Leonore Is Fed Up

With the recitative and aria Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? Fidelio who has just overheard Pizarro’s order to kill the prisoner in the dungeon, becomes Leonore. She turns inward. Her aria is reflective and passionate. Therefore, she must speak and sing in a more complex language. For the next seven minutes or so—and in the last part of the series about Beethoven’s opera—she leads us through everything German grammar has to offer.

Recitative

abscheulich = abhorrent; Abscheulicher = a person who is abhorrent
hineilen sep. = to hurry to a place
vorhaben sep. = to intend
Grimm m = fierceness
Tigersinn m = conscience of a tiger, conscience of a brave person
Meereswoge f = wave of the sea, pl. Meereswogen
Farbenbogen m obs. = rainbow
niederblicken sep. = to look down
widerspiegeln sep. = to reflect

The Poet’s Genitive

des Mitleids Ruf = cry of compassion, a call to be compassionate, today: der Ruf des Mitleids
der Menschheit Stimme = voice of humanity, today: die Stimme der Menschheit
der Seele Zorn und Wut = wrath and anger of the soul, today: Zorn und Wut der Seele

Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?
Was hast du vor in wildem Grimme?
Des Mitleids Ruf, der Menschheit Stimme—
rührt nichts mehr deinen Tigersinn?

She has expressed her dismay of Pizarro’s excess of hatred and lack of compassion. Now, two worlds collide—Pizarro and Leonore, Meereswogen and Farbenbogen, dark (dunkel) and bright (hell), somewhat interlinked through a conditional construction, which is enhanced by two identifiers, doch and so, but comes without the introductory word, the connector wenn. She could say, Wenn auch Zorn und Wut wie Meereswogen dir in der Seele toben, leuchtet mir ein Farbenbogen. Because she wants to be concise, she says instead:

Doch toben auch wie Meereswogen
dir in der Seele Zorn und Wut,
so leuchtet mir ein Farbenbogen,
der hell auf dunklen Wolken ruht:

Note, the subject of this sentence, the things that do the toben (to rampage, to rage) are Zorn and Wut. Where do they do the toben? In der Seele (soul). In what way? Wie Meereswogen. Also note the last part of the sentence in which Leonore says, der hell auf dunklen Wolken ruht. The article der relates to the masculine noun Farbenbogen. Der Farbenbogen ruht auf dunklen Wolken. Not only that:

Der blickt so still, so friedlich nieder,
der spiegelt alte Zeiten wider,
und neu besänftigt wallt mein Blut.

In these last lines, Leonore’s Farbenbogen prevails over Pizarro’s Meereswogen. Since Farbenbogen is a masculine noun, it is represented by the pronoun der. It looks down quietly (still) and peacefully (friedlich) and it reflects (widerspiegeln refl.) those old times, when Florestan was free and and unfettered by Pizarro’s despotism. Hence, soothed again, her blood flows through her veins (wallen).

Aria

Vocabulary

dringen = here: to get through, to reach; zur Stelle dringen = to get through to the place
erbleichen = here: to fade
erhellen = to lighten
Gattenliebe f = marital love
in Fesseln schlagen = to clap in irons = to shackle, simple past: [in Fesseln] schlugen, ich schlug
tragen = here: to bear, simple past: trugen, ich trug

Trieb m = drive
wanken = to waver

Her outrage has given way to calm. She calls upon hope by using the imperative three times, with three urgent requests: komm, lass, and erhell. Hope is light; that is what she intends to bring to the dungeons.

Komm Hoffnung, lass den letzten Stern
der Müden nicht erbleichen!
O komm, erhell’ mein Ziel, sei’s noch so fern,

She does not know how far away her goal (Ziel n) is. For her it does not matter, which she expresses with subjunctive 1, turning sein into sei: Sei es (be it) noch so fern (as far away as can be). It is love that moves her forward, love that will accomplish the Ziel. Note the future tense with the helping verb werden: Die Liebe wird es erreichen.

Die Liebe, sie wird’s erreichen.
Ich folg’ dem inneren Triebe,
ich wanke nicht,
mich stärkt die Pflicht
der treuen Gattenliebe!

The verb in the last statement is stärkt (to strengthen). Who or what strengthens whom or what? Does mich (Leonore) strengthen the duty (Pflicht) or does the duty strengthen mich (Leonore)?

O du, für den ich alles trug,
könnt ich zur Stelle dringen,
wo Bosheit dich in Fesseln schlug,
und süßen Trost dir bringen!

In the first line, Leonore leaves no doubt for whom (für den) she bore everything: O du. Next, she proclaims her desires using the subjunctive könnte (could), the verb form for thought experiments. Because könnte only appears with infinitive verbs we can identify the actions she is longing to do: dringen and bringen. Könnte ich zur Stelle dringen und süßen Trost dir bringen. She wishes she could get to the place and bring him sweet comfort. Using wo, she adds extra information about that place. She tells us what happened there: Bosheit (here: evil) put him in shackles.

Ich folg’ dem inneren Triebe,
ich wanke nicht,
mich stärkt die Pflicht
der treuen Gattenliebe!

Ha! Pizarro’s Revenge

Pizarro, the tyrant steps into the dungeon where his prisoner shall face his last moments and know—at least this is Pizarro’s plan—who will murder him with a dagger and the language of revenge. Read part six of the series about the linguistics of Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera.

Ha, welch ein Augenblick!

Vocabulary:

die Rache kühlen = lit. to cool revenge. “Revenge has cooled” means the avenger has satisfied his urge for revenge.
Geschick n = here: fate
wühlen = to rummage
dahinstrecken sep. = here: to lay out, to strike to the floor

Ha, welch ein Augenblick!
Die Rache werd ich kühlen,
dich rufet dein Geschick!
In seinem Herzen wühlen,
O Wonne, großes Glück!

The prospect of killing his enemy thrills Pizarro so much that out of the first five lines, three end with an exclamation mark—the first after he cries out in excitement over the moment (Augenblick) that has finally arrived, the next after he evokes the fate that calls (rufet) Florestan. By beginning the sentence with dich (Florestan’s pronoun du when it receives an action), Pizarro seems to point at his victim, the receiver of fate’s call. Exhilarated by his imaginings he does not need a subject for in seinem Herzen wühlen as long as there is Wonne and Glück (happiness) and an exclamation mark. Of course, the subject, the person who is doing wühlen, is he, Pizarro.

Schon war ich nah, im Staube,
dem lauten Spott zum Raube,
dahingestreckt zu sein.

He looks back on a moment in which he was almost humiliated. He was nah (close) im Staube dahingestreckt zu sein (to be laid out in the dust). Why? What happened? After Staube he places a comma and inserts extra information, the phrase dem lauten Spott zum Raube, two nouns in the dative case. This tells us they cannot be active in the sentence. He fell victim to a Raub, a kind of a robbery, and the robber is Spott (mockery). We do not know what the mockery was about, but it came close to bringing down Pizarro.

Nun ist es mir geworden,
den Mörder selbst zu morden;
in seiner letzten Stunde,
den Stahl in seiner Wunde,
ihm noch ins Ohr zu schrein:
Triumph! Der Sieg ist mein!

The steel in Florestan’s heart, the cry of victory—these images of triumph spur him on to the murder he is about to commit. The first line is the most important one in helping us understand what drives Pizarro, and it is strange as well: he could say, “Now it is my intention” or something similar, but once Rocco has declined to kill the prisoner, and with the minister’s arrival looming, Pizarro feels it is destiny that guides his actions: now, “it (es) has become (geworden) to him,” meaning it has become his fate to act. To finish this thought, he has to precede the verbs morden and schreien with zu. It has become his fate to murder and to scream. 

Listen to Ha! Welch ein Augenblick! sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Gold, Fidelio! Gold!!

The next parts of the Fidelio series are about the language of important arias. Today: Rocco’s famous Hat man nicht auch Gold beineben. Read excerpts from my book Die Frist ist um—Navigate the Language of 10 German Operas.

The Gold-Arie was Beethoven’s idea. He could not write an opera of liberation without including some observations on the power of gold—what it offers and what it oppresses. Rocco lectures Fidelio and Marzelline that marital life is worthless without monetary stimulus. Love is nothing if one cannot appease one’s hunger. Only money puts food on the table; not only that, money brings happiness to life and power to fruition. In the 1805 version of the aria, librettist Sonnleithner went so far as to list what else money can do: it can turn dignitary positions, jewels, and girls into goods. Money, Rocco sings in the second stanza, satisfies pride and revenge; the rich “should be ashamed,” he declares.

In 1806, the aria was removed from the score. Whether it fell victim to the censors or to the need to shorten the opera, we do not know. It reappeared in a benefit concert for a Rocco singer. Because the audience liked it, Beethoven decided to include it with some revisions in the 1814 version of the opera.

beineben obs. = besides, today: nebenbei
fortschleppen refl. sep. = to drag oneself away
einstellen refl. sep. = to appear, to rise

When the appeal of money is being pondered and its pros and cons are being weighed, the conditional clause must rule the sentence. It carries the conditions of having money on the side (Gold beineben), being happy (glücklich sein) and of gold coins clinking and rolling nicely in your pocket (in der Tasche fein klingelt und rollt). Wasting no time, Rocco begins his sentences with the conditional and lets the main statement follow.

He also deploys two ways to express the conditional: with and without an introductory word, a connector—here, wenn (if, when). He begins the aria with the conditional without a connector. In this case, he has to place the verb in position number one.

Hat man nicht auch Gold beineben,
kann man nicht ganz glücklich sein;
traurig schleppt sich fort das Leben,
mancher Kummer stellt sich ein.

He starts with a description of what happens if you do not have money set aside. Your life drags on, worries will set in. He does not use the introductory word: Wenn man nicht auch Gold beineben hat, kann man nicht ganz glücklich sein. The wenn shows up when he changes the mood, when he describes the bright side of having money.

Doch wenn’s in der Tasche fein klingelt und rollt,

da hält man das Schicksal gefangen,

He pairs the wenn in the conditional clause with da in the main clause. Although da is not necessary, it keeps the balance between the two parts of the sentence. Money in one’s pocket keeps one’s fate (Schicksal) under control (here: gefangen). The verbs in the following sentence are verschafft and stillet. What is doing the verschaffen and stillen? What is the subject of the sentence? Macht? Liebe? Gold? Verlangen?

Und Macht und Liebe verschafft dir das Gold
und stillet das kühnste Verlangen,
das Glück dient wie ein Knecht für Sold,
es ist ein schönes Ding, das Gold.

Here, wie does not mean “how.” It functions as a comparative particle. It tells us that two things are the same: happiness serves the way a servant serves for money.

verbinden = here: to go with
Summe f = sum
drum = therefore, also: darum
Zufall m = coincidence
Beutel m = here: purse for carrying money
lenken = here: to guide

Wenn sich nichts mit nichts verbindet,
ist und bleibt die Summe klein;
wer bei Tisch nur Liebe findet,
wird nach Tische hungrig sein.

One more conditional clause: if (wenn) nothing goes with nothing, the sum will be and will remain (bleibt) small. Have-nots will gain nothing if they do not strive for gold, Rocco believes. The next statement starts with wer—normally a question word inquiring about a person, but here a pronoun that relates to an unknown person in the relative clause. “The one who” (wer) finds only love at the table will be hungry after the meal. Note the different prepositions for table—bei and nach. The meaning changes depending on the preposition: am Tisch means just being at the table, bei Tisch being at the table and eating, and nach Tisch means just “after the meal.”

Drum lächle der Zufall euch gnädig und hold
und segne und lenk euer Streben;

What or who does lächle, segne, and lenk? What or who is the subject of the sentence? Zufall? Euch? Streben?

Note that Rocco expresses a wish without using the helping verb mögen: Möge der Zufall lächeln, segnen und lenken. Instead, he indicates his desire by changing the spelling of the verb, using the so-called subjunctive 1: der Zufall lächle, segne, lenk. However, in the last part he introduces mögen. He wishes that Fidelio and Marzelline may live through many years, embrace each other, and have money in the purse.

Das Liebchen im Arme, im Beutel das Gold,
so mögt ihr viel Jahre durchleben.
Das Glück dient wie ein Knecht für Sold,
es ist ein mächtig Ding, das Gold.

There is a third method of establishing a conditional clause, the hypotheticals, the thought experiment with wären, hätten, würden, etc. But examining what-ifs never crosses Rocco’s mind. Life is not made of blah-blah but of clear-cut alternatives: either you strive for money and have a good life or you don’t.

Listen to the Gold-Arie, sung by Kurt Moll: