Vanessa is an opera in three (originally four) acts by Samuel Barber with an original English libretto by Gian-Carlo Menotti. It was composed in 1956–1957 and was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 15, 1958 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos in a production designed by Cecil Beaton and directed by Menotti. Barber revised the opera in 1964, reducing the four acts to the three-act version most commonly performed today.
¤ Synopsis: Setting . . . Vanessa’s country house in a northern country (about 1905)
• Act 1
Vanessa, Erika, and the Baroness await the arrival of Anatol, a man who had been Vanessa’s lover twenty years before. After his departure, she had covered up all the mirrors of the house until his expected return, unwilling to face looking at her aging self. Thinking that the man who arrives and who is called Anatol is her former lover, Vanessa refuses to reveal her face to him until he says he still loves her. He says that he does, but she does not recognize him. However, it is the young Anatol who has come, his father now being dead. Upset, Vanessa leaves the room, and Erika and Anatol now enjoy the meal and wine meant for Vanessa and his father.
• Act 2
Erika tells the Baroness that the young Anatol seduced her on his first night in the house and the Baroness scolds her. Erika has fallen in love with Anatol, but resists his marriage proposal because she doubts his sincerity. Not knowing that Erika loves the young man and in her delusionary state of mind, Vanessa tells her niece that she still loves him, despite Erika’s warning that he is not her former lover. The Baroness tells Erika to fight for Anatol. She is unsure if he is worthy of her efforts. Again, he proposes, and, again, she declines.
• Act 3
The doctor is drunk at a New Year’s Eve ball. The Baroness and Erika refuse to come to the party to hear his announcement of Anatol and Vanessa’s engagement. The doctor goes to fetch them, while Vanessa tells Anatol her fears. Finally Erika, who, unbeknownst to everyone else, is pregnant, comes downstairs, but faints, clutching her stomach, while the doctor is making the announcement. She recovers and flees into the freezing weather in order to abort her child. (In the original she says, «His child! It must not be born!» which makes clear her motivation for going out into the cold, but this line is dropped in the revision.)
• Act 4
Vanessa is happy when Erika is found alive, and she asks Anatol why Erika is acting so strangely and whether he thinks that she loves him. He explains that she does not. Continuing in her delusionary state, Vanessa begs Anatol to take her away. Meanwhile, Erika confesses to the Baroness that she had been pregnant, but is no longer. As Vanessa and Anatol finalize their preparations to move to Paris, Vanesa asks Erika why she ran away. The niece replies that she was just being foolish, and Vanessa tells her that she may never come back to the house where she has been living. After the couple leaves, Erika covers the mirrors and closes up the house, just as Vanessa had done before her. She says that it is now her turn to wait.
¤ Highlights . . .
◊ . . . from Act 1 ↓ [Frederica von Stade]
(Sleighbells in the distance, gradually increasing.)
Listen! They are here. (Erika rises and goes to the window.) I can see the lights.
(Vanessa rises and runs across to the window, then enters the ‘jardin d’hiver’, peering out. – The tower bell begins to ring faster and louder.
Lights from the sleigh are seen in the garden. – Erika runs across the room and pulls the bell-chord. – Sleighbells are by now ‘f’. – They cease.)
Vanessa (returning, almost hysterically) He has come, he has come! Go and call all the servants. Light up the courtyard. I shall wait here.
(Erika starts to run out of the room.) And, Erika, (grasping her) let me be alone with him when he comes in.
(Erika exits. In great agitation Vanessa paces up and down the room. – She goes to the mirror, as if to uncover it, but hesitates and turns away.
– Outside are heard the bustle and turmoil of arrival, servants rushing to and fro. – Vanessa sits down by the fire with her back to the door.
– Suddenly, the door is thrown open. In the semi-darkness, the figure of Anatol is seen standing silhouetted in the lighted doorway.)
Vanessa (with restrained emotion, and without looking or moving toward him)
Do not utter a word, Anatol, do not move; you may not wish to stay.
For over twenty years in stillness, in silence, I have waited for you.
I have always been sure, I have always known you would come back to me, Anatol;
I have scarcely breathed so that Life should not leave its trace and nothing might change in me that you loved;
alone, apart, unseen, I have waited for you. (Anatol slowly approaches her and takes her hand. She rises suddenly, always with her back to him.)
Oh, how dark, how desperate, how blind, to let the days go by unmarked, unheeded!
How endless, how lonely, how wrong to rob a beating heart of time and space!
Beauty is the hardest gift to shelter, harder than Death to stay. All this I have done for you.
(Anatol approaches her from behind, grasping her outstretched hand. – She releases her hand.)
Now listen, listen well: (very tenderly) Unless you still love me I do not want you to see me, Anatol.
Without love do not dare look in my eyes / look into eyes because all change,
all change begins when Love has died, when Love had died.
Tell me, Anatol, do you love me? Do you still love me as once you did?
For if you do not, I shall ask you to leave my house this very night! (Vanessa does not move.)
Anatol (simply) Yes, I believe I shall love you.
(For the first time Vanessa turns around and looks at him. She is momentarily frozen in horror, then staggers back.)
Vanessa – Ah no, ah no, ah no! My God, who are you? Impostor, cheat! Help me, someone help me!
(Erika runs in.) It is not he, it is not he! I do not know him. I have never seen him.
Have him put out of the house! Help me, help me upstairs; I think I shall faint.
(Erika supports her as they exit. – Left alone, Anatol, who has scarcely moved during the previous scene, casually walks to the middle of the room and looks curiously about him. – Noticing Vanessa’s handkerchief which she has dropped, he picks it up and puts it an a chair. He lifts the cover of the mirror. – He approaches the supper-table, appraises the wine and table setting and is not displeased. – Erika hurriediy enters. – Anatol turns to her with an ironic bow.)
◊ ◊ ◊ . . . from Act 2 ↓
(Vanessa and Anatol, in skating togs, appear in the ‘jardin d’hiver’ carrying their skates and still laughing.) Vanessa (ringing a bell-chord for the servants) No, you are not as good a skater as your father was! Anatol – But I’m a luckier man, perhaps. (They come into the main room. During the following dialogue they will be taking o their scarves boots etc., which will then be collected by the Majordomo) Anatol (to Erika) Good morning, Erika, why didn’t you join us? Erika – Because you forgot to ask me. Anatol – Did I? (going up to the Baroness) Ah, good morning, Baroness. Vanessa – Save your breath: she has become so old that she only understands the language of the young. (The Doctor enters, greeting Erika.) Anatol – Are we not young? Vanessa (teasingly) We lost our innocence long ago, my dear. Doctor – Good morning, good morning. Vanessa – Good morning, Doctor. Doctor – What a pretty pair you made skating on the lake! (with a twinkle) I saw you, I saw you. (In the meantime, two butlers have appeared in the ‘jardin d’hiver’ bringing in breakfast and co ee.) Vanessa – You must breakfast in a hurry or we shall be late for chapel. (Anatol stands by the fireplace, leaning on the mantel. – A butler had entered with a bunch of flowers which Erika places in various vases. – The Doctor stands, holding his pipe and reminiscing. Vanessa returns from the ‘jardin d’hiver’ with a cup of co ee.) Doctor (in a leisurely manner) Ah, how good it is to see this house alive again! Vanessa – Yes, dear Doctor (reflecting) Perhaps the day is near when I shall unveil the mirrors and the portraits. Doctor (to Anatol) Ah, sir, this used to be /a gay house once. Vanessa – The day may be near to open all the rooms and give the greatest ball this county has ever seen. Doctor – Do you still remember, as a young girl, the garden parties and the games? (Erika stands behind the sofa. Anatol kneels on the sofa, gently caressing her.) Vanessa (lingering) – Oh yes, oh yes, (with mounting enthusiasm) I shall light the lake with Chinese lanterns; … Doctor (rising) … and the hills with bonfires; … Vanessa – I shall call the peasants with their accordions and fiddles.16 Doctor – Do you still remember our country dances, Milady? Vanessa (rising) Are you too old to dance them, dear Doctor? Doctor – What impertinence! (trying out a few steps) “Under the willow tree…” (turning to Vanessa and putting his pipe down on the table) Come, come, let us show them who is the best dancer here! (He begins to dance with Vanessa⇐) “Under the willow tree two doves cry, two doves cry … ah oh! Where shall we sleep, my love, whither shall we fly? … The wood has swallowed the moon, the fog has swallowed the shore, the green toad has swallowed the key to my door.” Anatol – Ah, charming, charming; I wish I could compete with you, Doctor. Doctor – Nonsense, young man; give me your hand and I’ll show you the steps! (Erika goes over the table and stands behind Vanessa, who is seated.) Doctor (showing him) – Right foot first – back, then left, forward, slide. One, two, three, reverse, two, three, /one. (Anatol dances with the Doctor.) Vanessa and Erika – “Under the willow tree etc.” Doctor – Two, three, right, /two, three, left, /left foot, right foot. /Two, three, forward, /two, three, backward. /Ah, charming, charming … (They all laugh as they see Anatol completely confused.) Doctor – No, no! No, no! What do they teach you in school today? Vanessa – Stop this nonsense and hurry to your breakfast! I must go up and change. (Vanessa takes her mu and starts to go to her room. – The Doctor takes Anatol by the arm and they start to the ‘jardin d’hiver’.) Doctor (on the way out) Do you play a good game of chess, sir? Anatol – I’m afraid I don’t play at all. Doctor – How the world has changed! I can’t imagine what young people do in the evenings nowadays. (They go out and are seen outside by the breakfast table, serving themselves.) Vanessa (returning) Erika, I am so happy. I know now… it was he I was waiting for. I kept my youth for him; (tenderly) he sent me his younger self. Anatol, Anatol! Erika (suddenly agitated) – Aunt Vanessa, don’t be fooled by a name. It is another man who has come. Vanessa – No, Erika. He carries his father’s destiny with him and he knows it, he knows it! Erika – What makes you say that? Vanessa – I must tell you what happened out skating. Erika – What happened? Vanessa – He stopped me… and looked in my eyes; (sitting) and then he said: “Christmas is near and the winter will pass. It is time for me to leave now but I cannot find the strength to go”. Erika – Did he say that? Vanessa – Yes, those very words. Erika – And then? Vanessa – Then I asked: “What makes you so weak?”. Erika – What did he say? Vanessa – He took my hand … Erika – He took your hand?! Vanessa – … and he answered: (with increasing intensity) “I came as a guest; I am foolish enough to want to leave as the master”. Erika (rising) Did he say that? Vanessa – Ah, yes, Erika! Erika – Then? … Vanessa – There was a long silence. Erika (coming very close to Vanessa) And then?… Vanessa – Ha, ha, ha, (facetiously) what a curious niece I have! (She goes toward the ‘jardin d’hiver’ where the young Pastor has just arrived and is seen conversing with the Doctor and Anatol.) Dear me, here is the Pastor; I must hurry. Good morning, Pastor, we shall soon be ready. Have some coffee with us. (She re-enters the room.) Oh, how happy I feel this morning, how happy! (Vanessa exits. – Erika silently observes Vanessa’s departure and then runs and embraces her grandmother, who has watched the preceding without visible emotion.) Erika – Did you hear her? Baroness – You must speak out or you will lose him. Erika – It is his love I want and not his capture. Baroness – Even for love one must fight. . .«…Outside This House the world has changed…» ↓ [Ray Bauwens performs Anatol’s aria]
Anatol – What a sentimental child you are! You belong to another age.
Erika – Has then the human heart so changed? (She sits on a chair.)
Anatol – Outside this house the world has changed. Life is swifter than before; there is no time for idle gestures.
I cannot offer you eternal love for we have learned today such words are lies.
(more seriously) But the brief pleasure of passion, (going to her) yes, and sweet, long friendship.
(with feeling) Who can resist your gentle beauty, Erika?
(caressing her from behind the chair) Oh, how happy we could be together! Erika! (Erika abandons herself to him.)
Do you know Paris and Rome, Budapest and Vienna? (Erika rises and moves away from him, as if to escape him.)
The velvet rooms for jeweled suppers, (following her)
the coast of Spain for solitude, the gilded Grand Hotels for dancing, the glass and marble stations for goodbyes?
(embracing her) This we could share together if you accept my love
(releasing her) and, who knows, my love might last forever, Erika.
(with unexpected irony) Life is so brief… (Erika is suddenly wounded by his last phrase)
◊ ◊ . . . from Act 3 ↓
(The doctor, drunk, starts to comb his hair, peering into a pocket-mirror.) Very touching, (to himself) very touching, (combing his hair) touching… (Vanessa comes in, resplendent in a balldress, looking very nervous and agitated. – The two maids leave hurriedly. Major-domo gives the Doctor his speech and exits.) Vanessa (to Doctor) Here you are. (She looks toward the rooms upstairs.) Doctor – Yes, yes, I am ready. Don’t worry, I know it all by heart. (beginning to declaim) “Ladies and Gentlemen!…” Vanessa (interrupting him) Oh, be quiet, Doctor. Can’t you see how upset I am? (significantly) They will not come down. Doctor – ’Zut alors.’ We shall announce the engagement without them. Vanessa – I quite expected it of Mother, but Erika… Why, why? What will people think… my own niece Doctor – A little shy, a little shy, that’s all. Vanessa – Please, please, Doctor, you go up. She will not open the door for me, she will not answer. Doctor – I will see what I can do. (going upstairs and talking to himself as he runs out of breath) (“Doctor, dear Doctor, not quite so fast, dear Doctor!”) (He exits.) Anatol (enters from the ballroom) At last I’ve found you (tenderly) What is wrong, Vanessa? (Vanessa sits on the steps and covers her face with her hands as if she were about to cry.) Vanessa – I feel so weak, Anatol, so afraid. Anatol – Afraid of what, my darling? Vanessa (with sudden rage) Why will not those two come down? They sit up there like brooding harpies, ready to feed on carrion. Anatol – Do not be afraid. Erika will come, I know. She promised me she would. Vanessa – Why, then, have they built this wall of silence all around my happiness? Anatol – Forget, forget. I like you most when you forget and smile. Vanessa – What is there I do not know? Could I have been wrong for twenty years? Is there something you have not told me, Anatol? (She buries her head on his shoulder.) Anatol Love has a bitter core, Vanessa. Do not taste too deep, Vanessa. Do not search into the past. He who hungers for the past will be fed on lies. Let your love be new as were we born today, Vanessa. My love has only begun. Vanessa – Love has a bitter core, Anatol, but let me taste this bitterness with you. I shall never take too much if you will offer all, if you will offer all. Anatol – Do not search into the past for you will feed on lies. Vanessa and Anatol – My love cannot begin nor grow nor die for it has always been. Anatol – For ev’ry question let my kiss be the answer. Vanessa – Ah, but is a kiss an answer? Anatol – I did not ask for whom you were waiting that night when first we met. Vanessa – For you, Anatol, for you, my dearest. Anatol – No, Vanessa, for I was only born that night. Vanessa – For you, Anatol, for you. Like the burning phoenix you soared out of the ashes of my shattered dreams. Anatol – Then scatter the ashes to the wind, Vanessa. Follow my flight, Vanessa! Vanessa – I follow, I follow! (Vanessa impulsively kisses his hand; he embraces her. – The Doctor comes down the stairs. – They turn to him. Guests begin to fill the ballroom which during the duet was almost empty.) Doctor – Nothing to worry about; a little frightened, perhaps. (The Major-domo enters.) She will come down, she says, but later. Vanessa (to the Major-domo) Ah, well, let us proceed then; we can wait no longer. Call our people in; have them stand by the door. They should begin their dances right after the announcement. (She goes inside the ballroom. Major-domo exits by a small side door. – Orchestra o -stage. – Guests are dancing in the ballroom.) Anatol (to the Doctor, while following Vanessa) What did she really say? Doctor – She would not speak to me. (They go inside the ballroom. – A group of peasants, inclusing a violinist, an accordionist and a group of children, is ushered in by the Major-domo. They cross the hall and stand by the door leading into the ballroom, making a solid wall with their backs to the audience. The violinist may be a child. – Suddenly Erika, in a white ball dress, appears at the top of the staircase; she seems weak and pale, desperately battling to master herself. – After a little hesitation she begins to descend the stairs – As the music inside fades, only the hum of conversation is heard.) Doctor (inside ballroom) Silence, ev’rybody, silence, please. (At the sound of the Doctor’s voice, Erika stops short, halfway down the stairway, as if suddenly taken very ill. She clutches her stomach.) Ladies and gentlemen, I have the great honor, as an old friend of this noble and distinguished family, which for many years has been a shining example to all of us of what is finest in the traditions of our country, to announce the engagement of our dear Baroness Vanessa von… (The orchestra drowns out the last words of the Doctor. Erika suddenly faints on the steps. Applause is heard inside.) Now let us all drink to the happy couple. (Vanessa and Anatol appear from the ballroom; Vanessa is carrying a tray of sweets for the peasant children.) Chorus (inside) Now to your health! (as the peasant children dance and the violinist and accordionist play upstairs right, so that in watching them, everyone is facing away from the steps where Erika is lying) Prosit, prosit, prosit! (The peasants, musicians, guests, Vanessa and Anatol drift back into the ballroom. – On seeing Erika, Nicholas rushes up the stairs.) “Under the willow tree etc.”. . . Act III ↓ Finale, Part I
Vanessa asks Erika what drove her to run away from home into the cold winter snow in grief and despare. Denying her destructive romance with Anatol (now married to Vanessa), Erika admits she faced unrequited love. Anatol enters in preparation for their journey to Paris. Erika says her goodbyes, and as the music sets up the final quintet, Vanessa begins to reflect on the past 20 years of expectant, stagnant waiting.
Erika – I thought I loved someone who did not love me.
Vanessa – But whom? The young Pastor, perhaps? The gamekeeper?
Erika (hopelessly) What does it matter? It was a foolish thing: it is all over now.
Vanessa (gently) Perhaps he was not the man for you!
Erika – Yes, I know now; he is not the man for me.
(Anatol enters with a lackey who removes two pieces of luggage left in the room.)
Anatol – You must hurry if we wish to reach the station before dark.
(Vanessa goes near the door where a group of servants has assembled to bid her goodbye.)
Vanessa (to a maid) Bring me down my things, Clara.
(embracing her) Oh, do not cry, silly thing. (She talks to each one of the servants who, in turn, kiss her hand.)
Anatol (has remained downstage next to Erika)
There was a time, Erika, when I thought it would be with you that I should leave this house.
(Vanessa takes the Major-domo in her arms a ectionately.)
Erika (to Anatol) Please, forget me. Make her happy, Anatol.
(The Doctor comes back into the room and stops by Vanessa’s side.)
Remember that she loves you the way I never could.
(Vanessa comes back into the middle of the room, followed by the Doctor.)
Vanessa – Let me look around once more. Who knows when I shall see this house again!
(She looks around her. There is a long silence. – The Baroness has risen and they all stand quite motionless.)
To leave, to break, to find, to keep, to stay, to wait; to hope, to dream, to weep and remember.
To love is all of this and none of it is love. The light is not the sun nor the tide the moon.
Anatol, Erika and Baroness (dreaming) To leave, to break…
◊ ◊ . . . from Act 4 ↓ First scene
• Scene 1
Erika’s bedroom. A few hours later. At one side of the room, a small alcove in which part of the bed is seen. It is dawn. The Baroness is sitting by a small fireplace with her back to the audience. The Doctor is standing by a window, peering out anxiously through the panes. Vanessa, in a dressing gown, is pacing nervously up and down the room. Cries and calls and barking of dogs are heard outside.
Vanessa – Why did no-one warn me? Could ev’ryone be as blind as I was not to see the sorrow in her face?
(She listens to the howling of dogs in the distance.) It is almost dawn and they have not found her yet. Erika, Erika, what made you do this?
(to the Doctor) You are her doctor and her lifelong friend. Is it possible you suspected nothing?
Doctor – I have always known I am a bad doctor: now I know I am a bad poet as well, for I have never learned to read the human heart.
(The Doctor sits dejectedly, head in hands.)
Vanessa (suddenly turning to the Baroness) And you, you must surely know something. But, oh no, you will not speak.
Whatever have I done to you to have to bear your awful silence? Oh, I would hate you if you were not my mother.
Doctor – Do not talk like that. (Vanessa goes to the window.)
Vanessa – Why can they not find her? The whole village is looking for her.
Doctor – She cannot have wandered very far in this cutting cold.
Vanessa – What if they do find her! She will not be alive. (She sinks on to a chair and bursts into tears.)
Doctor (soothing) Come, come, you must not despair nor jump to conclusions. It may all be very innocent.
They found no trace of her steps near the lake and the ice was unbroken.
Vanessa – Why must the greatest sorrows come from those we most love?
Erika, Erika, my sweet Erika, why have you done this, why? You who are only as wild as the wild dove and no prouder than the rose?
(with great tenderness) I love you, Erika, I have always loved you as if you were my own child, my own daughter.
Why break my heart just now as it started to beat again? Come back, come back, Erika!
(She goes to Erika’s bed and sits down weeping. – She turns slowly, then runs to the window. – Doctor opens the window.)
Doctor (excitedly) There, look! A group of men is coming towards the house.
Vanessa – Do you suppose…
Doctor – Yes, they are carrying her; they have found her!
Vanessa (opening the window and crying outside) Anatol, Anatol, is she alive?
(She listens for an answer and then closes the window slowly, leaning against it in order not to faint. The Baroness, who has gotten up from her chair, stares at her imploringly.) Yes, oh yes, she is alive; thank God, oh thank you, God!
(The Doctor goes over to the Baroness to reassure her, then quickly exits. Vanessa rings for the servants and begins to prepare the bed in the alcove. – The door of the bedroom is thrown open and Erika is carried in by Anatol, a group of peasants and ball guests, followed by the Doctor. They place her, still wearing her ball dress, on the bed in the alcove.)
Doctor – There, there, gently.
Vanessa – Doctor, how is she?
Doctor – She seems to be all-right.
(to Anatol) Send them all out.
Anatol (to the peasants) You had better go now.
(The Baroness slowly approaches the bed.) Thank you all. You will find wine downstairs and a blazing fire in the kitchen.
(The peasants tiptoe out of the room followed a little later by the guests. The Doctor remains in the alcove with Vanessa. The maids enter hurriedly and go to the alcove to help undress Erika and put her to bed. Care should be taken, that Erika, sheltered by the figures of the maids and the Doctor, remains unseen by the audience.)
Vanessa (coming out of the alcove and leaning against Anatol, who embraces her tenderly)
Oh, in what terror I have been! Anatol, Anatol… (She bursts into tears.)
Anatol – Poor Vanessa, what an endless night! Come into my arms, my dearest. Yes, weep, weep in my arms.
Vanessa – Where did you find her?
Anatol (with great tenderness) On the path to the lake; she was hidden in a small ravine like a wounded bird.
She must have fallen for her frost-white dress was torn and damp with blood.
There she lay in the snow like a Christmas rose; the bitter cold had glazed her lovely face into deep and opaque sleep.
The faint beat of her heart was like an undeciphered signal from another world.
I lifted her into my arms, warmed her against my breast.
I called her name and kissed her eyelids; only then she sighed a little.
. . . from Act 4 ↓ Second scene
• Scene 2 . . .
Vanessa (uncertainly) Erika, before I leave, you must tell me the truth about that night.
Erika – I have told you the truth, Aunt Vanessa.
Vanessa (rising and going to Erika)
No, no, you are hiding something from me and now I must know. I cannot live with that thorn in my heart.
Erika – There was no reason for it; it was a foolish thing to do; it was the end of my youth.
Vanessa (suddenly approaching Erika, torn between mounting suspicion and the desire to avoid the truth)
Tell me, Erika, was it because of Anatol?
Erika – Anatol? Oh no, no!
Vanessa (as above) Swear!
Erika – I swear.
Vanessa – Then what was it? (darkly) Do not torment me, Erika.
Erika (turning her around to face her) You would laugh if I were to tell you as I myself have laughed since then.
Vanessa – Why then?
Erika – I thought I loved someone who did not love me.
Vanessa – But whom? The young Pastor, perhaps? The gamekeeper?
Erika (hopelessly) What does it matter? It was a foolish thing: it is all over now.
Vanessa (gently) Perhaps he was not the man for you!
Erika – Yes, I know now; he is not the man for me.
(Anatol enters with a lackey who removes two pieces of luggage left in the room.)
Anatol – You must hurry if we wish to reach the station before dark.
(Vanessa goes near the door where a group of servants has assembled to bid her goodbye.)
Vanessa (to a maid) Bring me down my things, Clara.
(embracing her) Oh, do not cry, silly thing.
(She talks to each one of the servants who, in turn, kiss her hand.)
Anatol (has remained downstage next to Erika)
There was a time, Erika, when I thought it would be with you that I should leave this house.
(Vanessa takes the Major-domo in her arms a ectionately.)
Erika (to Anatol) Please, forget me. Make her happy, Anatol. (The Doctor comes back into the room and stops by Vanessa’s side.)
Remember that she loves you the way I never could. (Vanessa comes back into the middle of the room, followed by the Doctor.)
Vanessa – Let me look around once more. Who knows when I shall see this house again!
(She looks around her. There is a long silence. – The Baroness has risen and they all stand quite motionless.)
To leave, to break, to find, to keep, to stay, to wait; to hope, to dream, to weep and remember.
To love is all of this and none of it is love. The light is not the sun nor the tide the moon.
Anatol, Erika and Baroness (dreaming) To leave, to break…
The Others – Ah, Anatol, how hard it will be, the backward road of regret!
Vanessa (as above) To find, to keep…
The Others – Ah, poor Vanessa, only to die empty-handed!
Erika (as above) To stay, to wait…
The Others – Erika, Erika, only to kiss the impostor!
Doctor and Baroness (as above) To weep, to hope…
The Others – And, you old people, may death release you before you too clearly remember or cease to dream!
Vanessa – Good-bye, Erika. (She kisses him.)
Erika – Good-bye, be happy, Aunt Vanessa, please, be happy.
Vanessa – Goodbye, mother. (She kisses the Baroness.)
Anatol – Goodbye, Erika. When I see you again, perhaps you will have learned to smile.
Erika – I hope you will still be smiling when I see you again.
(Anatol kisses Erika’s hand.) Good-bye, Anatol, good-by.
Doctor (wiping his eyes) Good-bye, good-bye, my dear ones.
Vanessa (gently to Doctor) Please, please, no tears! Come in the sleigh with us, my friend; we shall drop you in the village.
(Major-domo and a maid enter with coats and wraps.)
Erika – I shall wave good-bye from here.
(Vanessa turns back and embraces Erika, then, after a last look, quietly leaves the room with Anatol and the Doctor. The Major-domo closes the door and Erika is left alone with the Baroness. – She goes to the ‘jardin d’hiver’ and looks out into the snow. One can see that she is making desperate e orts to control her inner agony. At the sound of the departing sleigh she weakly raises her hand to wave good-bye.)
Erika (turns from the window; with a cry) Anatol, Anatol! No, I must never say that name again.
(She comes back into the room and leans against a chair, as if she were about to collapse; but quickly straightens herself and with great determination goes to the wall to pull a bell-chord. – The Baroness slowly moves to ward her usual chair.)
Lucky those people who are so anxious to believe!
* * *
¤ An aria from Samuel Barber‘s underrated opera, Antony & Cleopatre (1966)
⇒ libretto by Franco Zeffirelli; story from the play by William Shakespeare⇐
The setting of the opera is first century, B.C. Rome, and the story concerns the tragic love affair between the Roman general Antony and Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt. There are at least eight other operatic settings of the tale, many from earlier ages, and in different musical styles.
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