she discovers his three former wives. In the legend, the wives have been murdered; in the opera, their fate is more ambiguous; Judith joins them and passes through the seventh door, bathed in moonlight, leaving Bluebeard alone. The work is a kind of psychological study of the relationship between love and knowledge.
BLUEBEARD
Judith, love me, but do not ask questions.
Look how my castle is brightening.
Open the fifth door!
JUDITH
Ah!
BLUEBEARD
Behold my kingdom,
survey the sprawling vista.
Is it not a beautiful and vast, vast realm?
JUDITH
Beautiful and vast is your realm.
BLUEBEARD
Meadows of silk, forests of velvet,
Long, silver rivers flow,
and great mountains loom blue in the distance.
JUDITH
Beautiful and vast is your realm.
BLUEBEARD
Now all of this is yours forever.
Here dwell the dawn and the dusk,
here dwell the sun and the moon and the stars,
and they will be your playmates.
JUDITH
That cloud casts a bloody shadow.
What dark clouds will still descend?
BLUEBEARD
Behold, my castle shimmers.
your hand has blessed it,
your hand has blessed it, blessed it;
come, come, and place it on my heart.
JUDITH
But two doors remain closed.
BLUEBEAR
May these two doors remain closed.
Now my castle shall resound with song.
Come, come, I await your kiss!
JUDITH
Open the two doors.
BLUEBEARD
Judith, Judith, I await your kiss.
Come, I await you. Judith, I await you!
JUDITH
Open the two doors.
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Judit, szeress, sohse kérdezz.
Nézd hogy derül már a váram.
Nyisd ki az ötödik ajtót!
JUDIT
Ah!
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Lásd ez az én birodalmam,
messze néző szép könyöklőm.
Ugye, hogy szép nagy, nagy ország?
JUDIT
Szép és nagy a te országod.
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Selyemrétek, bársonyerdők,
hosszú ezüst folyók folynak,
és kék hegyek nagyon messze.
JUDIT
Szép és nagy a te országod.
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Most már Judit mind a tied.
Itt lakik a hajnal, alkony,
itt lakik nap, hold és csillag,
s leszen neked játszótársad.
JUDIT
Véres árnyat vet a felhő!
Milyen felhők szállnak ottan?
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Nézd, tündököl az én váram,
áldott kezed ezt, művelte,
áldott a te kezed, áldott
gyere, gyere tedd szivemre.
JUDIT
De két ajtó csukva van még.
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Legyen csukva a két ajtó.
Téljen dallal az én váram.
Gyere, gyere, csókra várlak!
JUDIT
Nyissad ki még a két ajtót.
KÉKSZAKÁLLÚ
Judit, Judit, csókra várlak.
Gyere, várlak. Judit várlak!
JUDIT
Nyissad ki még a két ajtót.
Richard Wagner, The Valkyrie (Wotan’s Farewell)
This is the closing scene of the second opera in Wagner’s four-opera “Ring Cycle,” officially entitled “The Nibelung’s Ring” (Der Ring des Nibelungen). Wotan, the supreme God, kisses away his daughter’s immortality following her betrayal - though her betrayal was in fact in keeping with his deepest wishes (it’s complicated). According to her wishes, Wotan raises a wall of flame: only a hero who knows no fear can pass through the flames to wake her. This scene is invoked, with a kind of dark humor, by the narrator of Kaddish for an Unborn Child, who of course is bidding farewell to the possibility of ever having a child, and thus identifies with Wotan — quite oddly, since Wagner was a notorious anti-Semite and the favorite composer of Hitler, and is generally associated with German nationalism. Wagner is also cited, to powerful effect, in the climactic scene of the film Come and See.
Farewell, thou valiant, glorious child!
Thou once the holiest pride of my heart!
Farewell! farewell! farewell!
Must I forsake thee,
and may my welcome
of love no more greet thee;
may’st thou now ne’er more ride as my comrade,
nor bear me mead at banquet;
must I abandon thee, whom I love so
thou laughing delight of my eyes?
Such a bridal fire for thee shall be kindled
as ne’er yet has burned for a bride!
Threatening flames shall flare round the fell:
let withering terrors daunt the craven!
let cowards fly from Brünnhilde’s rock!
For one alone winneth the bride;
one freer than I, the god!
(Brünnhilde, deeply moved, sinks in ecstasy on
Wotan’s breast: he holds her in a long embrace.
She throws her head back again and, still
embracing Wotan, gazes with deep enthusiasm in his eyes.)
Thy brightly glittering eyes,
that, smiling, oft I caressed,
when valor won a kiss as guerdon,
when childish lispings of heroes’ praise
from sweetest lips has flowed forth:
those gleaming radiant eyes
that oft in storms on me shone,
when hopeless yearning my heart had wasted,
when world’s delights all my wishes wakened,
thro’ wild wildering sadness:
once more today, lured by their light,
my lips shall give them love’s farewell!
On mortal more blessed once may they beam:
on me, hapless immortal,
must they close now forever.
(He clasps her head in his hands.)
For so turns the god now from thee,
so kisses thy godhood away!
(He kisses her long on the eyes. She sinks back with
closed eyes, unconscious, in his arms. He gently bears
her to a low mossy mound, which is overshadowed
by a wide-spreading fir tree, and lays her upon it.)
(He strides with solemn decision to the middle of
the stage and directs the point of his spear toward a
large rock.)
Loge, hear! List to my word!
As I found thee of old, a glimmering flame,
as from me thou didst vanish,
in wandering fire;
as once I stayed thee, stir I thee now!
Appear! come, waving fire,
and wind thee in flames round the fell!
(During the following he strikes the rock thrice
with his spear.)
Loge! Loge! appear!
(A flash of flame issues from the rock, which swells
to an ever-brightening fiery glow.)
(Flickering flames break forth.)
(Bright shooting flames surround Wotan. With his
spear he directs the sea of fire to encircle the rocks; it
presently spreads toward the background, where it
encloses the mountain in flames.)
He who my spearpoint’s sharpness feareth
shall cross not the flaming fire!
(He stretches out the spear as a spell. He gazes
sorrowfully back on Brünnhilde. Slowly he turns to
depart. He turns his head again and looks back. He
disappears through the fire.)
(The curtain falls.)
Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind!
Du meines Herzens heiligster Stolz!
Leb’ wohl! leb’ wohl! leb’ wohl!
Muß ich dich meiden,
und darf nicht minnig
mein Gruß dich mehr grüßen;
sollst du nun nicht mehr neben mir reiten,
noch Meth beim Mahl mir reichen;
muß ich verlieren dich, die ich liebe,
du lachende Lust meines Auges:
ein bräutliches Feuer soll dir nun brennen,
wie nie einer Braut es gebrannt!
Flammende Gluth umglühe den Fels;
mit zehrenden Schrecken scheuch’ es den Zagen;
der Feige fliehe Brünnhildes Fels!
Denn Einer nur freie die Braut,
der freier als ich, der Gott!
(Brünnhilde sinkt, gerührt und begeistert, an
Wotans Brust: er hält sie lange umfangen.
Sie schlägt das Haupt wieder zurück und blickt,
immer noch ihn umfassend, feierlich ergriffen Wotan in das Auge.)
Der Augen leuchtendes Paar,
das oft ich lächelnd gekos’t,
wenn Kampfeslust ein Kuß dir lohnte,
wenn kindisch lallend der Helden Lob
von holden Lippen dir floß:
dieser Augen strahlendes Paar,
das oft im Sturm mir geglänzt,
wenn Hoffnungssehnen das Herz mir sengte,
nach Weltenwonne mein Wunsch verlangte,
aus wild webendem Bangen:
zum letzten Mal letz’ es mich heut’
mit des Lebewohles letztem Kuß!
Dem glücklichen Manne glänze sein Stern:
dem unseligen Ew’gen
muß es scheidend sich schließen.
(Er faßt ihr Haupt in beide Hände.)
Denn so kehrt der Gott sich dir ab,
so küßt er die Gottheit von dir!
(Er küßt sie lange auf die Augen. Sie sinkt mit
geschlossenen Augen, sanft ermattend, in seine Arme
zurück. Er geleitet sie zart auf einen niedrigen Mooshügel
zu liegen, über den sich eine breitästige Tanne ausstreckt.)
(Er schreitet mit feierlichem Entschlusse in die
Mitte der Bühne und kehrt die Spitze seines Speeres
gegen einen mächtigen Felsstein.)
Loge hör’! lausche hieher!
Wie zuerst ich dich fand, als feurige Gluth,
wie dann einst du mir schwandest,
als schweifende Lohe;
wie ich dich band, bann’ ich dich heut’!
Herauf, wabernde Lohe,
umlod’re mir feurig den Fels!
(Er stößt mit dem Folgenden dreimal mit dem
Speer auf den Stein.)
Loge! Loge! hieher!
(Dem Stein entfährt ein Feuerstrahl, der zur all-
mählich immer helleren Flammenglut anschwillt.)
(Lichte Flackerlohe bricht aus.)
(Lichte Brunst umgiebt Wotan mit wildem
Flackern. Er weist mit dem Speere gebieterisch dem
Feuermeere den Umkreis des Felsenrandes zur
Strömung an; alsbald zieht es sich nach dem
Hintergrunde, wo es nun fortwährend den Bergsaum umlodert.)
Wer meines Speeres Spitze fürchtet
durchschreite das Feuer nie!
(Er streckt den Speer wie zum Banne aus. Er blickt
schmerzlich auf Brünnhilde zurück. Er wendet sich
langsam zum Gehen. Er wendet sich nochmals mit
dem Haupt und blickt zurück. Er verschwindet durch das Feuer.)
(Vorhang fällt.)