William Tell, Act 2

ACT TWO





The heights of Rütli, overlooking the Lake of the Four Cantons (Lake Lucerne). On the far horizon we see across the water the summits of the mountains of Schwyz: down below is the village of Brunnen. - Thick fir-trees standing on each side of the stage complete the solitude.





(Hunt-servants, carrying torches, open the march. Others control the hounds; still others arrive with slaughtered stags, foxes and wolves. Ladies and gentlemen on horseback, with falcons on their wrists and followed by pages, cross the stage. Lastly, huntsmen on foot come to a halt and drain the wineskins they carry.)





CHORUS OF HUNTSMEN
What a wild harmony
goes with the sound of the horns!
The cry of the dying chamois
blends with the noise of the torrent;
to hear him breathe out his life -
is there a greater pleasure?
The fury of the tempest
holds nothing more intoxicating; etc.
(The sound of a bell is heard.)





A HUNTSMAN
What is that noise?





CHORUS OF SHEPHERDS
(at work in the mountains)
Into the midst of the shining water
the sun glides down;
from the snow-crowned mountains
the brightness vanishes.
The village bell sounds,
it is our return it orders.
Night is here, night is here.





A HUNTSMAN
The monotonous voices of the herdsmen
still follow us;
the Governor's horn sounds,
(with CHORUS OF HUNTSMEN)
it is our return it orders.
Night is here, night is here!
The horn sounds, the horn sounds,
night is here, night is here!
(They go off. Enter Mathilde, who seems to have deliberately become separated from the rest of the hunting-party.)




MATHILDE
They're going away at last; I thought I recognised him;
my heart did not deceive my eyes.
He has followed me here, he is somewhere nearby.
I tremble - if he were to appear!
What is this deep, mysterious feeling
whose warmth I nurture, that maybe I cherish?
Arnold, Arnold, is it really you,
a simple inhabitant of these fields,
the hope, the pride of these mountains,
who captivate my thoughts and cause my terror?
Ah, that I might at least admit it to myself?
Melchthal, it is you whom I love;
you saved my life
and my gratitude excuses my love.
Gloomy forest, sad and wild wilderness,
I prefer you to the splendours of palaces;
It is on the hills, in the dwelling-place of the storm,
that my heart can be restored to peace;
but the echo alone shall learn my secrets, etc.
You, soft and shy shepherd star,
who come shedding your reflections in my footsteps,
ah, be also my star and my guide!
Like him your rays are discreet,
and the echo alone will repeat my secrets, etc.
(Arnold has appeared during the last few bars of the Romance.)





ARNOLD
My presence here perhaps offends you?
Mathilde, my indiscreet footsteps
have dared to force a way through to you.





MATHILDE
One easily pardons the wrongs in which one shares,
Arnold, I was waiting for you.





ARNOLD
That answer in which your soul breathes,
I feel all too strongly that pity inspires it in you;
you pity my error;
I offend you by loving you.
How hideous is my destiny!





MATHILDE
Is mine any the happier?





ARNOLD
I must speak, I must, in this moment
so cruel and so sweet - so dangerous, perhaps -
that the daughter of kings may learn to know me;
I dare to say it with a noble pride,
for you Heaven called me into being.
I have weighed the danger of a fatal prejudice;
it rises up between us in all its power;
I can respect it, but only in your absence.
Mathilde, order me to flee far away out of your sight
to give up my country and my father,
to go and die on foreign soil,
to choose for a tomb uninhabited shores,
pronounce on my fate, say a word.





MATHILDE
Stay.
Yes, you wring from my heart
this secret my eyes have betrayed,
yes, you wring, etc.
I cannot stifle my passion,
even though it should destroy us both! etc.





ARNOLD
So it has come from her heart,
this secret her eyes have betrayed!
So it has come, etc.
Her passion responds to mine,
even though it should destroy us both! etc.
(to Mathilde)
But what a distance between us,
what obstacles on all sides!





MATHILDE
Ah, do not lose hope;
everything raises you in my eyes.





ARNOLD
Sweet admission! This tender way you speak
makes my heart drunk with delight!





MATHILDE
I can love him, everything foretells
for me days of happiness near him.
I love him dearly, everything foretells for me
days of happiness near him.
Yes, I love him, and everything foretells
for me days of happiness near him! etc.





ARNOLD
Sweet admission! This tender way you speak
makes my heart drunk with delight! etc.
Everything here foretells my happiness.
What ecstasies for my heart! etc.





MATHILDE
Return to the fields of glory,
fly on to new exploits.
Return to the fields, etc.
One is ennobled by victory;
the world will approve my choice.





ARNOLD
Let me deserve on the fields of glory
the prize which awaits me on my return:
let me deserve, etc.
Can I doubt victory
when I obey love?





MATHILDE
One is ennobled by victory.





ARNOLD
Can I doubt victory
when I obey love? Yes -





MATHILDE
He is worthy of my love, yes.
In the one who loves you,
yes, it is honour itself
that rules.
Mathilde, ever faithful,
will go into your tent
to receive your faith. etc.





ARNOLD
In the one I love
yes, it is honour itself
that rules.
Mathilde, ever faithful,
will come into my tent
to receive my faith. etc.
I return to the fields of glory...





MATHILDE
Return to the fields of glory...





ARNOLD
I fly on to new exploits.





MATHILDE
Fly on to new exploits;
one is ennobled by victory.





ARNOLD
Can I doubt victory
when I obey your rule? Yes -





MATHILDE
The world will approve my choice! Yes -
in the one who loves you,
yes, it is honour itself, etc.





ARNOLD
in the one I love,
yes, it is honour itself, etc.





MATHILDE
Someone's coming, we must part.


ARNOLD
Shall I see you again?





MATHILDE
Yes, tomorrow.





ARNOLD
O joy!





MATHILDE
When dawn comes up again,
in the old chapel, in God's presence,
I shall hear your last farewell.





ARNOLD
O sweet favour!





MATHILDE
I leave you, someone's coming.





ARNOLD
Heaven! Walter and William, yes, flee from their
presence!
(Mathilde leaves. Tell and Walter enter.)





TELL
You weren't alone here?





ARNOLD
Well?





TELL
We fear to disturb such a sweet conversation.





ARNOLD
I do not inquire into your intentions.





WALTER
Perhaps
more than another you should seek to know them.





TELL
No... What do they matter to Melchthal if he is
deserting our ranks,
if he secretly aspires to serve our tyrants?





ARNOLD
Who told you so?



TELL
Your agitation, and Mathilde and her flight.





ARNOLD
I'm being spied on, and it's by you?





TELL
Myself; your conduct
yesterday cast suspicion into my startled heart.





ARNOLD
But if I love...





WALTER
Great God!





ARNOLD
... but if I am loved?
Your suspicions?...





TELL
would be correct.





ARNOLD
My love?





WALTER
Is impious.





ARNOLD
Mathilde?





TELL
She is our enemy.





WALTER
She was born among our oppressors.





TELL
And basely Melchthal embraces her knees!





ARNOLD
But what right have you for your blind fury?...





TELL
Our rights? A word will tell you them all:
do you really know what it is to love one's
fatherland?





ARNOLD
You speak of "fatherland", we no longer have one.
I am leaving this shore
inhabited by discord and hatred and fear,
worthy daughters of slavery;
I hasten into battles to regain my honour.





TELL
When Helvetia is a field of tortures
where they harvest its children,
let your arms be Gessler's accomplices,
fight and die for our tyrants,
fight and die for our tyrants, etc.





ARNOLD
The camps restore my courage;
in the camps loyalty reigns,
already glory has marked my passage in them,
besides, it replaces freedom.
Already glory, etc.





WALTER
On account of us Gessler, as a prelude to battles,
has cut short an old man's life;
this victim awaits his funeral rites,
he has claims on your help.
Go! run! he has claims on your help! etc.
He has cut short an old man's life,
he has claims on your help.





ARNOLD
Ah, what a dreadful mystery!
An old man, you say?





WALTER
Whom Switzerland reveres.





ARNOLD
His name?





WALTER
I must conceal it.





TELL
To speak is to strike him to the heart.




ARNOLD
My father!...





WALTER
Yes, your father! Melchthal, the honour of our hamlets,
your father, assassinated by the hand of executioners!





ARNOLD
What do I hear! O crime! Alas! Alas! I die.
His life that they dared to outlaw -
I did not protect it!
His life. etc.
My father, you must have cursed me!
My heart is torn by remorse!
O heaven, O heaven! I shall see no more!





TELL
He shudders...





WALTER
He reels,
he scarcely breathes.





TELL
He scarcely breathes.





ARNOLD
I die!





TELL, WALTER
He turns pale, remorse rends him,
all the ties of love are broken.





ARNOLD
I die!





TELL, WALTER
His terror replaces his frenzy,
his unhappiness will restore his virtues to him!
Remorse rends him,
he is moved at his father's name,
his heart is cast down for ever.
His unhappiness I hope will restore his virtues
to him, etc.





ARNOLD
My father, you must have cursed me!
My heart is torn by remorse!
O heaven, o heaven! I shall see you no more!. etc.
So it is true!





WALTER
I witnessed the crime.





ARNOLD
You?





WALTER
I saw the victim struggle and fall.





ARNOLD
Great God! What to do?





TELL
Your duty.





ARNOLD
I must die?





TELL
You must live!





ARNOLD
Well then, against Gessler assist my despair.
Will you follow me into Altdorf?





TELL
Restrain the wild passions to which your soul gives way.





WALTER
Stay, and avenge at the same time your father
and your country.





ARNOLD
Go on!





TELL
The night, favourable to our plans,
already surrounds us with a protective darkness.
You will see, in these parts that Gessler believes submissive,
courageous friends rise up on all sides:
they will understand your tears.
Out of ploughshares they beat weapons
to win a worthy destiny:
either independence or death!





ALL THREE
Either independence or death!
Let us fire ourselves with a holy frenzy!
Liberty conspires for us;
from the heavens my/your father inspires us,
let us avenge him, let's weep for him no more, etc.
When he dies for his country
his glorious destiny seems to tell us
that it was for the palms of martyrdom
to crown so many virtues!
It was for the palms... etc.
From the heavens my/your father, etc.
Let us fire ourselves with a holy frenzy, etc.
...to crown so many virtues.





TELL
A confused noise seems to be coming
out of the depths of the vast wood.
Listen!





ARNOLD
Listen!





TELL
Silence!





WALTER
I hear the forest ringing with many footsteps.





ARNOLD
The noise draws nearer...





TELL
Who comes forward?





MEN OF UNTERWALDEN (in the distance)
Friends of the fatherland! Friends of the fatherland!





TELL
O joy!





ARNOLD
O vengeance!





TELL, ARNOLD. WALTER
Honour, all honour to their presence!



MEN OF UNTERWALDEN
We have known how to face, we have known how to overcome
the perils, as we have the distance; etc.
The torrents, the forests have not been able to
hold us back. Under the escort of prudence
our daring has brought us through to Rütli, etc.





TELL
O you courageous sons of the canton of Unterwalden,
this noble alacrity contains nothing to surprise us.





WALTER
They'll know how to imitate it:
(a distant horn call)
I hear the horn
of our brothers of Schwyz sounding;
be proud of your children, o my country!
(The men of Schwyz enter.)





MEN OF SCHWYZ
In these times of distress
a foreign race,
spying upon our griefs,
condemns us to secrecy.
May this lonely wood
alone be aware of our tears! etc.





TELL (to Arnold and Walter)
The fear of such great misfortunes is pardonable;
but believe in my hope,
their hearts will respond to ours.
Honour to their presence!





TELL, ARNOLD, WALTER, MEN OF UNTERWALDEN
Honour to their presence!





WALTER
Of the canton of Uri alone do we regret the absence.





TELL
To conceal the trace of their footsteps,
the better to hide our sacred conspiracies,
our brothers are opening over the waters with their oars
a way that does not betray.





WALTER
The promise is followed by swift results,
do you not hear?





TELL
Who comes?





MEN OF URI (approaching)
Friends of the fatherland! Friends of the fatherland!





ARNOLD, TELL, WALTER, MEN OF UNTERWALDEN AND SCHWYZ
Honour, all honour to the upholders of our rights!





MEN OF URI, SCHWYZ AND UNTERWALDEN
William, as you see,
three peoples at your call,
proud of their rights, will know how
to defy an infamous yoke.
Speak! Speak! and your proud tones
springing from your soul
will suddenly in shafts of flame
fire our senses! etc.
Speak! Speak!





TELL
(placing himself in the midst of the deputies from the three cantons)
The avalanche rolling down from our mountain tops,
hurling death upon our fields,
encloses within its flanks
evils less ravenous
than each pace of the tyrants sows after it.





WALTER
From now on it's up to us, to our courage,
to purge this shore
of detested masters.





MEN OF SCHWYZ
This is the threat of war;
in spite of ourselves terror paralyses us.





WALTER
Where then is your ancient daring?
For a thousand years our unconquerable forefathers
defended their ancient liberties;
does their race die out in you?





MEN OF SCHWYZ
In spite of ourselves terror paralyses us.





TELL
Bowed under the wrongs you have suffered,
if you no longer feel the burden of your chains,
think at least of your families;
your fathers, your wives, your daughters
no longer have sanctuary in your homes.





WALTER
No longer are there hospitable roofs among us.





TELL
Friends, against this infamous yoke
humanity protests in vain;
our oppressors are triumphant.
A slave has no wife,
a slave has no children!





DEPUTIES FROM ALL THREE CANTONS
A slave has no wife,
a slave has no children!
This is to suffer too much, what must we do?





ARNOLD
(rousing himself suddenly from his despondency)
Avenge the death of my father!





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
Melchthal! What was his crime?





ARNOLD
His crime? He loved his fatherland!





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
Abominable, impious murder!





TELL
Let us at least be worthy of the blood
from which we spring.
In the darkness and in silence
with sword and lance
arm the three cantons.





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
In the darkness and in silence
with sword and lance
arm the three cantons.





TELL
Tomorrow for us will dawn the day of vengeance,
will you help us?





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
Have no doubt of it, yes, all of us.





TELL
Ready to overcome?





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
Yes, all of us!





TELL
Ready to die?





DEPUTIES FROM THE THREE CANTONS
Yes, all of us!





TELL
Let the loyal clasping of our hands
confirm these sacred promises.
Let us swear, let us swear by our dangers...





ALL THE OTHERS
Let us swear, let us swear by our dangers...





TELL
... by our adversities, by our ancestors,





ALL THE OTHERS
... by our adversities, by our ancestors...





TELL
... to the God of kings and shepherds...





ALL THE OTHERS
... to the God of kings and shepherds...





TELL
... to resist unjust masters.





ALL THE OTHERS
... to resist unjust masters.
(with TELL)
If among us there are traitors,
if among us there are traitors,
may the sun refuse to their eyes
the light of his torch,
Heaven refuse access to their prayer
and the earth a tomb!
Let us swear by our dangers, etc.
We all of us swear it, we all of us swear it!





ARNOLD
Day is here!





WALTER
For us it is a signal of alarms.





TELL
Of victory!





WALTER
What cry must answer it?





ALL
To arms! to arms! to arms!