THE SALON OF ANUBIS
Or the
Academy of Lilí and Danté
(foto: © David Ruano / TNC)
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THE SALON OF ANUBIS
Or the
Academy of Lilí and Danté |
(foto: © David Ruano / TNC) |
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Libretto |
THE SALON OF ANUBIS
or The Academy of Lilí and Danté
Chamber opera for four voices and five instruments
Music by Joan Albert Amargós
Idea and libretto by Toni Rumbau
Directed by Luca Valentino
Set design and construction: José Menchero
Magic consultant: Mag Lari
Lighting: Quico Gutiérrez
Lilí: Mónica Luezas / María Hinojosa (soprano)
Danté: Marc Canturri / Toni Marsol (baritone)
Guest: Toni Comas / Miquel Cobos (tenor)
Rosa: Marta Valero / Anna Tobella (mezzo-soprano)
Puppet voice: Toni Rumbau
Assistant 1: Pau Gómez Vilar
Assistant 2: Susana Rodríguez Sánchez
Orchestra: Grupo Instrumental Barcelona 216
Piano: Daniel Espasa / Xavier Barbeta
Double bass: Luís Manuel Cojal
Violin: Carlota Amargós / José Oriol Alguero
Clarinet: Javier Castillo
French horn: Taul Garrido / Francisco Rodríguez
Musical director Barcelona 216: David Albet
Orchestra production: Noemí Sunyol
Music by Joan Albert Amargós
Idea and libretto by Toni Rumbau
Director and dramaturge: Luca Valentino
Conducted by Joan Albert Amargós
Assistant director: Glòria Balañá
Dress rehearsal with audience: 29th September Auditorio de Cornellá, Barcelona
Première: 2nd October Theater am Stadtgarten, Winterthur, Switzerland
14th October: Teatro de Salt, Gerona, Temporada Alta
18th and 20th October: Staatstheater Darmstadt, Germany
24th to 28th October: Sala Pequeña, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Barcelona
Chamber opera for four voices and five instruments
Characters:
Danté-Thot (baritone)
Lilí-Anubis (soprano)
The Guest (tenor)
Rosa (mezzo-soprano)
MUSICIANS:
Piano
Violin
Double bass
Clarinet
French hornLIBRETTO
SCENE I
Welcome to the Academy of Lilí and Danté
(On entering the theatre, each member of the audience receives a numbered ticket; they are informed that it is for a raffle to be drawn during the show. On the ticket is written GRAND RAFFLE - SALON OF ANUBIS. ACADEMY OF LILÍ AND DANTÉ.)
MUSICAL PRELUDE
Enter DANTÉ and LILÍ.
DANTÉ Buenas noches, mes amis…
LILÍ Hola, hola, mes chéris…
DANTÉ Buenas noches, mes amis…
LILÍ Hola, hola, mes chéris…
BOTH Good evening everyone!
DANTÉ Open the doors!
Come in! You’re all invited.
There’s room for everyone,
comfortable armchairs,
private rooms and divans,
and your questions will be satisfied.
LILÍ To be born! To die!
Exhale, cease to breathe…
Abandon compulsion,
slow down at last!
DANTÉ Wake up, die…
The living already dead
trapped in time,
what makes you sleep?
Why live without living?
Wake up, die…
BOTH Ah, le temps c’est fini…
Au revoir, mes amis…
LILÍ Kick the bucket, push up the daisies,
what’s gone is gone…
DANTÉ Messieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen…
BOTH Welcome to the Academy of…
DANTÉ Lilí (indicating her)
LILÍ Danté (indicating him)
BOTH Bienvenus! Benvenutti! Bienvenido!...
SCENE II
The Guest.
DANTÉ My friends…Amigos
LILÍ Mes chéris, mes amis, mes amis, mes chéris...
DANTÉ We will use my hat
for the raffle.
(He takes off his hat and the raffle tickets are inside.)
LILÍ The same number of raffle tickets here
as together you hold in your hands.
DANTÉ And on every ticket,
a number.
LILÍ An innocent hand,
ladies and gentlemen, will pick a ticket at random
with its lucky number…
DANTÉ Lilí… The most innocent of hands…
…the unforgiving hand…
Lilí…
DANTÉ and LILÍ The moment has arrived!
(Lilí takes out a number from the top hat. Solemnity. Lilí is also Death and she has chosen her candidate.)
LILÍ Fifty-four…
DANTÉ Fifty-four!
(They search for the lucky winner. Unease in the audience. But the winner gives no sign of life. They repeat the operation).
DANTÉ Ladies and gentlemen, my hat is full of life.
We will do the raffle again.
LILÍ Twenty-three!
(The audience member is identified by the stage hands.)
LILÍ Let’s see who the lucky winner is!
(The lucky man resists, his wife, ROSA, encourages him, but he doesn’t want to go. There is a small scene between them, and in this way the audience notice ROSA and will recognise her later. Finally, the lucky audience member agrees to go up on stage.)
LILÍ S’il vous plaît, Monsieur, up here, please…
DANTÉ Oh lucky mortal,
man touched by Fate,
when, picked out by her hand,
he climbs to the platform of Time.
(The GUEST climbs onto the stage.)
DANTÉ and LILÍ Lucky member of the audience,
we just want you to tell us…
…your first name…
Your first name…Votre prénom…
GUEST Alberto…Ha, ha, ha…
DANTÉ Alberto… ? Hmm…Il y en a beaucoup…
Mais, peut-être… (with magic concentration)
Voila! Monsieur Rodríguez y Carbonell ?
GUEST Yes, yes. Well done, you’ve guessed it.
(They shake hands.)
DANTÉ Delighted, Monsieur Rodríguez…
LILÍ Enchantée, Monsieur Rodríguez, vous êtes très charmant…
(The presenters settle down to guess more things about the GUEST.)
DANTÉ You like football !
GUEST Yes, a lot !
(Rosa, his wife, speaks from the stalls.)
ROSA Yes, yes. He likes it too much!... Ha, ha, ha!...
LILÍ And you do the football pools every week… !
GUEST It’s true! How do you know?
ROSA And he’s still waiting for number fourteen to come up! Ha, ha,
ha!
DANTÉ And now, let’s see, the number of your identity card…(mimes magical concentration) 48 million, 311.046 P!
GUEST It’s true! (He brings it out and shows it.)
DANTÉ Thank you very much, Mr. Rodríguez, you can go back to join your wife now.
LILÍ Enchantée, Monsieur Rodríguez…
GUEST (Shaking hands with them.) Thank you so much, and congratulations.
(The GUEST exits through the wings. The audience should assume that he will come down steps at the side. The presenters turn to the audience, but, suddenly, the GUEST appears at the back of the stage).
DANTÉ Mr. Rodríguez, you again!
LILÍ Sit down, since you’ve come of your own accord…
GUEST (Refusing to sit down) Thank you, but I’d like to go back to my seat…
DANTÉ Oh, don’t worry,
given that you’re such a friendly fellow,
sit down Monsieur Rodríguez…
LILÍ Yes, be so good, sit down…
(The GUEST sits down uneasily. They proceed to guess further things about him. DANTÉ pulls out papers from various pockets including his breast-pocket, and reads details about the GUEST.)
DANTÉ Good, let’s see what more we can find out about you. Voyons… Voyons… You were born on 4th August 1960?
GUEST Yes sir! The very day.
DANTÉ …son of Fernando and María,
schoolboy with the Jesuits
a long career in engineering.
C’est comme ça ?
GUEST You’re very well informed. You’ve got everything right.
How very amusing!
DANTÉ Married,
with beautiful children,
GUEST Well done, you’re guessing everything.
It’s amazing…
LILÍ You chose a good path:
High-level recognition,
a convertible car…
trips all over the world…
DANTÉ and LILÍ And you have a season ticket for the opera!
GUEST Oh, I’m not a great fan;
to be honest, it bores me, you know…
But since this was a kind of cabaret… ha, ha, ha…
If it wasn’t for my wife, I wouldn’t be here today…
ha ha ha… (rather nervous)
DANTÉ Yes… Ha, ha, ha!
In this paragraph I see
that today you felt unwell, very unwell
and at eight thirty-four
you were admitted to hospital…
GUEST What? Well I don’t remember that. What are you referring to?
DANTÉ At eight forty-six
you entered a state of extreme stress,
…and by nightfall, at nine fifteen…
GUEST Are you trying to be funny? (laughing)
I don’t remember any of that.
But anyhow, carry on, carry on…
DANTÉ …alone in the room,
sudden death!
Your heart stopped.
LILI Votre coeur, monsieur…
GUEST Well, if you say so…
LILÍ Oh, Cher monsieur Rodríguez, je dois vous féliciter,
Welcome! You are dead, Mr. Rodríguez.
Vous êtes mort!
DANTÉ Eh oui, vous êtes bien mort!...
Mes félicitations, Rodríguez.
C’est ravissant!...
(The GUEST laughs, as if it were all a joke. At this moment an usher appears in the stalls with a torch and requests that Mrs. Rosa Rodriguéz, the Guest’s wife, follow her, as there is an emergency.)
GUEST The show’s a bit macabre, but well, what can you do?
That’s theatre for you.
LILÍ and DANTÉ Oh, humour, what a great thing it is.
Le théâtre, l’Opéra comique...
But you are dead, well and truly dead…,
(Rosa gets up and leaves, accompanied by the usher. It is a disconcerting sequence of events.)
LILÍ and DANTÉ Welcome to the Academy!
GUEST Excuse me, please…
The GUEST searches for the exit again, wandering around the stage, but does not find it.
DANTÉ Where are you going?
LILÍ Where are you going?
GUEST Rosa!... Rosa!... Rosa!! ...
ROSA Alberto, Alberto!...
LILÍ But where do you want to go?
DANTÉ Monsieur Rodríguez.
(Danté and Lilí put him in a coffin-box which they have placed on a table with wheels. He laughs nervously. He is shut up in the box; his head protrudes from one end and his feet from the other.)
SCENE III
Sawn in half
GUEST What are you doing? How dare you!
LILÍ and DANTÉ Don’t worry.
Sing, sing with us.
GUEST (increasingly nervous and angry)
I don’t know how to sing…You’re mad…
Let me out of here! What do you think you’re doing…!
LILÍ Ha, ha, ha…
Sing, sing your cares away!
Sing, sing with us…
DANTÉ Oh Death, old friend,
childhood playmate,
give me your nectar of life
whilst, joyful, you ravish me…
LILÍ Sing, sir, sing…Sing sir…(bis)
Monsieur, sing your cares away!
(LILÍ and DANTÉ push the GUEST around the stage, singing meanwhile and inviting him to sing.)
GUEST Don’t try to make me sing.
Hey! I’ve paid for my seat;
it’s you who are the singers…
This is outrageous!
DANTÉ Sing, Monsieur Rodríguez, sing… Monsieur Rodríguez.
And don’t worry, you haven’t thrown your money away.
There’s nothing to lose, here.
You’re in good hands.
LILÍ Happy, he who allows himself to rest
in Moira’s bed,
and leaves his memory in peace
to wander freely!
Wander freely…
DANTÉ Oh, cher Monsieur Rodríguez,
the living are so boring.
They only sing on stage.
But now that you are dead, you too can sing with us.
Sing, sir, sing, sing sir …
Sing, sir, sing, sing sir …
GUEST You know where you can stuff that! Dead indeed!
Will you let me go, once and for all?…
DANTÉ AND LILÍ Wake up, die…
The living and the dead
trapped in time.
What makes you sleep?
Why live without living?
Wake up, die…
(DANTÉ makes magical hand gestures then strikes the box which splits in two, separating the GUEST’s body into two halves.)
(The GUEST shrieks, but suddenly the sound transforms into a dramatic tenor’s top note and his singing voice joins with the presenters’ voices.)
GUEST AAAhhhhh! Am I dead? Je suis mort?
Non je ne suis pas mort…
Nooooonnnnn… !
Arghhhh…
(He shrieks on top notes.)
DANTÉ and LILÍ Happy, he who allows himself to rest
in Moira’s bed,
and leaves his memory in peace
to wander freely!
Wander freely…
(DANTÉ and LILÍ parade the two halves of the separated coffin-table round the stage.)
GUEST, DANTÉ and LILÍ
How sweet when Death arrives,
how gently she embraces me,
at her kiss my eyes open
and the mask falls…
GUEST I sing with you…
DANTÉ To be born and die,
GUEST To be born and die…
DANTÉ … one expires, stops breathing…
GUEST to be born and die…
DANTÉ Abandon compulsion,
GUEST Abandon…
DANTÉ stop at last!
GUEST Stop at last!
LILÍ In the blessed hours of grief,
in playful, merry death
our secret longings waken,
our deepest dreams…
DANTÉ and GUEST Ah! Le temps c’est fini…
LILÍ Au revoir, mes amis…
GUEST Ah! Le temps c’est fini…
Ah! Le temps c’est fini…
Ah, oui, oui, c’est la vie!...
(The rhythm slacks off and the fun and games end at last. The part of the table that contains the GUEST’s legs is wheeled off stage. The other part rises up, hung on ropes and is placed on a barber’s chair.)
SCENE IV
The visitors
Only the upper half of the GUEST’s body now appears.
GUEST Hey, you, you twoooooo!... Where are you…?
What’s got into you…?
And with the hurry I’m in, and everything I’ve got to do!
I’ve got an appointment tonight, you know, I can’t go like this!
I mean, haven’t you seen what a mess I’m in?
And where are my trousers?
Let me out of here!
This is an insult
I want to get out!
(DANTÉ and LILÍ, without paying any attention to the GUEST, change to represent the roles of the TEACHER and the NANNY, singing meanwhile.)
DANTÉ Darkness is fertile
when it holds you to its breast;
give me your hand without fear
so as to pass through the night.
GUEST This is an outrage!
You’re both mad!
Completely mad!
LILÍ See the faces of the moon,
in the black cavities
where images peer out
from the features of your loved ones.
(DANTÉ and LILÍ have disguised themselves and, as their new characters, address the audience, singing all the time.)
DANTÉ Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. García del Puente!...
LILÍ And the great Madame Alicia Frufrú, Alicia Frufrú!
GARCÍA DEL PUENTE So, what are we waiting for?...
FRUFRÚ That’s what I say; they won’t have brought us here for
nothing… I’m an artist!
GARCÍA DEL PUENTE And I’m much more than that!
DANTÉ Right away, sir, madam…
(The TEACHER addresses the GUEST.)
TEACHER Rodríguez, hello, hello, how are you,
always so ironic…
Sit down and pay attention, Rodríguez, Rodríguez, Rodríguez.
GUEST Sir, it’s you…
What are you doing here, sir, in this theatre?
TEACHER Be quiet! What would you know!...
The trouble I had to educate you, teach you something,
but in the end you learnt.
Are you listening, Rodríguez?
GUEST Yes, yes, sir…
TEACHER You seem distracted…
And one has to pay attention, Rodríguez,
If you want to learn anything…
Listen Rodríguez.
GUEST Sir, don’t say that.
I’m a big boy now,
I’ve grown up…
TEACHER Grown up? You, grow up?
When did you grow up?
You’re still a child…!
(At this moment LILÍ approaches in the NANNY’s disguise.)
NANNY My Alberto!
How I’ve longed to see you!
I’ve always remembered you; you were like a son to me…
GUEST My darling nanny…
You’ve come to see me too…
(Her presence seems to irritate the old teacher, who wants no distractions to the attention required from his pupil.)
TEACHER Madam, madam,
Don’t you see you’re getting in the way?
NANNY Getting in the way?
The only one who’s in the way here is you!
TEACHER How dare you!
What an insult to intelligence!
NANNY Be quiet, you grumpy old man!
TEACHER What! Be quiet, me?
Never!
NANNY This gentleman doesn’t know who he’s talking to,
isn’t that right, my boy?
(NANNY sings her song,, the Song of Childhood.)
NANNY Sweet the fragrance
of childhood’s paths,
when time passes
without hours,
and you put your hand in mine
and we walked with the wind,
through the chestnut wood
of dreams,
and we’re in the house
of summer holidays…
And the joyous night spins
its wheel of ringing bells…
TEACHER But…Is she some country bumpkin?…
And you, Rodríguez, listen to me…
What a simpleton, what bad taste!
Enough!
(LILÍ sings the Song of childhood again. The GUEST sings with her.)
GUEST and LILÍ
Sweet the fragrance
of childhood’s paths,
when time passes
without hours,
and you put your hand in mine
and we walked with the wind,
through the chestnut wood
of dreams,
and we’re in the house
of summer holidays…
And the joyous night spins
its wheel of ringing bells…
…when time passes
without hours…
SCENE V
The singing, severed head
(DANTÉ and LILÍ put on masks of the gods Thot and Anubis, respectively. They approach the seat of the upper half of the GUEST.)
DANTÉ The great moment has arrived,
Mr. Rodríguez. Shaving time!
GUEST Oh really? And who are the barbers?
LILÍ A bird and a dog…
GUEST What are you doing?!
Have you gone mad?
(TRICK: SEVERING THE HEAD. Having closed the door they put a box over the head. large knives from their belts. They pass a sword under the base of the box. They carry the severed head to a table on one side. They remove the box, revealing the GUEST’s head on the table. TRICK: THE SEVERED HEAD WHICH SINGS.)
DANTÉ Swiftly I answer the eternal call, oh souls.
with my bird’s beak I catch
intelligence and pleasure, astuteness and valour,
which I sell to clients, to the highest bidder.
GUEST What’s happening to me, where am I? ...
I feel myself fading
forgetting who I am.
Night engulfs me
and there’s not a single light.
Where am I if I can’t find myself?
LILÍ Earth, mother earth, mother who supports me,
mother who gives me life,
and who gives power of death to my hands,
from your innards I come, called upon by the souls.
GUEST Nothing stands up.
I try to catch myself
and I fall in pieces.
Broken crystals of my eyes…
Stars that cascade to the ground.
(On one side, a hospital trolley appears with a body covered by a sheet; it is the same table on which the divided box was, previously. THOT-DANTÉ has put on a doctor’s white coat, still wearing the mask of Thot. He exits momentarily through the wings and returns with Rosa, the GUEST’s wife who we have previously seen in the stalls. THOT-DANTÉ’s bearing is that of a doctor accompanying a dead man’s wife to see the body. As she sings, Rosa takes the GUEST’s neck scarf to keep.)
ROSA Alberto, Alberto, noooo!
Why? Why?!!
GUEST (the severed head)
Rosa. I’m here!
I’m here!
(She doesn’t seem to hear him. She addresses the lifeless body on the table.)
ROSA Alberto, why have you left me?
Why have you died?
GUEST Don’t say that!
Don’t say that,
don’t ever say it again!
Do you hear me?
Never!
I’m not dead!
ROSA Yesterday, we were together,
all four of us, so happy!
What shall I tell the children?
And me, what shall I do?
I’m so young, Alberto…
I love you,
Alberto, I love you so much,
but I love you alive!
(ROSA repeats her Aria, with inserts sung by the GUEST.)
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ROSA Yesterday, we were together, all four of us, so happy! what shall I tell the children? And me, what shall I do? I’m so young, Alberto… I love you, Alberto, I love you so much, but I love you alive!
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GUEST – ¡No me abandones, Rosa, estoy vivo, vivo! ¡No te rindas a olvidarme! ¡Yo estoy junto a tí! Debemos regresar a nuestra vida alegre, a los años tan felices que vivimos juntos, los días felices de ayer y de mañana..
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(DANTÉ and LILÍ, with their white coats and their masks of funerary gods, lead her gently away from the trolley to where she came from.)
ROSA (speaking) Yes, doctor, don’t worry,
I’ll calm down, doctor.
GUEST Rosa, don’t go, don’t go…
Wait, wait for me…
Don’t leave me, Rosa!
(The trolley disappears with the body. DANTÉ and LILÍ remove their white coats. They approach the talking head.)
GUEST This is an outrage!
I want my money back!
DANTÉ Goodbye, Mr. Rodríguez,
take your leave and say goodbye,
we’ve enjoyed your company,
but your absence will be even more amusing.
LILÍ Indeed, Mr. Rodríguez,
say goodbye and take your leave,
it’s been lovely to have you with us,
but without you it will be much better.
GUEST (speaking) I suppose you’re going to give me back my body,
I’ve had enough of jokes…
(They cover the head of the GUEST again with the box. The voice of the GUEST is still audible from inside.)
GUEST OFF (screaming)
You don’t want me to report you, do you?...
Listen, listen, hey you, youuuu…
Let me out of here!...
SCENE VI
The cooking-pot
(Meanwhile, DANTÉ and LILÍ, with their masks of Thot and Anubis, prepare the table for the rituals to follow. On top of the box with which they covered the head, they place a lid with a handle. They turn the handle, and thus the head inside. They open the lid and bring out a lump of dough which the head has become. They knead it. They put it back inside and now put a metal cover over the box, turning it into a cauldron. They light a flame underneath.)
DANTÉ Let the deceased return to nothingness
which previously gave him life.
LILÍ Let the deceased return to nothingness
from which he was one day born.
DANTÉ and LILÍ
Nothingness spins, wheel so fast,
back to life’s origins,
time spins, wheel so fierce,
essence of nothingness.
DANTÉ Time becomes flesh,
and flesh, with age, comes to an end.
Thus living things turn to dust,
dry and shrivelled flesh.
LILÍ With our hands we knead time,
meat and death rolled together;
living ingredients of time,
powdered meat roll.
DANTÉ The season’s soup baked in the oven.
Soup ball right on time.
LILÍ And its wheel of things and days
spins in the saucepan over the fire.
DANTÉ The season’s soup cooked on a low heat.
LILÍ Time in a dough of powdered meat.
BOTH Fire, fire!
LILÍ The season’s soup cooked on a low heat.
DANTÉ Fire which is time
Burning slowly.
LILÍ Fire, fire!
(The cooking activity ends. From inside the cooking-pot, a puppet appears - a replica of the GUEST. The PUPPET speaks in a shrill voice – with a swazzle. From above the stage a bird cage descends.)
DANTÉ and LILÍ Oh, avatars of the world,
be merciful to the deceased…
PUPPET Hey, listen. Are you two here again?
Enough talk of the deceased.
How tedious can you get!
DANTÉ and LILÍ …let night not pull him to her breast.
And so that he be recognised
by his friends and enemies,
from now on, oh deceased one,
your name shall be Ro.
PUPPET-RO Not Ro nor any other rubbish!
That’s what they called me when I was a child,
but I’m grown-up now
and my name is Rodríguez.
Let me go, once and for all,
I’m going to report you…
(DANTÉ and LILÍ take hold of the puppet and place him inside the cage. They exit. The puppet moves on its own, without anyone to manipulate him.)
SCENE VII
Ro in the cage
PUPPET-RO Hey, listen to me. Where are you going?
Enough of jokes!
I hate being called Ro,
I’m not a child, you know?
I’m called Rodríguez.
And if you don’t let me out of here,
as sure as two and two make four I’ll report you…
(At this moment the curtain at the back of the stage rises and various mirrors appear, circling. LILÍ-ANUBIS and THOT-DANTÉ approach the mirrors, put a cloth in front of one of them and, through the mirror the DOUBLE appears, the GUEST himself, dressed in white. RO interrupts him.)
DOUBLE Where are you? I look for you and I cannot find you.
The present rushes from me,
and I can’t see the future.
Where are you?
PUPPET-RO Listen to me, but what is this?
Where did this impostor come from?
Hey, you, body snatcher, what are you doing here?
(From amidst the circling mirrors the figure of ROSA emerges. She and the DOUBLE pass each other, without meeting, without seeing each other, like two ghosts who only hear themselves. The DOUBLE sings serenely; in a way he is beginning to accept the reality of his death. ROSA, too, sings with more serenity than before, although from the anguish of loss and solitude. Duo between ROSA and DOUBLE, with interventions by the PUPPET.)
ROSA Alberto, where are you?
PUPPET-RO Rosa, hello, hello, I’m here, Rosa. Can’t you see me?
DOUBLE I’ve been looking for you, for years and years…
ROSA Alberto, where are you?
Pain grips me
and I cannot bear the loneliness.
Why did you die, Alberto?
DOUBLE The images are so alive
of the years of yesterday…
ROSA Where are you, Alberto?
DOUBLE …moments without end,…
ROSA The empty space you’ve left
DOUBLE …nights and days…
ROSA …plunges me into anxiety…
DOUBLE …which are still alive…!
PUPPET-RO It’s outrageous! (spoken)
Who does he think he is?
You’re Mr. Nobody,
I’m the one who gives the orders around here!
Get out, get out of here!
ROSA I feel that you’re going,
that you’re leaving us and going far away
from your children and your loved ones,
that you’re sinking into oblivion
as if it were possible to forget…
Where are you, Alberto?
You went without a word,
and I’m beginning, painfully,
to long to feel different…
PUPPET-RO Rosa, I’m here, here.
She must be stupid.
I’m heeeeere!
DOUBLE Rosa, I see you in the mirror of my soul,
forming part of my being.
I hear your distant voice,
close by, beloved...
and you, Ro, I see you and I recognise myself,
a child, in the hallway of our house,
on the balconies that overlooked the street
while I dream of you from behind a pane of glass…
PUPPET-RO Enough! Enough! Impostor, thief!
You’ve all conspired against me!
ROSA How time hurries
to wipe away your features!
I’m alone.
Where are you, if I can’t see you?
Where are you Alberto.
Sad and lonely night,
without your hand for company…
DOUBLE I return once more
to the time of old-fashioned beaches,
beaches where I bathed,
beaches of time reflected in rock pools,
where I see myself and I see you,
in the mirror of my face…
ROSA Where are you, Alberto?
I’m so alone.
You went without a word,
and I’m beginning, mysteriously,
to long to feel different…
to be transformed…
What’s happening to me, if I cannot see myself?
Where am I?...
(Rosa goes. As she does so, the scarf that the GUEST was wearing and which she took when she visited his body, falls to the ground. He picks it up.)
PUPPET-RO Rosa, are you blind?
I’m here, here! Can’t you see me?
DOUBLE (Childhood Song)
Sweet the fragrance
of childhood’s paths,
when time passes
without hours,
and you put your hand in mine
and we walked with the wind,
through the chestnut wood
of dreams,
and we’re in the house
of summer holidays…
And the joyous night spins
its wheel of ringing bells…
When time passes
without hours…
(The DOUBLE puts the neck scarf dropped by ROSA over the cage. He removes the cloth and in the PUPPET’s place is a parrot.)
SCENE VIII
Shadows
(During the following aria, shadows appear on the curtain-screen at the back of the stage. Objects that have appeared in the show are projected: the puppet, the cage the masks of Thot and Anubis, and other, abstract forms. These forms are seen to be projected, also, by the reflections of the circling mirrors.)
(We have reached the end of the crescendo of transformation. The GUEST, himself converted into a magician – having turned the PUPPET into a parrot -, sings of his re-encounter with himself and of his acceptance of death, confronting face to face each of the masks that have pursued him.)
GUEST At last I see you
in the illuminated darkness of the night,
you’re here, so close, so far away from me,
subject to the wheel of time
that never stops.
I see myself and I see you
at the bottom of the gaze
across the open mirror of my face.
I die at last
and living I watch you
across time
which is the house where I live.
Serene, I watch you
from the sphere of time
where I die and live,
where I die and live,
where I die and live.
(As the music begins for the final aria of the four voices – begun by the GUEST – he approaches the curtain-screen at the back and disappears in the sea which is projected on his back. Here the projection begins of filmed images which accompany the final aria, which ends the main body of the opera. Circular images which suggest cyclical time folded on itself, which unfolds with each new life. Waves of the sea, circles that form and disintegrate, images of childhood memories, rolling landscapes, wheels which turn, trees and paths…)
GUEST and then ALL
I return to the beach of old-fashioned waters,
waters where I bathed,
waters of time in rock pools,
waters of my naked body,
waters from the depths of the sea…
waters which drive the mill wheel of distant fields,
where I see myself and I see you,
mirror of clear waters,
time-pieces of wind in water mills,
and time turns the spokes of the wind
that never stops…
I return to the earth,
to the hub of the wheel,
where my breath comes and goes
with the bellow’s two faces.
I die, I die and I live.
And the waters of old-fashioned beaches turn,
waters where I bathed…
waters of time in rock pools,
waters of my naked body,
waters from the depths of the sea…
waters which drive the mill wheel of distant fields,
where I see myself and I see you,
where I see myself and I see you,
mirror of clear waters,
and time turns the spokes of the wind
that never stops…
I die, I die and I live…
Blackout.
EPILOGUE
(The stage appears as it did at the beginning of the show. Enter DANTÉ and LILÍ, but now the singers who embody these characters are the GUEST and ROSA, converted into the cabaret presenters. They repeat the raffle from the start of the show.)
DANTÉ Buenas noches, mes amis…
LILÍ Hola, hola, mes chéris…
DANTÉ Buenas noches, mes amis…
LILÍ Hola, hola, mes chéris…
BOTH Good evening everyone!
DANTÉ Open the doors!
Come in! You’re all invited.
(He takes off his hat and puts the raffle tickets inside.)
There’s enough luck for everyone.
I will put the raffle tickets,
shuffled, in my hat,
and your questions
will be satisfied.
LILÍ To be born! To die!
Exhale, cease to breathe…
Abandon compulsion,
to stop at last!
DANTÉ Wake up, die…
The living already dead
trapped in time,
what makes you sleep?
Why live without living?
Wake up, die…
BOTH Ah, le temps c’est fini…
Au revoir, mes amis…
DANTÉ Wait, a hand will draw
for the next lucky guest …
LILÍ Monsieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen...
Monsieurs, Mesdames, Ladies and Gentlemen...
BOTH Are you ready for the call of…
DANTÉ Lilí! (indicating her)
LILÍ Danté! (indicating him)
(in silence)
DANTÉ The moment has arrived
The number is …
BOTH Welcome!...
Contact and management:
Dietrich Grosse -Toni Rumbau
CITART – Centre d'Iniciatives del Teatre de les Arts S.L.
La Rambla, 75, 1º
08002 Barcelona
tel 933 100 117- 933 018 485
fax 933 176 229
email:
dietrichgrosse@mondigromax.com