Valentine
Then parry that!
Mephistopheles
Why not?
Valentine
That too!
Mephistopheles
With ease!
Valentine
The devil fights for you! Why how is this? my hand's already lamed!
Mephistopheles (to Faust)
Thrust home!
Valentine (falls)
Alas!
Mephistopheles
There! Now the lubber's tamed! But quick, away! We must at once take
wing; A cry of murder strikes upon the ear; With the police I know my course
to steer, But with the blood - ban 'tis another thing.
Martha (at the window)
Without! without!
Margaret (at the window)
Quick, bring a light!
Martha (as above)
They rail and scuffle, scream and fight!
People
One lieth here already dead!
Martha (coming out)
Where are the murderers? are they fled?
Margaret (coming out)
Who lieth here?
People
Thy mother's son.
Margaret
Almighty God! I am undone!
Valentine
I'm dying - 'tis a soon - told tale, And sooner done the deed. Why, women,
do ye howl and wail? To my last words give heed! (All gather round him.) My
Gretchen see! still young art thou, Art not discreet enough, I trow, Thou dost
thy matters ill; Let this in confidence be said: Since thou the path of shame
dost tread, Tread it with right good will!
Margaret
My brother! God! what can this mean?
Valentine
Abstain, Nor dare God's holy name profane! What's done, alas, is done and
past! Matters will take their course at last; By stealth thou dost begin with
one, Others will follow him anon; And when a dozen thee have known,
Thou'lt common be to all the town. When infamy is newly born, In secret she
is brought to light, And the mysterious veil of night O'er head and ears is
drawn; The loathsome birth men fain would slay; But soon, full grown, she
waxes bold, And though not fairer to behold, With brazen front insults the
day: The more abhorrent to the sight, The more she courts the day's pure
light.
The time already I discern, When thee all honest folk will spurn, And shun thy
hated form to meet, As when a corpse infects the street. Thy heart will sink in
blank despair, When they shall look thee in the face! A golden chain no more
thou'lt wear! Nor near the altar take in church thy place! In fair lace collar
simply dight Thou'lt dance no more with spirits light! In darksome corners
thou wilt bide, Where beggars vile and cripples hide, And e'en though God
thy crime forgive, On earth, a thing accursed, thou'lt live!
Martha
Your parting soul to God commend! Your dying breath in slander will you
spend?
Valentine
Could I but reach thy wither'd frame, Thou wretched beldame, void of
shame! Full measure I might hope to win Of pardon then for every sin.
Margaret
Brother! what agonizing pain!
Valentine
I tell thee, from vain tears abstain! 'Twas thy dishonour pierced my heart, Thy
fall the fatal death - stab gave. Through the death - sleep I now depart To
God, a soldier true and brave. (dies.)
In The Cathedral
Service, Organ, and Anthem
Margaret amongst a number of people
Evil - Spirit behind Margaret
Evil - Spirit
How different, Gretchen, was it once with thee, When thou, still full of
innocence, Here to the altar camest, And from the small and well - conn'd
book Didst lisp thy prayer, Half childish sport, Half God in thy young heart!
Gretchen! What thoughts are thine? What deed of shame Lurks in thy sinful
heart? Is thy prayer utter'd for thy mother's soul, Who into long, long torment
slept through thee? Whose blood is on thy threshold? - And stirs there not
already 'neath thy heart Another quick'ning pulse, that even now Tortures
itself and thee With its foreboding presence?
Margaret
Woe! Woe! Oh could I free me from the thoughts That hither, thither, crowd
upon my brain, Against my will!
Chorus
Dies irae, dies illa, Solvet saeclum in favilla.
(The organ sounds.)
Evil - Spirit
Grim horror seizes thee! The trumpet sounds! The graves are shaken! And
thy heart From ashy rest For torturing flames A new created, Trembles into
life!
Margaret
Would I were hence! It is as if the organ Choked my breath, As if the choir
Melted my inmost heart!
Chorus
Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet adparebit, Nil inultum remanebit.
Margaret
I feel oppressed! The pillars of the wall Imprison me! The vaulted roof
Weighs down upon me! - air!
Evil - Spirit
Wouldst hide thee? sin and shame Remain not hidden! Air! light! Woe's thee!
Chorus
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus! Cum vix justus sit
securus.
Evil - Spirit
The glorified their faces turn Away from thee! Shudder the pure to reach
Their hands to thee! Woe!
Chorus
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus
Margaret
Neighbour! your smelling bottle!
(She swoons away.)
Walpurgis - Night
Act four, scene one, "Walpurgis Night" theme from the opera "Faust" 1859,
by Charles Gounod. Over the heather, marshes, meadows, Light as a feather,
Eerie shadows, Airily flashing lower, higher, flaming and flashing, glowing fire,
they float, they hover, below, above, In fields of clover, In wood and grove,
Flames burning brightly, Rays blazing red, Souls drifting lightly, Souls of the
dead.
The Hartz Mountains. District of Schierke and Elend
Faust and Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles
A broomstick dost thou not at least desire? The roughest he - goat fain would
I bestride, By this road from our goal we're still far wide.
Faust
While fresh upon my legs, so long I naught require, Except this knotty staff.
Beside, What boots it to abridge a pleasant way? Along the labyrinth of these
vales to creep, Then scale these rocks, whence, in eternal spray, Adown the
cliffs the silvery fountains leap: Such is the joy that seasons paths like these!
Spring weaves already in the birchen trees; E'en the late pine - grove feels her
quickening powers; Should she not work within these limbs of ours?
Mephistopheles
Naught of this genial influence do I know! Within me all is wintry. Frost and
snow I should prefer my dismal path to bound. How sadly, yonder, with
belated glow Rises the ruddy moon's imperfect round, Shedding so faint a
light, at every tread One's sure to stumble 'gainst a rock or tree! An Ignis
Fatuus I must call instead. Yonder one burning merrily, I see. Holla! my
friend! may I request your light? Why should you flare away so uselessly? Be
kind enough to show us up the height!
Ignis Fatuus
Through reverence, I hope I may subdue The lightness of my nature; true, Our
course is but a zigzag one.
Mephistopheles
Ho! ho!
So men, forsooth, he thinks to imitate! Now, in the devil's name, for once go
straight! Or out at once your flickering life I'll blow.
Ignis Fatuus
That you are master here is obvious quite; To do your will, I'll cordially essay;
Only reflect! The hill is magic - mad to - night; And if to show the path you
choose a meteor's light, You must not wonder should we go astray.
Faust, Mephistopheles, Ignis Fatuus (in alternate song)
Through the dream and magic - sphere, As it seems, we now are speeding;
Honour win, us rightly leading, That betimes we may appear In yon wide and
desert region!
Trees on trees, a stalwart legion, Swiftly past us are retreating, And the cliffs
with lowly greeting; Rocks long - snouted, row on row, How they snort, and
how they blow!
Through the stones and heather springing, Brook and brooklet haste below;
Hark the rustling! Hark the singing! Hearken to love's plaintive lays; Voices of
those heavenly days What we hope, and what we love! Like a tale of olden
time, Echo's voice prolongs the chime.
To - whit! To - whoo! It sounds more near; Plover, owl and jay appear, All
awake, around, above? Paunchy salamanders too Peer, long - limbed, the
bushes through! And, like snakes, the roots of trees
Coil themselves from rock and sand, Stretching many a wondrous band, Us
to frighten, us to seize; From rude knots with life embued, Polyp - fangs
abroad they spread, To snare the wanderer! 'Neath our tread, Mice, in
myriads, thousand - hued, Through the heath and through the moss! And the
fire - flies' glittering throng, Wildering escort, whirls along, Here and there, our
path across. Tell me, stand we motionless, Or still forward do we press? All
things round us whirl and fly; Rocks and trees make strange grimaces,
Dazzling meteors change their places, How they puff and multiply!
Mephistopheles
Now grasp my doublet - we at last A central peak have reached, which
shows, If round a wondering glance we cast, How in the mountain Mammon
glows,
Faust
How through the chasms strangely gleams, A lurid light, like dawn's red glow,
Pervading with its quivering beams, The gorges of the gulf below! Here
vapours rise, there clouds float by, Here through the mist the light doth shine;
Now, like a fount, it bursts on high, Meanders now, a slender line; Far
reaching, with a hundred veins, Here through the valley see it glide; Here,
where its force the gorge restrains, At once it scatters, far and wide; Anear,
like showers of golden sand Strewn broadcast, sputter sparks of light: And
mark yon rocky walls that stand Ablaze, in all their towering height!
Mephistopheles
Doth not Sir Mammon for this fete Grandly illume his palace! Thou Art lucky
to have seen it; now, The boisterous guests, I feel, are coming straight.
Faust
How through the air the storm doth whirl! Upon my neck it strikes with
sudden shock.
Mephistopheles
Cling to these ancient ribs of granite rock, Else to yon depths profound it you
will hurl. A murky vapour thickens night. Hark! Through the woods the
tempests roar! The owlets flit in wild affright. Hark! Splinter'd are the columns
that upbore The leafy palace, green for aye: The shivered branches whirr and
sigh, Yawn the huge trunks with mighty groan. The roots upriven, creak and
moan! In fearful and entangled fall, One crashing ruin whelms them all, While
through the desolate abyss, Sweeping the wreck - strewn precipice, The
raging storm - blasts howl and hiss! Aloft strange voices dost thou hear?
Distant now and now more near? Hark! the mountain ridge along, Streameth
a raving magic - song!
Witches And Wizards Chorus - Visions And Dances
Witches (in chorus)
Now to the Brocken the witches hie, The stubble is yellow, the corn is green;
Thither the gathering legions fly, And sitting aloft is Sir Urian seen: O'er stick
and o'er stone they go whirling along, Witches and he - goats, a motley
throng,
Voices
Alone old Baubo's coming now; She rides upon a farrow sow.
Chorus
Honour to her, to whom honour is due! Forward, Dame Baubo! Honour to
you! A goodly sow and mother thereon, The whole witch chorus follows
anon.
Voice
Which way didst come?
Voice
O'er Ilsenstein! There I peep'd in an owlet's nest. With her broad eye she
gazed in mine!
Voice
Drive to the devil, thou hellish pest! Why ride so hard?
Voice
She has graz'd my side, Look at the wounds, how deep and how wide!
Witches (in chorus)
The way is broad, the way is long; What mad pursuit! What tumult wild!
Scratches the besom and sticks the prong; Crush'd is the mother, and stifled
the child.
Wizards (half chorus)
Like house - encumber'd snail we creep; While far ahead the women keep,
For when to the devil's house we speed, By a thousand steps they take the
lead.
The Other Half
Not so, precisely do we view it; They with a thousand steps may do it; But let
them hasten as they can, With one long bound 'tis clear'd by man.
Voices (above)
Come with us, come with us from Felsensee.
Voices (from below)
Aloft to you we would mount with glee! We wash, and free from all stain are
we, Yet barren evermore must be!
Both Choruses
The wind is hushed, the stars grow pale, The pensive moon her light doth veil;
And whirling on, the magic choir Sputters forth sparks of drizzling fire.
Voice (from below)
Stay! stay!
Voice (from above)
What voice of woe Calls from the cavern'd depths below?
Voice (from below)
Take me with you! Oh take me too! Three centuries I climb in vain, And yet
can ne'er the summit gain! To be with my kindred I am fain.
Both Choruses
Broom and pitch - fork, goat and prong, Mounted on these we whirl along;
Who vainly strives to climb to - night, Is evermore a luckless wight!
Demi - Witch (below)
I hobble after, many a day; Already the others are far away! No rest at home
can I obtain Here too my efforts are in vain!
Chorus of Witches
Salve gives the witches strength to rise; A rag for a sail does well enough; A
goodly ship is every trough; To - night who flies not, never flies.
Both Choruses
And when the topmost peak we round, Then alight ye on the ground; The
heath's wide regions cover ye With your mad swarms of witchery!
(They let themselves down.)
Mephistopleles
They crowd and jostle, whirl and flutter! They whisper, babble, twirl, and
splutter! They glimmer, sparkle, stink and flare A true witch - element!
Beware! Stick close! else we shall severed be. Where art thou?
