The Walpurgis Night Dream -a sort of
amateur pageant, possibly being watched by Faust and Mephistopheles,
adds to the surreal atmosphere. The little verses are satires or
comments on various people and things. Mieding was a stage manager
and scene painter. Oberon, Puck and Titania are "fairies"
from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream while Ariel , the airy
spirit, is from The Tempest. The Northern Artist relates to Goethe
himself whose views were enriched by his own Italian Journey. Xenien
are the satiric verses in the style of the Roman poet Martial.
Hennings portrayed as a sort of literary snob, published a journal
called The Genius of the Age that had attacked Schiller (poet and
playwright and Goethe's friend). His book of poems was called
Musagent (leader of the muses). Ci-Devant possible refers to the name
change of the journal at 1800 to Genius of the 19th Century. Orpheus
could calm the beasts with music. An Idealist is a philosopher who
lays great emphasis on the mind's role in creating reality. The
realist emphasises observation of a world regarded as wholly
external. "Flames" are supposed to lead the sensitive to
treasure. The Nimble Ones who are sans- souci (without care) change
their allegiances easily and have reversed so much they walk on their
heads, while the Useless have ended up with bare feet. The massive
are the masses (particularly in this case in the French Revolution).
WALPURGIS NIGHT DREAM
or
OBERON AND TITANIA’S GOLDEN WEDDING
Intermezzo
THEATRE MANAGER
So today for once we rest,
Brave sons of painter Mieding.
Ancient crag and valley mist.
That’s all the scenery’s needing.
HERALD
A wedding is a golden one
With fifty years in store ;
But when the quarrelling is done,
I love that gold much more..
OBERON
If you spirits are around
Reveal yourselves to view;
Here the king and queen are bound
To now be bound anew.
PUCK
Puck now comes and cuts across,
And slides his feet in line;
And a hundred follow this,
To share a joyful time.
ARIEL
Ariel is moved to song,
In heaven tones so true;
Bringing quite a frightful throng,
But beauty’s offspring too.
OBERON
Couples wish to get along,
So learn what we impart.
Two can stay in love for long-
They only need to part.
TITANIA
He is sulking, she has whims,
So grab them both with haste.
Send her off to southern lands,
He to far northern waste.
ORCHESTRA, TUTTI (FORTISSIMO)
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
With relatives around,
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
All make our music sound.
SOLO
How the bagpipe with its sack
Is big soap bubble swelling;
Hear how skirling snicker-snack
From its blunt nose is welling.
SPIRIT (WHICH IS FORMING ITSELF FOR THE FIRST TIME)
Spider’s foot, toad-belly features,
With small wings of a sprite,
These will not make up some creatures,
Just lines that come out right.
A LITTLE COUPLE
Little steps and leaps so high
Through scents and honey dew;
Though fleet enough for me are you,
We never really fly.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Is this some masquerade’s disguise?
Trust I what seems so clear?
Is Oberon, the fair god, here
Today before my eyes?
ORTHODOX
There’s no claws and no tail piece,
Yet I’ve no doubt it’s true,
Just like the ancient gods of Greece,
That he’s a devil too.
NORTHERN ARTIST
All that I’m doing still today
Are only sketches really.
Still I get set for when I may
Take my Italian journey.
PURIST
Oh, my bad luck brings me such places!
Such goings-on won’t do!
In all this witch horde only two
Are wearing powder on their faces.
YOUNG WITCH
Such powder, like a petticoat,
Suits grannies, grey and worn.
But I sit naked on my goat
And show my strapping form.
MATRON
We’re too well-mannered to engender
Fault-finding with your lot.
Yet as you are, still young and tender,
I hope you start to rot.
ORCHESTRA LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Keep off that naked girl!
Frog in leaf, grass cricket’s cry,
Just keep in time as well!
WEATHERVANE (TURNING TO ONE SIDE)
The best companions you could wish;
Each girl- a bride to be;
And young friends, man for man, make this
Most promising to see!
WEATHERVANE ( TURNING TO THE OTHER SIDE)
And if the ground won’t open wide
And swallow them inside;
Then I’ll take to my heels, pell-mell,
And leap straight into hell.
XENIEN
As little insects we are here
With sharp, small nippers ready,
To becomingly revere
Lord Satan who is our daddy.
HENNINGS
Oh, how they crowd, swarm to the fray,
Naively joke together;
And in the end they’ll dare to say
They were good-hearted
ever .
MUSAGET
I love to lose myself within
This host of witches, for
I’ve far more chance of leading them
Than muses- that’s for sure!
CI-DEVANT GENIUS OF THE AGE (“Musagetes- the
genius of the age”)
The proper people get you places.
Come, grab on to my coat.
The Blocksberg like our German Parnassus
Has a very long, broad top.
INQUISITIVE TRAVELLER
Tell me, who’s that stiff-backed man,
Who strides with such proud steps?
He noses round now where he can,
“He sniffs out Jesuits.”
CRANE
Yes, in
the clear I like to fish,
But
also in the murky waters.
That’s
why the pious sir can mix
Quite
well here in the devil's quarters.
CHILD OF THE WORLD
Believe me, for the pious lot
All things can serve their goals.
They make up, here on Blocksberg’s top,
Lots of conventicles.
DANCER
Is that another chorus song?
I hear a distant drumming.
Don’t fret! In reeds there swarms a throng
Of philosophic bitterns booming.
DANCING MASTER
How each one lifts his limbs, gets by
By hook or else by crook-
The bent ones leap, plump hop up high,
Not asking how they look.
FIDDLER
They hate each other, rotten rabble,
Each wants the rest deceased;
The bagpipe unifies the babble,
As Orpheus did beast.
DOGMATIST
I won’t be muddled by the shouters-
The critics or the doubters;
The devil must be real, you see,
Or else how could this devil be?
IDEALIST
Within my sight, imagination
Rules with too strong a grip;
In truth, if I’m all this creation,
Today I am a twit.
REALIST
This is a trial, the real- a dream...
So vexed by all I meet;
This is the first time that I’ve been
Unsteady on my feet.
SUPERNATURALIST
I’m in a really happy mood,
I find all this just bliss;
For from the devils I conclude
Good spirits must exist.
SKEPTIC
They follow little flames, not great;
Think they track near the treasure.
As devil and doubt alliterate,
I find this place a pleasure.
ORCHESTRAL LEADER
Nose of mosquito, snout of fly,
Damn dilettante crew!
Leaf-frog, grass-born cricket’s cry,
Stay musicians, will you!
THE NIMBLE ONES
Sans-souci, that’s our troop of sweet,
Bright creatures- it is said.
We go no longer on our feet,
So we go on our heads.
THE USELESS ONES
We used to wheedle many a bite;
God help us, but time rolls!
We danced right through our shoes at night,
And now we run on naked soles.
WILL O’ THE WISPS
From reeking swamps we come,
Where we arose in swarms,
But once we join the fun,
We’re glittering, gallant forms.
SHOOTING STAR
From the height I shot, a flower
Of fire and star flight,
Lying in the grasses now,
Who’ll help me get upright?
THE MASSIVE
Make room, make room! Give way all you!
Small grass gets trampled flat.
Spirits come, but spirits too
Have limbs both strong and fat.
PUCK
Do not tread your massive way
Like calves of elephants;
May the sturdiest on this day
Be weighty Puck’s advance.
ARIEL
If fair, living nature’s grace
Or spirit gave you wings,
Follow my light, airy trace
Up the hill of rose-fair rings.
ORCHESTRA (PIANISSIMO)
Clouds that trail and mist that weaves
Dawn-gleams light overhead.
Wind flows through the reeds and leaves
And everything has fled.
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