ALL.Why, what's the matter? What's the matter? What's the matter ?
SONG--JULIA.(LISA clinging to her.)
Ah, pity me, my comrades true, Who love, as well I know you do, This gentle child, To me so fondly dear!
ALL.Why, what's the matter?
JULIA Our sister love so true and deep From many an eye unused to weep Hath oft beguiled The coy reluctant tear!
ALL.Why, what's the matter?
JULIA Each sympathetic heart 'twill bruise When you have heard the frightful news (O will it not?)That I must now impart!
ALL.Why, what's the matter?
JULIA.Her love for him is all in all!
Ah, cursed fate! that it should fall Unto my lot To break my darling's heart!
ALL.Why, what's the matter?
LUD.What means our Julia by those fateful looks?
Please do not keep us all on tenter-hooks-Now, what's the matter?
JULIA.Our duty, if we're wise, We never shun.
This Spartan rule applies To every one.
In theatres, as in life, Each has her line--This part--the Grand Duke's wife (Oh agony!) is mine!
A maxim new I do not start--
The canons of dramatic art Decree that this repulsive part (The Grand Duke's wife)Is mine!
ALL.Oh, that's the matter!
LISA (appalled, to LUDWIG).Can that be so?
LUD.I do not know--
But time will show If that be so.
CHORUS.Can that be so? etc.
LISA (recit.).Be merciful!
DUET--LISA and JULIA.
LISA.Oh, listen to me, dear--
I love him only, darling!
Remember, oh, my pet, On him my heart is set This kindness do me, dear-Nor leave me lonely, darling!
Be merciful, my pet, Our love do not forget!
JULIA.Now don't be foolish, dear--
You couldn't play it, darling!
It's "leading business", pet And you're but a soubrette.
So don't be mulish, dear-
Although I say it, darling, It's not your line, my pet--I play that part, you bet!
I play that part--
I play that part, you bet!
(LISA overwhelmed with grief.)
NOT.The lady's right.Though Julia's engagement Was for the stage meant--It certainly frees Ludwig from his Connubial promise.
Though marriage contracts--or whate'er you call 'em--Are very solemn, Dramatic contracts (which you all adore so)Are even more so!
ALL.That's very true!
Though marriage contracts, etc.
SONG--LISA.
The die is cast, My hope has perished!
Farewell, O Past, Too bright to last, Yet fondly cherished!
My light has fled, My hope is dead, Its doom is spoken--My day is night, My wrong is right In all men's sight--My heart is broken!
[Exit weeping.
LUD.(recit.).Poor child, where will she go? What will she do?
JULIA.That isn't in your part, you know.
LUD.(sighing).Quite true!
(With an effort.) Depressing topics we'll not touch upon--Let us begin as we are going on!
For this will be a jolly Court, for little and for big!
ALL.Sing hey, the jolly jinks of Pfennig Halbpfennig!
LUD.From morn to night our lives shall be as merry as a grig!
ALL.Sing hey, the jolly jinks of Pfennig Halbpfennig!
LUD.All state and ceremony we'll eternally abolish--We don't mean to insist upon unnecessary polish--And, on the whole, I rather think you'll find our rule tollolish!
ALL.Sing hey, the jolly jinks of Pfennig Halbpfennig!
JULIA.But stay--your new-made Court Without a courtly coat is--We shall require Some Court attire, And at a moment's notice.
In clothes of common sort Your courtiers must not grovel--Your new noblesse Must have a dress Original and novel!
LUD.Old Athens we'll exhume!
The necessary dresses, Correct and true And all brand-new, The company possesses:
Henceforth our Court costume Shall live in song and story, For we'll upraise The dead old days Of Athens in her glory!
ALL.Yes, let's upraise The dead old days Of Athens in her glory!
ALL.Agreed! Agreed!
For this will be a jolly Court for little and for big! etc(They carry LUDWIG round stage and deposit him on the ironwork of well.JULIA stands by him, and the rest group round them.)END OF ACT I.
ACT II.
(THE NEXT MORNING.)
SCENE.--Entrance Hall of the Grand Ducal Palace.
Enter a procession of the members of the theatrical company (now dressed in the costumes of Troilus and Cressida), carrying garlands, playing on pipes, citharae, and cymbals, and heralding the return of LUDWIG and JULIA from the marriage ceremony, which has just taken place.
CHORUS.
As before you we defile, Eloia! Eloia!
Pray you, gentles, do not smile If we shout, in classic style, Eloia!
Ludwig and his Julia true Wedded are each other to--So we sing, till all is blue, Eloia! Eloia!
Opoponax! Eloia!
Wreaths of bay and ivy twine, Eloia! Eloia!
Fill the bowl with Lesbian wine, And to revelry incline--Eloia!
For as gaily we pass on Probably we shall, anon, Sing a Diergeticon--Eloia! Eloia!
Opoponax! Eloia!
RECIT.--LUDWIG.
Your loyalty our Ducal heartstrings touches:
Allow me to present your new Grand Duchess.
Should she offend, you'll graciously excuse her--And kindly recollect I didn't choose her!
SONG--LUDWIG.
At the outset I may mention it's my sovereign intention To revive the classic memories of Athens at its best, For the company possesses all the necessary dresses And a course of quiet cramming will supply us with the rest.
We've a choir hyporchematic (that is, ballet-operatic)Who respond to the choreut of that cultivated age, And our clever chorus-master, all but captious criticaster Would accept as the choregus of the early Attic stage.
This return to classic ages is considered in their wages, Which are always calculated by the day or by the week--And I'll pay 'em (if they'll back me) all in oboloi and drachm, Which they'll get (if they prefer it) at the Kalends that are Greek!
(Confidentially to audience.)
At this juncture I may mention That this erudition sham Is but classical pretension, The result of steady "cram.":
Periphrastic methods spurning, To this audience discerning I admit this show of learning Is the fruit of steady "cram."!
CHORUS.Periphrastic methods, etc.
In the period Socratic every dining-room was Attic (Which suggests an architecture of a topsy-turvy kind), There they'd satisfy their thirst on a recherche cold {Greek word}