Orpheus Chamber Orchestra / Program Notes
Williams Center for the Arts
presents
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven:
Incidental Music from Egmont, Op. 84
Arranged by Andreas N. Tarkmann
Translated and adapted by Philip Boehm
with
Liev Schreiber, Narrator
Karen Slack, Soprano
Thursday / March 18, 2021 / 7:00 p.m.
Original narrative text by Franz Grillparzer to accompany Beethoven’s incidental music to Goethe’s Egmont.
I. Overture
II. Lied: Die Trommel gerühret (“The Drum Stirred”)
III. Entr’acte: Andante
IV. Entr’acte: Larghetto
V. Lied: Freudvoll und leidvoll (“Joyful and Sorrowful”)
VI. Entr’acte: Allegro – Marcia
VII. Entr’acte: Poco sostenuto e risoluto
VIII. Klärchens Tod
IX. Melodram: Süßer Schlaf (“Sweet Sleep”)
X. Siegessymphonie
Presented in association with the Max Kade Haus for German Studies and Visiting Scholars at Lafayette College.
WDIY 88.1 FM, Lehigh Valley Community Public Radio, is the radio sponsor for the 20/21 Williams Center for the Arts Performance Series
About the Artists
Liev Schreiber
Heralded as “the finest American theater actor of his generation” by The New York Times, Liev Schreiber’s repertoire of resonant, humanistic and oftentimes gritty portrayals have garnered him praise in film, theater and television.
Schreiber starred in the title role in Showtime’s critically-acclaimed hit series ”Ray Donovan,” a powerful family drama centering on Ray as L.A.’s best professional fixer—the go-to guy in Hollywood who deftly solves the complicated, controversial and confidential problems of the city’s elite.
Schreiber’s performance has garnered him five Golden Globe Award nominations as Best Actor in a Television Series Drama and three Primetime Emmy nominations as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He also directed the first episode of season four.
Schreiber will next be seen in Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch opposite Owen Wilson, Benicio Del Toro, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody and Timothée Chalamet, as well as Lea Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Mathieu Amalric, Lyna Khoudri, Stephen Park, and Bill Murray.
His most recent film was Marc Meyers’ Human Capital alongside Alex Wolff. Based on Stephen Amidon’s novel of the same name, the film follows two families, one middle-class and one privileged, as their lives intertwine across the social divide. The dramatic thriller is produced through Schreiber and his production company Illuminated Content, with a screenplay by Oren Moverman.
Schreiber narrated Inside The Manson Cult: The Lost Tapes, a two-hour true crime special on Fox about Charles Manson and his loyal followers. He also voiced the character Spots in Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated film Isle of Dogs. Last year, he was seen in IFC’s Chuck, which he also co-produced and co-wrote. The biopic tells the story of Chuck Wepner, the liquor store salesman and heavyweight boxer who was given the opportunity to fight Muhammad Ali as an underdog and was the inspiration for the film Rocky. The film also stars Naomi Watts, Ron Perlman, and Elisabeth Moss.
In 2015, Schreiber was seen in Spotlight, an award-winning film about The Boston Globe’s uncovering the scandal of child molestation within the Catholic Church. Schreiber played Marty Baron, the editor-in-chief of The Boston Globewho assigned the journalists to the task. The film won several awards including an Oscar for Best Picture, a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama), and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Picture. It was also listed on the American Film Institute’s Top Ten Films of 2015.
Schreiber’s many feature credits include Sony’s The 5th Wave; Ed Zwicks’ Pawn Sacrifice; The Good Lord Bird; Lee Daniels’ The Butler; Larry David’s Clear History; Fading Gigolo; The Reluctant Fundamentalist; Salt with Angelina Jolie; X-Men Origins: Wolverine; Defiance with Daniel Craig; Repo Men; The Painted Veil; The Manchurian Candidate, opposite Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington; The Sum of All Fears; Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock; Kate & Leopold; Goon; Every Day; Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet; Spring Forward; The Hurricane; A Walk on the Moon with Diane Lane; The Daytrippers; Nora Ephron’s Mixed Nuts; and Wes Craven’s Scream trilogy.
His portrayal of Orson Welles in Benjamin Ross’ RKO 281 brought Schreiber Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. His other telefilm credits include George C. Wolfe’s Lackawanna Blues and John Erman’s The Sunshine Boys, opposite Woody Allen and Peter Falk. As one of the documentary medium’s foremost narrators, he has lent his voice to such works as Mantle, :03 from Gold; A City on Fire: The Story of the ‘68 Detroit Tigers; Nova; and Nature.
In 2010, Schreiber received his third Tony nomination for his role in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge alongside Scarlett Johansson. His performance as Ricky Roma in the 2005 Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, directed by Joe Mantello, earned him his first Tony Award. He was again a Tony nominee for his portrayal of Barry Champlain in the 2007 Broadway revival of Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, directed by Robert Falls. Other stage work includes in Les Liaisons Dangereuses in the lead role opposite Janet McTeer, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Macbeth, in the lead role opposite Jennifer Ehle, directed by Moisés Kaufman; Othello; Hamlet; Henry V; and Cymbeline.
In 2005, Schreiber made his feature directorial debut with Everything is Illuminated, which he adapted from Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling novel of the same name. The film, starring Elijah Wood and Eugene Hutz, was named one of the year’s ten best by the National Board of Review.
Schreiber currently serves on the Board of Advisors at the Yale School of Drama.
Arrangements for the appearance of Liev Schrieber made through Greater Talent Network, LLC., New York, NY
Karen Slack
Hailed for possessing a voice of extraordinary beauty, a seamless legato, and great dramatic depth, American soprano Karen Slack has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, and San Francisco Opera. She most recently performed Serena in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, and Billie in the world premiere of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones with Opera Theater of St. Louis.
Slack has also appeared as Alice Ford in Falstaff, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Tosca with Arizona Opera, as Aïda at Austin Opera, Emelda Griffith in Champion with New Orleans Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with Nashville Opera, and made her Scottish Opera debut as Anna in Puccini’s Le Villi.
The 2018–2019 season included Tosca with Opera Birmingham, Addie Parker in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with Arizona Opera, Sister Rose in Dead Man Walking with Atlanta Opera, and Serena in Porgy and Bess with Fort Worth Opera. In concert, she was a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Union Symphony Orchestra for Wagner’s Wesendonk Lieder.
The 2019–2020 season included a series of recitals throughout the United States including the Vilar Center for the Performing Arts in Vail, Colorado with pianist Maestro Joe Illick. Equally at home on the concert stage, Slack has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Second Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem with various American orchestras.
Abroad, she has appeared with the Melbourne Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, and most recently with St. Petersburg’s Philharmonic in celebration of the 80th birthday of Maestro Yuri Temirkanov. Slack made her Carnegie Hall debut as Agnes Sorel in Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans with Orchestra St. Luke’s.
Slack’s engagements for the 2020–2021 season include her debut with the Houston Grand Opera for the world premiere of Joel Thompson’s A Snowy Day, Poulenc’s La Voix Humane with Madison and Austin Opera, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall recital with Alan Morrison in the world premiere of a work by American composer Adolphus Halistork, Verdi’s Requiem with Highlander Concert Series at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Susan Kander’s Driving While Black for UrbanArias and a Wagner and Strauss concert with Omaha Opera and Symphony.
A graduate of the Adler Fellowship and Merola Program at the San Francisco Opera, native Philadelphian Slack is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. She is a winner of numerous competitions and awards, most notably the Montserrat Caballé International Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, George London Foundation Award, Marian Anderson ICON Award, Licia Albanese–Puccini Foundation, Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, Portland Opera Lieber Award, Liederkranz Foundation Award, and the Jose Iturbi International Competition for Voice.
Slack is creator and host of the highly successful Facebook live show called Kiki Konversations where she interviews singers, creatives and industry leaders, serves as Artistic Advisor for the Portland Opera and Co-Director of Opera for the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada for the 20/21 season.
Learn more at www.sopranokarenslack.com
Philip Boehm
Translator Philip Boehm’s career zigzags across languages and borders, artistic disciplines and cultural divides. He is the author of more than 30 translations of prose works and plays by German and Polish writers, including Herta Müller, Franz Kafka, and Hanna Krall. For his work as a translator, he has received numerous awards as well as fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation. As a director fluent in several languages, Boehm has staged plays in Poland, Slovakia, and the United States. His most frequent venue is Upstream Theater in St. Louis, which he founded in 2004. The company has produced dozens of works—mostly United States premieres—from nearly 20 different countries.
Boehm’s plays have been seen in Atlanta, Houston, Sacramento, St. Louis and Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, and include Mixtitlan, Soul of a Clone, The Death of Atahualpa, and Return of the Bedbug—a modern fantasia on Mayakovsky’s 1928 satire—as well as adaptations of Büchner’s Woyzeckand Kazimierz Moczarski’s Conversations with an Executioner. For his dramatic work, Boehm has received support from the Mexican-American Fund for Culture as well as the NEA.
He says, “I am continually struck by new overlaps between staging drama and translating prose. In both cases I first listen to the original voice or voices before attempting any re-creation, and my experience working with actors has taught me the importance of keeping a text alive, and of preserving its energy as it travels from one culture to another, whether on the page or in the theater.”
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
In 1972, a group of young artists made history by creating an orchestra without a conductor in which musicians led themselves democratically. Since then, the Grammy Award–winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has recorded more than 70 albums on all major classical labels, toured to 46 countries across four continents, and collaborated with hundreds of world-class soloists.
Orpheus’ 34 member musicians work together as a collective and rotate leadership roles for all works performed, giving flight to unconventional interpretations. This democratic structure also extends to organizational functions including programming and governance: the orchestra elects three members to Artistic Director positions and three to the Board of Trustees.
An essential part of New York City’s cultural landscape, Orpheus presents annual series at Carnegie Hall and the 92nd Street Y. The orchestra tours to major international venues and has appeared regularly in Japan for 30 years; recent engagements include the Prague Spring and Dresden Music Festivals and a 12-concert tour of Asia. The orchestra’s extensive discography includes a February 2019 release on Deutsche Grammophon of Mendelssohn concertos with pianist Jan Lisiecki. Champions of chamber orchestra repertoire, Orpheus has commissioned and premiered more than 50 new works.
Orpheus shares its collaborative model, the Orpheus Process®, through education and community engagement initiatives that promote equity and access to the arts for listeners of all ages around the world. These include programs for K-12 students, opportunities for emerging professional musicians, and a music and wellness program for people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Violin
Abigail Fayette
Laura Frautschi
Renée Jolles
Richard Rood
Eriko Sato
Eric Wyrick
Viola
Dana Kelley
Nardo Poy
Cello
Eric Bartlett
Jonathan Spitz
Bass
Gregg August
Flute
Elizabeth Mann
Oboe
James Austin Smith
Clarinet
Alan Kay
Bassoon
Gina Cuffari
Horn
Eric Reed
Trumpet
Louis Hanzlik
Timpani/Percussion
Maya Gunji
Program Notes
Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770 and lived until 1827, forming a bridge between the classical and romantic periods in music.
Following a difficult childhood under an overbearing father, at age 21 Beethoven moved to Vienna, where he studied with the composer Joseph Haydn. He rose to fame in his early 30s with the premieres of his First and Second Symphonies, while the composer began to lose his hearing. By the time of his death at 56, Beethoven was able to hear only very low or loud sounds, yet he wrote music until the end of his life.
The incidental music for Egmont is considered to be part of Beethoven’s middle period, also called his “heroic” period. He composed Egmont shortly after his famous Fifth Symphony. The two works share similar themes of heroism, overcoming obstacles, and a reckoning with fate.
Egmont is a tragic drama in five acts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a poet, playwright, and novelist considered the greatest German writer of his time. Goethe began to write Egmont in 1775, but the play would take him 12 years to finish, and it was first produced in 1789.
Twenty years later, in 1809, the Burgtheater in Vienna commissioned Beethoven to compose incidental music for a production of Egmont. Beethoven wrote an overture and nine musical pieces for a small orchestra and a soprano soloist playing the role of Egmont’s lover Clara.
Beethoven’s music for Egmont was a hit, and orchestras wanted to be able to play the incidental music without casting and staging the whole play. Several poets transformed Goethe’s original text into a narration to tell the story along with the music, the most famous of which, by Franz Grillparzer, premiered in 1821. Orpheus’ translator, Philip Boehm, used Grillparzer’s text as the source material for our translation.
This concert was recorded at Beechwood Park in Hillsdale, New Jersey in October 2020.
Special thanks to Mayor John Ruocco, Denise Kohen, and Eileen McLaughlin.
This concert was made possible through the generous support of Berjé and the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, New York; and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Video and Audio Production
James Sapione, Director and Editor
Robert Anderson, Audio Engineer
Aaron DiPiazza, Assistant Director, Score Reader
Hiram Becker, Camera Operator
Andrew Trost, Camera Operator
Evan Fairbanks, Camera Operator
Panusha Patel, Assistant Audio Technician
EGMONT
Narrative text by Franz Grillparzer to accompany Beethoven’s incidental music to Goethe’s Egmont (Op. 24)
Freely adapted from the German by Philip Boehm
1.
At curtain’s rise we find ourselves in Brussels—
a city known for wealth and joie de vivre.
A crossbow match is taking place this morning;
the mood is lively, festive, and carefree.
Gossip flies as rumors race from mouth to mouth:
amid the cheers are voices of dissent,
and amid the jubilation, hints of doubt—
though not enough to mar the merriment.
Many wish their rulers nothing but good will,
while others hope the current state won’t last …
Many just abide the present, keeping still,
though in their hearts they’re yearning for the past.
The crossbow snaps, bolts whistle through the air,
each one hits an inner ring with expert aim.
The crowd applauds, all ready to declare
the victor, but then a stranger joins the game.
The odds are slim … and yet he chose to enter …
He draws his bow, takes aim, and then lets fly …
and every shot lands in the very center!
The day is his! The crowd lets out a cry.
They shake his hand and shout congratulations
and learn it’s Egmont’s man who’s won the prize!
Egmont! The hero of the Flemish nation,
that yet pays homage to the Spanish throne,
—to whom the noble count is ever loyal,
just as he’s faithful to the church in Rome.
Many here wish that he’d been named the royal
steward. But still—he’s back and here to stay—
To Egmont’s health! Let’s drink the night away!
But now let’s wend our way back into town
and to the half-deserted streets and squares,
whose contours soften as the sun goes down,
while lamps appear in windows here and there.
In one house sits the Regent Margaretha,
who with the Habsburgs’ blessing rules the state,
but we shall leave her there and come back later—
right now we’re headed to another place.
A narrow street leads to a smaller dwelling,
with comfortable yet very humble rooms …
and since we’re well-intentioned, we’ll presume
to listen in and watch what is unfolding:
A woman sits inside, advanced in years,
her means as modest as her manner’s mild:
her bonnet white, her dress dark and demure,
she’s smiling as a young man courts her child.
Fritz Brackenburg is deep in love with Clara—
he’s just a common citizen like she—
and while for him there’s truly no one fairer,
he isn’t sure she feels the same as he.
Now Fritz is helping Clara with her knitting
he holds the yarn she unwinds off his hands,
and looks at her entranced as she is sitting …
yet all her thoughts are with another man.
And that man, too, returns her adoration,
why even now he’s heading to her home—
except because she’s well below his station,
her mother doesn’t want the world to know.
Love may be blind but not the prying eyes
of jealous neighbors, who would soon discover
the man whom Clara’s taken as her lover,
the man whose fame disables all disguise,
because—as you have guessed—it is none other
than Egmont, for whom duty and devotion
rank always first, which Clara understands …
She wishes she could channel her emotions
and love him like a soldier, as a man!
She would embrace him by embracing arms
and fighting by his side would fear no harm.
“Die Trommel gerühret” – “The drum calls to battle”
| Die Trommel gerühret, Das Pfeifchen gespielt! Mein Liebster gewaffnet Dem Haufen befiehlt, Die Lanze hoch führet, Die Leute regieret. Wie klopft mir das Herz! Wie wallt mir das Blut! O hätt’ ich ein Wämslein Und Hosen und Hut! Ich folgt’ ihm zum Tor ‘naus |
The drum calls to battle The fifes follow suit My darling is armed and Commanding his troops: He leads his men onward To glory and honor. My blood starts to surge! My heart’s beating fast! I just need a jerkin And doublet and hat! I’d follow him blindly |
So take what happiness you find, rejoice!—
we’ll soon find out there’s no time to delay:
From near at hand I hear a warning voice,
while evil from afar heads right this way.
2.
The voice is William’s, as he warns his friend
of the dangers he’ll encounter if he waits.
The king is bent on bringing to an end
every heresy that threatens church and state,
and so the Duke of Alba has been sent
to quell the Protestants and quash dissent.
The Prince of Orange, a very noble soul,
fears Margaretha soon will be supplanted;
he also knows the Duke is Egmont’s foe,
and dares not take his liberty for granted.
Prince William tells his friend of his suspicions,
and counsels Egmont to escape the town
he thinks the Duke will bring the Inquistion
and trample rights once sanctioned by the Crown.
“You best beware, my friend,” the prince advises,
“the Duke may soon be calling for your head,
because I’m certain that he realizes
you serve our cause far more alive than dead—
the one place where the Duke and I agree.”
He pleads his case, but sadly all in vain,
since Egmont is determined not to leave:
he thinks his service to the King of Spain
will guarantee some measure of protection.
He’ll face the Iron Duke, and will insist
that all existing rights must be respected,
and liberties once granted not dismissed.
The Prince of Orange exhorts his friend to hurry:
“You’re standing on the edge of an abyss!”
But Egmont, ever sanguine, isn’t worried:
“Dear friend, I’ve been through trials far worse than this!
And even if some danger should arise,
that is no cause to shy away from living.
Our chariot is pulled across the sky
for but a little while, and we are given
but just a single chance to hold the reins.
All we can do is try to steer between
the chasm and the cliff, and towards our fate …
and who knows where that may take us …”
O Egmont! William sees where you are headed:
as he bids you farewell he starts to cry,
for this is the answer that he had dreaded …
O who will it take to open your eyes?
3.
“Freudvoll und leidvoll …” – full of joy and sorrow:
and that holds true for love just as for life:
and though grief lies in wait for her tomorrow,
fair Clara’s love is full of joy tonight.
And as the scene unfolds our hearts are torn
both by the youthful passion of the lovers
and by the deep lamenting of the mother:
“The noble count has turned your head!” she warns:
“Where will it lead? You better not forget
that time is flying by, and love and youth
end all too soon, and then you will regret
you gave up what you had, and that’s the truth!”
“Let time march on for all I care,” cries Clara:
“for sooner or later we all must die,
but Egmont! without you I could not bear it!
That’s just not possible!” …
“Freudvoll und leidvoll” – “Joyful and woeful”
| Freudvoll Und leidvoll, Gedankenvoll seyn; Langen Und bangen In schwebender Pein; Himmelhoch jauchzend Zum Tode betrübt; Glücklich allein Ist die Seele, die liebt. |
Joyful and woeful with no peace of mind yearning and burning with pain and delight heavenly raptures and fretful despair —happy alone is the soul who’s in love. |
… and just then Egmont steps inside!
and for the last time in this earthly life
an angel smiles on him from high above,
but the emotion that uplifts their hearts—
the shudders of joy, the passionate love—
no spoken words can possibly portray,
so what words can’t tell, music will convey:
4.
Hero, awake! For love of fatherland
demands you now must leave such joyful pleasures:
the sword is twitching in the headsman’s hands:
the Iron Duke has come with chains and fetters,
and torches ripe for setting towns in flame.
You must now risk your life and gird for battle,
defend your people’s rights and your good name
and if by chance you fall, what truly matters
is that you went down fighting all the same.
The very blood that sparked your ardent passion
must now fuel anger, wrath, and bitter hate,
The foe is near! Your people call for action!
And Egmont cannot leave them to their fate!
Both fame and duty call you to the struggle,
to clear a path for freedom, live or die!
Even now the Duke is at the gates of Brussels
along with throngs of soldiers, thieves and spies.
~
So Egmont meets the royal emissary
to champion his people’s rightful claims
and reassert their loyalty and duty,
and his allegiance to the king of Spain.
Alas, he doesn’t know his own demise
is close at hand: the summons is a ruse the
cold-hearted duke has cleverly devised.
Despite his king’s commands, the duke refuses
the count’s appeal for tolerance and reason:
the king’s free subjects he considers slaves,
religious freedom he considers treason,
and calls the loyal nobles faithless knaves …
and that which is our most treasured possession—
the freedom to think whatever we please—
the Iron Duke would subject to suppression
and punish everyone who disagrees.
“So why not have our heads!” the count exclaims,
scarcely keeping his rising wrath in check:
“for the man of honor it’s all the same
if a boot or a blade is on his neck!
But none of this talk has led anywhere:
I have done naught but agitate the air.”
With that the proud count turns to leave the Spaniard
and is surprised to find his way is barred—
which is of course just as the duke commanded—
and suddenly the room is filled with guards.
The noble count has no choice but surrender
and thereby seal his fate as well as fame.
His valor and his grace will be remembered
while Alba’s cruel deceit stays cloaked in shame.
“William!” he calls out, “you were right to warn me!”
Alas, his friend’s entreaties were in vain,
But now the worst forebodings seem clairvoyant—
o why did he dismiss them with disdain?
The dungeon door is locked, the angry jangle
of the iron keys grates against our ears:
may new sounds rise to soften the harsh clanging
and cause our eyes to fill with tender tears,
let speech be still, since words have done their part:
and let the music play to melt our hearts.
5.
The oak tree struck by lightning burns and crashes,
and with it falls the tender clinging vine,
its loving green embrace reduced to ashes:
o Clara, loyal heart, is this a life?
Her friend condemned, imprisoned by the Spaniard,
she still seeks aid, attempts to raise the cry,
and like a man she carries forth his banner—
and like her love she’s not afraid to die.
The people in the town are seized with terror
to see men build a scaffold in the square:
so many of them feel the same as Clara,
but when it comes to fighting, they’re too scared.
She cannot scale the walls to reach her lover
or batter down the doors to set him free,
so in despair she leaves behind her mother
and chooses for herself eternal peace.
O sweet flower! Soon you’ll be gone,
and will have wilted all alone,
far from the love that was your own.
Weary and spent
your lantern dims – now all is still…
Peace heaven-sent
enfolds your body and your soul.
Aghast, we turn to leave this scene of death
and search instead for light and consolation–
but is there light and solace in the dungeon
where Clara’s friend awaits his final breath?
The judgment is decreed: “when the sun’s rays
redden the sky, his noble blood shall redden
the ground of his beloved fatherland.”
And yet behold him in his final hours!
No fear shows in his eyes, and no despair
has seized his heart: he shows a quiet power
to strengthen all whose hearts are gripped with fear.
The righteous know the proper way to die,
and Egmont keeps his spirit undiminished,
while pondering the varied paths of life
until the dawn shows that the night is finished.
His thoughts turn to his friends, and the most recent
friendship of all, what an amazing fate!
The Duke’s son Ferdinand!—a very decent
man who, although he couldn’t win his case
and save the count, has promised to fulfill
his final wish, and carry out his will.
As Egmont finishes his last accounting
he trusts his blood will not be spilled in vain.
Then, as all earthly hurdles are surmounted,
and doleful dirges yield to joyful strains,
a vision comes where he is crowned with laurels—
since his cause was just, and his actions moral.
His mind’s eye sees Clara placing the crown,
—already released from all earthly tethers,
free and resplendent in her starry gown—
their love now soon to be renewed forever.
Death will be sweet because his life was blessed
Behold the hero on his final quest!
~
O sweet Sleep! You come like pure happiness,
all on your own / unbidden and unsought.
You untangle the knots of worry and mingle all the scenes of joy
And of sorrow
Our inner harmonies flow onward unimpeded …
… and enshrouded in pleasant delirium
we sink in sleep / and then we cease to be.
~
[Narrator, speaking as Egmont:]
The laurel crown has disappeared! Scared off by the break of day … But there they were, the two joys dearest to my heart … Divine liberty and my beloved Clara, fused into a single figure, dressed in celestial garb, more solemn now than sweet …
And I saw that her feet were stained with blood … my blood, and the blood of many noble souls …
But it had not been shed in vain! Press on, good people! The goddess of liberty is leading you ahead! And just like the sea breaks through your dikes and dams so you, too, will sweep away the walls of tyranny and drown it in a sea of freedom.
But listen! How often have I heard this sound calling me to the field of battle, and to victory! And how cheerfully we forged ahead, together with my comrades, oblivious to danger!
And now I shall leave this dungeon and once again go forth, this time to meet an honorable death. For just as I have lived and fought for the cause of freedom, today I sacrifice myself on its behalf.
The soldiers have arrived. Go ahead, lead on! I am not afraid. After all, I’m used to the din of battle and the threat of death that makes me feel the spirit of life twice as keenly … the foes are closing in … I see the flash of swords … Take courage, my friends! … Remember you have parents, wives, and children at your backs … And bear in mind that these guards are merely following the hollow command of their ruler, and not their hearts. Protect your homes! And to save all who are dear to you, be prepared to follow my example, and die with joy.
© Philip Boehm 2020
With Thanks
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