Lyrics by Frank DiGiacomo with assistance from Julian R. Pace.
The Chancellor of the Kingdom, the Bishop, the Master-at-Arms, and the Court Physician join voices to object to the presence of Undine in their kingdom, and to the Prince’s desire to make her his Queen. They insist on his sending her away immediately and marrying the Princess Berthalda. Each presents his own case, the Prince defends Undine and himself as best he can, but they hammer persistently until he is weakened. The stage is now set for his tragic decision.
LYRICS
Ministers:
No! No! No! It shall never be!
(variously)
This thing shall never be!
Chancellor:
For months we have watched over you
worried and frightened at what we have seen taking place!
Bishop:
Duties neglected and honor denied, the counsel of wisdom unheeded!
Physician:
A sickness, that’s all, but for my greater glory;
a challenge to my cogitive, curative powers!
Advice and religion are useless against a malfunctioning liver,
a proteus volgaris, proteus volgaris...
Master-at-Arms:
The falcons grow weak-eyed, the horses grow lame,
the men thirst for battle, the sound of the hunting-horn.
Long have we rested here.
Now let us rise to the sound of our Prince’s voice,
calling us once more to arms!
Ministers:
This can not go on any longer!
(together)
Heed now the call of duty, of honor, of wisdom -
Bishop:
...of Heaven!
Master-at-Arms:
...of glory!
Physician:
...your kidneys!
Ministers:
Listen to our words!
Prince Hulbrand:
Every day for weeks you have come to me with the same words,
the same advice.
Now you come to me - to me! - with orders.
Before this I have always listened only to you.
You have prepared me to take my place among men as ruler and benefactor.
Since I have grown to manhood I have never thought of anything
save what you have shown me is right for me.
Now I have seen something, ah, so different!
Remembered things once wanted, learned something new of myself.
I could be happy now even if I were not a Prince, and that is something
different than before.
Yet you would force me to send away the cause of all my contentment.
Chancellor:
The cause rather of your destruction!
Bishop:
A sorceress!
Master-at-Arms:
A weakling, eroding your manhood!
Physician:
Dyscrasia grava!
Bishop:
A heathenish recluse!
Chancellor:
She has made you an unworthy ruler!
This thing shall never be, it shall never be!
Physician:
Surely some form of dyspepsia corporis!
Bishop:
She has made you a heathenish recluse!
Counsel of wisdom unheeded, honor denied!
Master-at-Arms:
She has made you less that a man!
Call us to arms again!
Physician:
Enervating! Constipating! Palpitating! Debilitating!
Chancellor:
Are you willing then to give up all you have gained in the world?
All you have yet to accomplish?
The respect of the learned? The admiration of your fellow men?
The love and the worship of those you govern?
For these you must give up if this creature remains by your side.
Shunned as she is by your friends and your subjects,
think not to make her your Queen!
Prince Hulbrand:
Perhaps, given time, she would learn the ways of our life...perhaps?
Chancellor:
Foolish talk!
The gap between her and ourselves can never be bridged
by learning or time.
You, I think, know that better than I.
Take this new path, but no longer call yourself our Prince;
by your choice you relieve us of our allegiance to you!
Bishop:
A creature who shuns our churches, and our rites,
familiar with magic and profane enchantments?
What manner of Queen would you set over us?
Patiently, I strove to instruct her in the mysteries of our faith,
but to no avail.
The sound of the church-bell fills her with terror!
And once, by night, I saw her enter the church and there begin
to sing and to dance
before the saints themselves!
When I charged her with blasphemy, she answered she sought only
to make them smile instead of weep and dance away the
enchantment that holds them captive and still.
Surely this creature belongs in the darkness!
Witchcraft and blasphemy hold her in thrall!
Master-at-Arms:
Of witchcraft I know nothing...but I, too, think her manner most strange.
Coming upon us after the hunt, the woman saw us cleaning the kill;
she fell at once to weeping and fretting and filling our ears
with endless reproaches.
Now look at what she has done to you; weak and womanish,
given to dreaming,
avoiding the sport and desire for conquest which brings honor
and fame to a man.
Think of the chase and the fever of battle, think of the joy
in the clash of arms, lust of the hunter...
...if all of this you choose to give up, then what is left that
shows you to be a man?
Prince Hulbrand:
So, this, my friend, is what makes me a man?
What would she say of that?
Ministers:
This shall never be!
(together)
Physician:
Science will triumph where state and church fail!
Progress and learning enlighten the darkness!
Oh with what joy I will demonstrate now that the way to
happiness lies in scientia medica!
(For the remainder of the Quintet, the following texts are sung together)
Chancellor:
Think then of your duty, your responsibility.
Think of your father, and his before him.
Think of your subjects, they will not accept her!
Think of your counselors, heed well your Ministers;
all we have done for you, all you owe to us.
No foolish dream is worth throwing your life away.
Send her from here at once before she ruins you, totally,
hopelessly, beyond all help.
Do not disappoint us; we had such high hopes for you!
Reject not the kingdom we safeguard for you;
condone not her presence here for one more day!
Master-at-Arms:
What has happened? Are you not the man you were?
Our land undefended, our men grow weak.
Give heed to your duty,
your manhood is at stake!
Let no one say that our Prince is a dreamer made useless
by the wiles of a woman!
Come, cast all this aside!
Let us go forth again, arms strong in battle, companions
united...come, cast all this aside!
Send her away, deny her before all your kingdom.
Condone not her presence here for one more day!
Bishop:
Ha! You are asking what is quite impossible!
A union not recognized by our society?
A marriage not blessed by our Mother Church?
Illicit, immoral, indecent,
unworthy of you, my dear Prince!
I will not think that you see it not for what it is:
a youthful mistake - foolish, but forgivable!
Send her away, deny her before all your kingdom.
Condone not her presence here for one more day!
Physician:
This cerebral fever that oppresses your judgement
I will draw off with a poultice of mustard and toad-stone.
No man is more qualified, better than I am.
Anti-spasmodica! Artemia frigida! Foli verbaci! Anti-diarrhetica!
Anti-diabetica! Rubus bifolius! Inula helenim! Cannabis sativa! Cardiotonica!
Put trust in the wisdom of scientia medica!
No man is more qualified, better than I am!
Doctor cum laude, optissimus Aesculapi discepulis!
Prince Hulbrand:
So they are all set against her, and therefore against me as well.
So much I would show them by bringing her here...but all is rejected,
denied, reviled!
Turned into what they choose to see!
Perhaps they are right; without all they’ve taught me,
the trappings of kingship,
the laws of the kingdom, the call of the manly arts,
perhaps without these I am nothing.
What then?
Yes, she has shown me a song to sing, the steps of a dance long forgotten.
Now I know her, now I love her! But is it real, is it enough?
I want to be sure...but I’m not!
(They continue in the same vein until the end of the Quintet.)