Good-by. (_He goes out_)
[_Julian and Sala start to leave together._
JULIAN (_as Sala suddenly stops_)
Why do you tarry? Let's get away.
SALA
It is a strange thing to _know_. A veil seems to spread in front of
everything.... "Away with you!"--But I don't care to submit to it as
long as I am still here--if it be only for another hour....
JULIAN
Do you believe it then?
SALA (_looking long at Julian_)
Do I believe it...? He behaved rather nicely, that son of yours.... "We
shall not have to sleep in the same tent."... Not bad! I might have
said it myself....
JULIAN
But why don't you come? Have you perhaps something more to tell after
all?
SALA
That's the question I must put to you, Julian.
JULIAN
Sala?
SALA
Because I didn't say anything about a peculiar hallucination I
experienced just before coming here. I imagine it was....
JULIAN
Please, speak out!
SALA
What do you think of it? Before I left my house--just after Felix had
gone--I went down into my garden--that is to say, I ran through it--in
a remarkable state of excitement, as you may understand. And as I
passed by the pool, it was exactly as if I had seen on the bottom of
it....
JULIAN
Sala!
SALA
There is a blue-greenish glitter on the water, and besides, the shadow
of the beech tree falls right across it early in the morning. And by a
strange coincidence Johanna said yesterday: "The water can no more hold
my image...." That was, in a way, like challenging fate.... And as I
passed by the pool, it was as if ... the water had retained her image
just the same.
JULIAN
Is that true?
SALA
True ... or untrue ... what is that to me? It could be of interest to
me only if I were to remain in this world another year--or another hour
at least.
JULIAN
You mean to...?
SALA
Of course, I do. Would you expect me to wait for it? That would be
rather painful, I think. (_To Julian, with a smile_) From whom are you
now going to get your cues, my dear friend? Yes, it's all over now....
And what has become of it?... Where are the _thermae_ of Caracalla?
Where is the park at Lugano?... Where is my nice little house?... No
nearer to me, and no farther away, than those marble steps leading down
to mysterious depths.... Veils in front of everything.... Perhaps your
son will discover if the three-hundred and twelfth be the last one--and
if not, it won't give him much concern anyhow.... Don't you think he
has been acting rather nicely?... I have somehow the impression that a
better generation is growing up--with more poise and less
brilliancy.--Send your regards to heaven, Julian.
JULIAN (_makes a movement to accompany him_)
SALA (_gently but firmly_)
You stay here, Julian. This is the end of our dialogue. Farewell.
(_He goes out quickly_)
FELIX (_entering rapidly_)
Is Mr. von Sala gone? My father wanted to talk to him.--And you are
still here?... Why did Mr. von Sala go? What did he tell
you?--Johanna...! Johanna...?
JULIAN
She is dead ... she has drowned herself in the pool.
FELIX (_with a cry of dismay_)
Where did he go?
JULIAN
I don't think you can find him.
FELIX
What is he doing?
JULIAN
He is paying ... while it's time....
WEGRAT (_enters from the veranda_)
FELIX (_runs to meet him_)
Father....
WEGRAT
Felix! What has happened?
FELIX
We must go to Sala's house, father.
WEGRAT
Dead...?
FELIX
Father! (_He takes hold of Wegrat's hand and kisses it_) My
father!
JULIAN (_has left the room slowly in the meantime_)
WEGRAT
Must things of this kind happen to make that word sound as if I had
heard it for the first time...?
CURTAIN
INTERMEZZO
(_Zwischenspiel_)
A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS
1904
PERSONS
AMADEUS ADAMS } A musical conductor
CECILIA ADAMS-ORTENBURG } His wife, an opera singer
PETER } Their child, five years old
ALBERT RHON
MARIE } His wife
SIGISMUND, PRINCE MARADAS-LOHSENSTEIN
COUNTESS FREDERIQUE MOOSHEIM } An opera singer
GOVERNESS }
} At the Adamses
COUNT ARPAD PAZMANDY }
_The scene is laid in Vienna at the present day._
INTERMEZZO
THE FIRST ACT
_The study of Amadeus. The walls are painted in dark gray, with a very
simple frieze. A door in the background leads to a veranda. On either
side of this door is a window. Through the door one sees the garden, to
which three steps lead down from the veranda. A cabinet stands between
the door and the window at the right; a music-stand holds a
corresponding position to the left of the door. Antique bas-reliefs are
hung above the cabinet as well as the stand. The main entrance is on
the right side in the foreground. Farther back at the right is a door
leading to Cecilia's room. A door finished like the rest of the wall
leads to the room of Amadeus at the left. A tall book case, with a bust
of Verrochio on top of it, stands against the right wall. In the corner
back of it are several columns with tall vases full of flowers. A
fireplace occupies the foreground at the left. Above it is a large
mirror. On the mantelshelf stands a French clock of simple design. A
table surrounded by chairs is placed in front of the fireplace. Farther
back along the same wall are shelves piled with sheet music, and above
them engravings of Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, and other composers. A
bust of Beethoven occupies the farthermost corner at the left. Halfway
down the stage, nearer the left wall, stands a piano with a piano stool
in front of it. An armchair has been moved up close to the piano on the
side toward the public. A writing desk holds a similar position at the
right. Back of it are an easy-chair and a couch, the latter having been
moved close to the table._
AMADEUS (_thirty years old, slender, with dark, smooth hair; his
movements are quick, with a suggestion of restlessness; he wears a gray
business suit of elegant cut, but not well cared for; he has a trick of
taking hold of the lapel of his sack coat with his left hand and
turning it back; he is seated at the piano, accompanying Frederique_)
FREDERIQUE (_twenty-eight, is dressed in a bright gray tailor-made suit
and a red satin waist; wears a broad-brimmed straw hat, very
fashionable; her hair is blonde, of a reddish tint; her whole
appearance is very dainty; she is singing an aria from the opera
"Mignon"_) "Ha-ha-ha! Is 't true, really true?" (_While singing she is
all the time making a motion as if she were beating the dust out of her
riding suit with a crop_)
AMADEUS (_accompanying himself as he gives her the cue_) "Yes, you may
laugh. I am a fool to ruin my horse ..."
FREDERIQUE
"Maybe you would like ..."
AMADEUS (_nervously_)
Oh, wait!... You don't know yet why I have ruined my horse.... "To ruin
my horse for a quicker sight of you ..."
FREDERIQUE (_with the same gesture as before_)
"Maybe you would like me to weep?"
AMADEUS
"Oh, I regret already that I came."
FREDERIQUE (_as before_)
"Well, why...."
AMADEUS
G sharp!
FREDERIQUE (_as before_)
"Well, why don't you go back? Soon enough I shall see you again."
AMADEUS
You should say that ironically, not tenderly. "Soon enough I shall see
you again...."
FREDERIQUE (_as before_)
"Soon enough I shall see you again...."
AMADEUS
Not angrily, Countess, but ironically.
FREDERIQUE
Call me Frederique, and not Countess, when you are working with me.
AMADEUS
Now, that's the tone Philine should use. Hold on to it.... And that's
the right look, too.... If you could do that on the stage, you might
almost be an artist.
FREDERIQUE
Oh, mercy, I have sung Philine more than twenty times already.
AMADEUS
But not here, Freder ... Countess. And not when Mrs. Adams-Ortenburg
was singing the part of Mignon. (_He leans forward so that he can look
out into the garden_)
FREDERIQUE
No, she isn't coming yet. (_With a smile_) Perhaps the rehearsal isn't
over.
AMADEUS (_rising_)
Perhaps not.
FREDERIQUE
Is it true that Mrs. Adams-Ortenburg has been requested to sing in
Berlin next Fall?
AMADEUS
Nothing has been settled yet. (_He goes to the window at the right_) If
you'll permit.... (_Opens the window_)
FREDERIQUE
What a splendid day! And how fragrant the roses are. It is almost
like....
AMADEUS
Almost like Tremezzo--yes, I know.
FREDERIQUE
How can you--as you have never been there?
AMADEUS
But you have told me enough about it. A villa standing at the edge of
the water--radiantly white--with marble steps leading straight down to
the blue sea.
FREDERIQUE
Yes. And sometimes, on very hot nights, I sleep in the park, right on
the sward, under a plane tree.
AMADEUS
That plane tree is famous.--But time is flying. It would be better to
go on with the singing. (_He seats himself at the piano again_) The
polonaise--if you please, Countess. (_He begins the accompaniment_)
FREDERIQUE (_singing_)
"Titania, airiest queen of fairies,
Has descended from her blue cloud throne,
And her way across the world is wending
More quickly than the bird or lightning flash..."
AMADEUS (_interrupts his playing and lets his head sink forward_) No,
no--it's no use!... Please tell the director that he will have to look
after your part himself. As for me, I have certain regards even for
people who go to the opera in Summer. They should not be forced to
accept _anything_. Tell the director, please, that I send him my
regards and that--there are more important things to occupy my time.
(_He closes the score_)
FREDERIQUE (_quite amicably_)
I believe it. How's your opera getting along?
AMADEUS
For the Lord's sake, please don't pretend to be interested in things of
that kind! Why, nobody expects it of you.
FREDERIQUE
Will it soon be finished?
AMADEUS
Finished...? How could it be, do you think? I have to conduct two
nights a week at least, and there are rehearsals in the morning, not to
mention singers that have to be coached.... Do you think a man can sit
down after an hour like _this_ and invite his muse?
FREDERIQUE
After an hour like _this_...? I don't think you feel quite at your
ease with me, Amadeus.
AMADEUS
Not at my ease? I? With you?--I don't think you have imagined in your
most reckless moments, Countess, that my wife might have anything to
fear from you.
FREDERIQUE
You are determined to misunderstand me. (_She has gone to the fireplace
and turns now to face Amadeus_) You know perfectly well why you pretend
to be cross with me. Because you are in love with me.
AMADEUS (_looks straight ahead and goes on playing_)
FREDERIQUE
And that chord proves nothing to the contrary.
AMADEUS
That chord.... Tell me rather what kind of chord it is. (_He repeats it
in a fury_)
FREDERIQUE
A flat major.
AMADEUS (_in a tone of boredom_)
G major--of course.
FREDERIQUE (_close by him, with a smile_)
Don't let that semi-tone spoil our happiness.
AMADEUS (_rises, goes toward the background and looks out into the
garden_)
FREDERIQUE
Is it your wife?
AMADEUS
No, my little boy is playing out there. (_He stands at the window,
waving his hand at somebody outside; pause_)
FREDERIQUE
You take life too hard, Amadeus.
AMADEUS (_still at the window, but turning toward Frederique_) I can't
lie--and I don't want to. Which is not the same as taking life hard.
FREDERIQUE
Can't lie...? And yet you have been away from your wife for months at a
time--haven't you? And your wife came here while you were still
conducting somewhere abroad, didn't she?... So that....
AMADEUS
Those are matters which you don't quite comprehend, Countess. (_He
looks again toward the main entrance_)
FREDERIQUE
No, your wife can't be here yet. She won't give up her walk on a
wonderful day like this.
AMADEUS
What you have in mind now is pretty mean, Frederique.
FREDERIQUE
Why so? Of course, I know she takes a walk with you, too, now and then.
AMADEUS
Yes, when my time permits. And often she goes out with Sigismund.
To-day she's probably with him--and that's what you wanted to bring
home to me, of course.
FREDERIQUE
Why should I? You know it, don't you? And I assure you, it has never
occurred to me to see anything wrong in it. He's a friend of yours.
AMADEUS
More than that--or less. He used to be my pupil.
FREDERIQUE
I didn't know that.
AMADEUS
Ten years ago, while still a mere youngster, I used to live in his
father's palace. It's hard to tell where I might have been to-day, had
it not been for old Prince Lohsenstein. You see, we men have generally
another kind of youth to look back at than you ...
FREDERIQUE
... women artists.
AMADEUS
No, countesses, I meant to say. For three years I spent every summer in
the palace at Krumau.[1] And there--for the first time in my life--I
could work in peace, all by myself, with nothing more to do than to
instruct Sigismund.
[1] A small Bohemian city near the border of Upper Austria. On
a high rock, with a wonderful view along the river Moldau,
stands the Schwarzenberg castle, which the author seems to
have had in mind.
FREDERIQUE
Did he want to become a pianist?
AMADEUS
Not exactly. He wanted to join some monastic order.
FREDERIQUE
No? Is that really true?--Oh, it's queer how people change!
AMADEUS
They don't as much as you think. He has remained a man of serious mind.
FREDERIQUE
And yet he plays dance music so charmingly...?
AMADEUS
Why shouldn't he? A good waltz and a good hymn are just as acceptable
to the powers above.
FREDERIQUE
How delightful those evenings in your house used to be! No farther back
than last winter.... The Count and I frequently talk of them.--Have you
ceased to invite Prince Sigismund, as you have me?
AMADEUS
He was here only a fortnight ago, my dear Countess--and spent the whole
evening with us. We had supper in the summer-house, and then we came in
here and sat chatting for a long while, and finally he improvised some
variations on the Cagliostro Waltzes before he left.--And what my wife
and he say to each other during their walk, when I am not with them,
will no more be hidden from me than I would hide from her what you and
I have been talking of here. That's how my wife and I feel toward each
other--if you'll please understand, Frederique!
FREDERIQUE
But there are things one simply _can't_ say to each other.
AMADEUS
There can be no secrets between people like my wife and myself.
FREDERIQUE
Oh, of course ... but then ... what you have been saying to me will be
only a small part of what you must tell your wife to-day, Amadeus.
Good-by.... (_She holds out her hand to him_)
AMADEUS
What's in your mind now, Frederique?
FREDERIQUE
Why resist your fate? Is it so very repulsive after all? What you are
to me, nobody else has ever been!
AMADEUS
And you want me to believe that?
FREDERIQUE
I shall not insist on it. But it is true nevertheless. Good-by now.
Until to-morrow, Amadeus. Life is really much easier than you think....
It might be so very pleasant--and so it shall be! (_She goes out_)
AMADEUS (_seats himself at the piano again and strikes a few notes_) It
is getting serious ... or amusing perhaps...? (_He shakes his head_)
ALBERT RHON (_enters; he is of medium height; his black hair, slightly
streaked with gray, is worn long; he is rather carelessly dressed_)
AMADEUS
Oh, is that you, Albert? How are you?
ALBERT
I have come to ask how you are getting along with our opera, Amadeus.
Have you done anything?
AMADEUS
No.
ALBERT
Again nothing?
AMADEUS
I doubt whether I can get a chance here. We'll have to wait until the
season is over. I have too much to do. We are now putting on "Mignon"
with new people in some of the parts....
ALBERT
If I'm not very much mistaken, I saw Philine float by--with a rather
intoxicated look in her eyes.... Oh, have I put my foot into it again?
I beg your pardon!
AMADEUS (_turning away from him_)
That's right. She was here. Oh, that damned business of private
rehearsals! But I hope it won't last much longer. The coming Winter is
going to decide my future once for all. I have already got my leave of
absence.
ALBERT
So you have made up your mind about that tour?
AMADEUS
Yes, I shall be gone for two months this time.
ALBERT
Within Germany only?
AMADEUS
I'll probably take in a few Italian cities also. Yes, my dear fellow,
they know more about me abroad than here. I shall conduct my Third
Symphony, and perhaps also my Fourth.
ALBERT
Have you got that far already?
AMADEUS
No. But I have hopes of the Summer. Once more I mean to do some real
work.
ALBERT
Well, it's about time.--I have made out the schedule for our walking
tour, by the by. And I brought along the map. Look here. We start from
Niederdorf, and then by way of Plaetzwiesen to Schluderbach; then to
Cortina; then through the Giau Pass to Caprile; then by way of the
Fedaja[2]....
[2] The names used in this passage occur a number of times in
the various plays, indicating that their author probably has
been drawing on experiences obtained during his own walking
tours through the Dolomites. As far as Cortina, the route is
identical with the one mentioned by _Wegrath_ in "The Lonely
Way." The Giau Pass is a little known footpath across Monte
Giau, showing that the intention of _Albert_ is to avoid the
routes frequented by tourists.
AMADEUS
I leave all that to you. I rely entirely on you.
ALBERT
Then it's settled that we'll don knapsack and alpenstock once more, to
wander through the country as we used to do when we were young...?
AMADEUS
Yes, and I am looking forward to it with a great deal of pleasure.
ALBERT
You need simply to pull yourself together--a few weeks of mountain air
and quiet will get you out of this.
AMADEUS
Oh, I haven't got into anything in particular. I am a little nervous.
That's all.
ALBERT
Can't you see, Amadeus, how you have to force yourself in order to use
this evasion toward me, who, of course, has no right whatever to demand
any frankness? Can't you see how you are wasting a part of your mental
energy, so to speak, on this slight disingenuousness? No, dissimulation
is utterly foreign to your nature, as I have always told you. If you
should ever get to the point where you had to deceive one who was near
and dear to you, that would be the end of you.
AMADEUS
Your worry is quite superfluous! Haven't you known us long enough--me
and Cecilia--to know that our marriage is based, above all else, on
absolute frankness?
ALBERT
Many have good intentions, but their courage often deserts them at the
critical moment.
AMADEUS
We have never yet kept anything hidden from each other.
ALBERT
Because so far you have had nothing to confess.
AMADEUS
Oh, a great deal, perhaps, which other people keep to themselves. Our
common life has not been without its complications. We have had to be
parted from each other for months at a time. I have had to rehearse
in private with other singers than Philine, and (_with an air of
superiority_) other men than Prince Sigismund must have discovered that
Cecilia is pretty.
ALBERT
I haven't said a word about Cecilia.
AMADEUS
And besides, it would be quite hopeless for Cecilia or me to keep any
secrets. We know each other too well--I don't think two people ever
existed who understood each other so completely as we do.
ALBERT
I can imagine a point where the understanding would have to end, and
everything else with it.
AMADEUS
Everything else maybe--but not the understanding.
ALBERT
Oh, well! If nothing is left but the understanding, that means the
beginning of the end.
AMADEUS
Those are--chances that every human being must resign himself to take.
ALBERT
You don't talk like one who has resigned himself, however, but like one
who has made up his mind.
AMADEUS
Who can be perfectly sure of himself or of anybody else? We two, at any
rate, are not challenging fate by feeling too secure.
ALBERT
Oh, when it comes to that, my dear fellow--fate always regards itself
challenged--by doubt no less than by confidence.
AMADEUS
To be safe against any surprise brings a certain sense of tranquillity
anyhow.
ALBERT
A little more tranquillity would produce a decision to avoid anything
that might endanger an assured happiness.
AMADEUS
Do you think anything is to be won by that kind of avoidance? Don't you
feel rather, that the worst and most dangerous of all falsehoods is to
resist temptation with a soul full of longing for it? And that it is
easier to go unscathed through adventures than through desires?
ALBERT
Adventures...! Is it actually necessary, then, to live through them? A
painter who has risen above pot-boiling, and who has left the follies
of youth behind him, can be satisfied with a single model for all the
figures that are created out of his dreams--and one who knows how to
live may have all the adventures he could ever desire within the
peaceful precincts of his own home. He can experience them just as
fully as anybody else, but without waste of time, without
unpleasantness, without danger. And if he only possess a little
imagination, his wife may bear him nothing but illegitimate children
without being at all aware of it.
AMADEUS
It's an open question whether you have the right to force such a part
on anybody whom you respect.
ALBERT
It is not wise to let people know what they mean to you. I have put
this thought into an aphorism:
If you grasp me, you rasp me;
If I know you, I own you.
MARIE (_entering from the garden with little Peter_)
Peter wants me absolutely to come in. I wanted to wait for Cecilia in
the garden.
AMADEUS
How are you, Marie?
MARIE
I'm not disturbing you, I hope?
GOVERNESS (_comes from the garden with the intention of taking the boy
away_) Peter!
PETER
No, I want to stay with the grown-ups.
AMADEUS
Yes, let him be with us for a while.
GOVERNESS (_returns to the veranda, where she remains visible_)
MARIE
Well, have you been working a lot?
AMADEUS
Oh, we have just been talking.
ALBERT
Do you know why she asks? Because she is in love with Mr. von Rabagas.
AMADEUS
With whom?
ALBERT
Don't you remember him? He's that interesting young chap who appears in
the first act as one of the King's attendants. She used, at least, to
fall in love only with the heroes of my plays, but nowadays she can't
even resist the subordinate characters.
AMADEUS
That should make you proud.
ALBERT
Proud, you say? But at times you can't help regretting that you must
put all the beauties and virtues of the world into the figures you
create, so that you have nothing but your wee bit of talent left to get
along with personally.
CECILIA (_enters from the right_)
PETER
There's mamma!
CECILIA
Good afternoon. (_She shakes hands with everybody_) How are you, Marie?
This is awfully nice. If I had only known.... I went for a short walk.
It's such a wonderful day.--Well, Peter (_kissing him_), have you had
your meal yet?
PETER
Yes.
GOVERNESS (_entering from the veranda_)
Good afternoon, Madame. Peter hasn't had his nap yet.
MARIE
Does he still have to sleep in the daytime? Our two children have quit
entirely.
ALBERT
Instead they play a most exciting game every afternoon--one invented by
themselves. They call it "drums and bugles."
MARIE
You must come and see us soon, Peter, so that you can learn to play
that game.
PETER
I've got a music-box, and I'll take it along so we can make more noise.
CECILIA
Now you have to go. But first you must say good-by nicely.
PETER
I'll say "adieu." Good-by is so common.
[_Everybody laughs. Peter goes out with the Governess. Marie and
Cecilia move slowly toward the fireplace and sit down in front of it._
MARIE
Of course, I have come to ask for something.
CECILIA
Well, go on.
MARIE
There's to be a concert at which they want you to assist.
CECILIA
This season?
MARIE
Yes. But it will be in the country, not in the city ... for a
charitable purpose, of course. The committee would be so happy if you
would sing two or three songs.
CECILIA
I think I can.
MARIE
And I shall feel very grateful, too.
CECILIA
Don't you find undertakings of that kind a lot of trouble?
MARIE
Well, you must have something to do. If I had any gifts like the rest
of you, I am sure I should never bother with "people's kitchens" or
"charitable teas"--and then, I suppose, I should feel more indifferent
about people, too.
CECILIA (_with a smile_)
About _people_, too?
MARIE
Oh, I didn't mean it that way.
ALBERT
You see, Marie, there is something like the charm of meadows and fields
in your sweet prattle, and you should never desert it for the thickets
of psychological speculations.--Come on, child. These people want their
dinner.
CECILIA
No, we won't eat for an hour yet.
AMADEUS
We generally work a little before we eat. To-day we might run through
the songs for that concert, for instance.
CECILIA
That would suit me perfectly.
MARIE
Oh, I feel _so_ thankful to you, Cecilia!
CECILIA
And when shall we see each other again?
ALBERT