 
Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens -Contents |
Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens
Contents
ACT ONE
 |
| Herbert Wernicke's costume designs for Berlioz' "Les Troyens" |
After 10 years the siege has been raised and the Trojans are rejoicing
in the fields around the city. Their amazement is awakened by the various
objects the Greeks have left behind. They are particularly curious and
uneasy about a huge horse. Cassandra, whom Apollo has endowed with the
gift of being able to foretell the future (but nobody ever believes her),
is worried by the sudden withdrawal of the enemy. But neither her father,
Priam, nor her betrothed, Choroebus, pay any attention to her warnings.
Choroebus appears and endeavours to pacify Cassandra, but she urges him
to flee because his life is in great danger. Weary of struggling against
the stubborness of her lover, which finally brings about her demise, Cassandra
grants him the "nuptial death" that awaits both of them the next day.
Hardly have they departed the scene when a procession comes by giving
thanks to the gods for having saved the city. Then there follows a festive
scene, which includes the dance of the warriors. It is suddenly interrupted
by the arrival of Hector's widow, Andromache, speechless with grief, and
her son whom she has just had blessed by Priam.
(Sinon, a prevaricating Greek picked up on the strand, tells Priam that
the horse is a sacrifical offering to Pallas Athene and if it could be
taken into the city it would enable the Trojans to be revenged upon their
enemies.) Aeneas appears. He recounts how he saw Laacoon, priest of the
god Neptune, being swallowed by a snake after he had thrust a spear at
the wooden horse. Such a cruel punishment fills the people with horror.
Aeneas (Priam) orders the horse to be taken into the city. Cassandra,
now alone on the stage, laments her lost happiness, and when she hears
the horns, the joyful singing, the flutes and the lyres as the procession
passes by, she grieves for the blindness of the Trojans. But afterwards
she sees it as a sign of the omnipotence of the gods and resigns herself
to her fate.
ACT TWO
Scene 1
Evening of the same day. Aeneas is dozing. In the distance the sound of
battle can be heard. Frightened, his son Ascanius comes in to wake his
father but goes away again. Then the shade of Hector appears and rouses
him from his slumbers. He tells Aeneas to flee from the city, which has
just fallen to the enemy, and set out for Italy with his comrades. There
in the land that Dardanus, their ancestral forefather, came from he is
to found a mighty kingdom. Hector disappears; Pantheus hurries on stage,
followed by Ascanius, Chorobeus and soldiers and gives Aeneas a description
of the carnage. He exhorts them to clear a way to the citadel where the
sacred treasure, which they must take with them, lies.
Scene 2
In the Sibyl's temple the Trojan women implore the tutelary goddess of
their city to stand by them now. Cassandra joins them and tells them that
Aeneas has taken the treasure and left the city in order to found a new
Troy. For the women themselves, she says, there is only one way of escaping
the humiliations that await them from the victors: death. Some panic and
refuse to cooperate. Cassandra drives them away and then intones a hymn
of joy together with her companions. The leaders of the Greeks are completely
nonplussed when they encounter the women who, following Cassandra's example,
stab themselves to death, strangle themselves or, crying out 'Italy!',
throw themselves off the heights.
ACT THREE
After a night of thunderstorms the people of Carthage celebrate the return of the fine weather. They go out to meet Dido who has come to reward the architects, seamen and farmers for their industry in helping to make the city prosper again. But will Dido's subjects, who followed her from Tyre into exile on African soil, be able to defend her against the pretentions of the savage Iarbas? Indeed they will, they loudly swear. Dido gives a present to each guild and the Carthaginians withdraw, singing hymns of praise to their queen. Left alone with her sister, Anna, Dido confides that she feels strangely sad. "You will fall in love", replies Anna, "Carthage needs a king". But Dido intends to remain true to the memory of her husband, Sychaios. The poet Jopas enters and announces the arrival of an unknown fleet seeking refuge. Dido cannot refuse them what she herself had once begged for. She even feels some sort of premonition. Led by Ascanius and Pantheus, the Trojans appear before her and Dido feels flattered to have such famous heroes in her court. Then Narbal, her minister, enters out of breath and announces that Iarbas' troops are preparing to attack the unarmed Carthaginians. Aeneas, disguised up to then as a sailor, now reveals his shining armour, introduces himself and, in the name of the Trojans, asks Dido for permission to fight. Though inwardly captivated, the queen grants permission with a certain reluctant pride, which she makes no effort to conceal. Aeneas proclaims his intention of driving the Numidian back into the desert, and all present express their approval. While the other warriors are being informed Aeneas takes leave of Ascanius, entrusting Dido to his care. And when all have come together, the Trojans and the Tyrians, they celebrate in song the battle into which they are going.
ACT FOUR
Scene 1
Morning, a wood near Carthage. Two naiads make a sudden appearance and
disappear again immediately. In the distance the sound of horns can be
heard, horses hooves come nearer, Ascanius gallops across the stage, a
thunderstorm blows up. Dido, dressed like Diana the huntress, and Aeneas
enter on foot, seeking shelter in a cave. Nymphs with flowing tresses
join the fauns in their grotesque dances, shouting 'Italy!'. Lightning
strikes, the thunderstorm passes and the clouds lift.
Scene 2
A little later, sunset. In Dido's gardens Narbal confides to Anna that
he is worried because the queen is now spending the time she used to devote
to state affairs in hunting and giving banquets. The young lady does not
take these worries seriously, for Dido is in love and is loved in turn.
Is not Aeneas bound for Italy? Love is stronger than the will of the gods...
Dido appears, followed by Aeneas, Pantheus, Jopas and Narbal. Oriental
maids come on and dance a lusty dance, slaves a virile one, and Nubian
women a lively one. This entertainment makes Dido cross so she puts an
end to it and asks Jopas instead to sing a shepherd's song. But after
two verses she interrupts him also and asks Aeneas to continue the story
of the tragic events at Troy. In doing so he lets her know that Andromache
married Pyrrhus in the end. On hearing this, Dido's scruples finally vanish.
While Anna looks on amused, Ascanius playfully takes Sychaios' ring off
her finger. Dido takes back the ring but leaves it behind on her couch
when Aeneas invites her go outside with him and inhale the gentle sighs
of the wind. All come together to celebrate the night and the wonderful
beauty of the sea. When they are alone, Aeneas and Dido recall other great
loves and discuss their own. They go off singing. Mercury appears, strikes
Aeneas' shield and calls out thrice: 'Italy!'
ACT FIVE
Scene 1
Night, some months later. In the harbour of Carthage a young Trojan sailor
high up in a mast sings a song about his homeland far away. Then he falls
asleep. In the camp Pantheus tells the Trojan leaders that they should
prepare to sail away, for the enraged gods are beginning to send worrying
signs and shades are calling out 'Italy!'. Two sentinels who feel very
much at home in Carthage mock and laugh at the idea of having their bones
broken in a land they do not know. Aeneas appears, in great emotional
turmoil, torn between his love for Dido and his duty to abandon her. Above
all, it is the desperation of the queen that oppresses him. He swears
that before he leaves he will bid her a last farewell, cost what it may.
But the shades return. Priam, Choroebus, Cassandra and Hector give him
the order to depart forthwith. Aeneas has his men wakened at once to prepare
for the departure. Dido appears; she is surprised by the bustling activity;
then she understands; she accuses Aeneas of ingratitude; he professes
his undying love for her but, he says he has to obey the ultimatum. He
shudders when he hears the Trojan anthem... Dido turns away, cursing the
Trojan's vain addiction to fame and his horrible devotion to duty. The
Trojans prepare to depart, calling out 'Italy!'.
Scene 2
Back in her chambers, Dido asks Anna to go to Aeneas and beseech him to
stay a few more days with her, if not out of love then at least out of
gratitude. Suddenly voices from a distance announce the departure of the
Trojan fleet. Dido considers sending soldiers after them, regrets her
generosity, but downcast and disheartened surrenders in the end. She gives
orders that a sacrifice be prepared for the gods of the underworld who
help people to forget. She asks to be left alone and then gives free rein
to her grief. She prepares for her death by calling to mind again memories
of Aeneas' love. Finally, she takes leave of her city, her people, her
sister, the skies over Africa, the nights full of inebriation... Scene
3 In the gardens of Dido a funeral pyre has been erected on which the
souvenirs left behind by Aeneas have been placed. The priests of Pluto
make invocations to the gods of Erebus. Anna and Narbal pray that Aeneas
may suffer an obscure and inglorious death. Dido climbs up the steps of
the pyre and throws her veil and Aeneas' toga onto it. She prostrates
herself before her couch, embraces it, takes her lover's sword, prophesies
that one day Hannibal will take revenge, and plunges the sword into her
breast. But she goes back again on what she has said: "Carthage will fall,
Rome... immortal...". Terrified by the death of their queen, the Carthaginians
give voice to their hatred of Aeneas' descendants. The march of the Trojans
then rings out: carried on by tradition, it became in the end the triumphal
song of the Romans.