William Tell, Act 4 scene 2

Scene Two





A rocky shore at the foot of the Achsenberg, on the
edge of Lake Lucerne. Thick clouds, harbingers of a
storm, line the horizon. On a high eminence can be
seen Tell's cottage. In this enclosed spot, bristling
with rocks, the waves are breaking with fury.





CHORUS OF SWISS WOMEN
Where are you going? Your grief bewilders you,
do you not hear our enemies?





HEDWIGE
I mean to see Gessler. I am following them.





SWISS WOMEN
And what will you obtain from the barbarian?
Death, death!





HEDWIGE
I desire it, I desire it.
He triumphs, and I live,
when I no longer have a husband,
when I no longer have a son!





JEMMY
Mother!





HEDWIGE
Someone speaks -
(Enter Mathilde, followed by pages and Jemmy.)
- that soft, loving voice -





JEMMY
Mother!





HEDWIGE
I think I hear it!
It's my child! It's my child!
O joy!
O joy!





JEMMY
O joy!





HEDWIGE
But alas, your father is not with you.





JEMMY
He will know how to escape from his shameful chains:
(pointing to Mathilde)
let us trust in Mathilde's protective help.





HEDWIGE
O august, beloved protectress,
you will watch over my husband!





MATHILDE
I restore to your love a son worthy of you.
This son, despite his age,
is a man through his courage;
and when my voice foretells
an end to your sufferings,
it is only a just homage
offered to your woes,
offered to your woes.





JEMMY
Mathilde promises for our chalets...





MATHILDE
I restore to your love...





JEMMY
...kinder days.





MATHILDE
...a son worthy of you.





JEMMY
For us she is the likeness
of the sky after the storm;
and when her voice foretells
an end to our griefs,
hope borrows her language
and comes to dry our tears.
Mathilde promises for our chalets
kinder days, etc.





MATHILDE
This son, this son despite his age
is a man through his courage,
it is only a just homage, etc.





HEDWIGE
Mathilde promises for our chalets
kinder days, etc.
What! Accepting a share in our hardships
you are staying on this sad shore,
you, the adornment, you, the pride of a court?





MATHILDE
I will be the hostage for captive William
and my presence here is a security for his return.





HEDWIGE
His return! Isn't this a vain hope?
Why do we not snatch him away out of Altdorf?





JEMMY
He's no longer in Altdorf.





MATHILDE
They're hurrying him away over the lake.





HEDWIGE
Over the lake? and already the hurricane unleashes itself, -
death for my husband everywhere?





JEMMY
(suddenly remembering his father's words)
What am I thinking of!
Let's repair a fatal omission;
let the signal for liberty shine out at last!
(He turns to leave.)





HEDWIGE
What are you hoping for?





JEMMY
To save my father.
(aside, to his mother)
A whole people rises up at this guiding fire;
and whichever may be the shores on which
Gessler descends,
vengeance will meet him there!





(He runs to set Tell's house on fire. He carries his weapons from it. The storm sweeps down with terrifying force.)





MATHILDE
What noise bursts out over our heads?





HEDWIGE
It is Death advancing in the voice of the
tempests;
William will perish!...
(She kneels down.)
Thou, who art the hope of the weak,
save William, o Providence!
In their designs, in their vengeance,
outwit and confound our enemies.
Break the yoke which oppresses us:
punish the crime in the oppressor,
save William! He dies the victim
of his love for his country.





MATHILDE
Save William! He dies the victim
of his love for his country,
yes, for his country!





MATHILDE, HEDWIGE, SWISS PEOPLE
Save William! He dies the victim, etc.
(Enter Leuthold.)





LEUTHOLD
Follow me! Follow me! William is being driven
onto these shores by the tempest.
His hands are no longer bound,
the tiller yields to his will.





HEDWIGE
If William, in spite of the storm,
can approach this shore,
I'll answer for his freedom.





MATHILDE
Let's run to him! Let's run to him!





HEDWIGE, LEUTHOLD
Let's run to him!
(They hurry off towards the water's edge. The storm rages. The boat containing Gessler and the frightened soldiers, with Tell at the helm, drives ashore. Tell leaps out and pushes the boat away into the waves with his foot.)





HEDWIGE
I see you again!





JEMMY
Father!





HEDWIGE
O wondrous return!





TELL (pointing to the burning house)
What fire is this shining in my eyes?





JEMMY
For want of a signal-pyre
I myself set ablaze our ancestral roof.
But at least -
(handing him his weapons)
I have saved your weapons!





TELL
(seizing the bow and arrow handed to him)
Gessler, you may come!
(Gessler and soldiers come into view on the rocks above.)





SOLDIERS
In vain does he try to escape us:
let's follow his trail.





GESSLER
Let him find his mercy
only in the mortal blow,
let him find his mercy
only in the mortal blow!





SOLDIERS
Let him find his mercy
only in the mortal blow!





HEDWIGE
It's he!





JEMMY, HEDWIGE, WOMEN
It's he!





TELL (to his wife and son)
Draw back. Let Switzerland breathe again!
(letting fly an arrow)
For you, Gessler!
(Gessler, at the top of the rock, is struck by it.)





GESSLER
I die!
(He tumbles into the lake.)





SOLDIERS (running away)
It's Tell's arrow!





HEDWIGE
O day of liberation!
His death puts an end to our woes at last.





JEMMY
His death puts an end to our woes at last.





TELL
Recognise God's help.





MATHILDE
Nothing has been able to shelter him from the
arrow of vengeance;
neither his wealth nor his power,
his tortures nor his executioners.
(Enter Walter and the Confederates.)





WALTER
At these fiery signals let us cease to fear at last;
it needs blood to put them out,
it needs the oppressor's blood.
But what do I see? William! He is free, o joy!
Let us fly at the tyrant!





TELL
What do you intend?





WALTER
That he dies!





TELL
Go and look for his grave in the lake.
(On this answer from Tell, Mathilde enters.)





JEMMY, HEDWIGE
Honour, all honour to the liberating arm,
honour, all honour to the liberating arm!





MATHILDE, WALTER, CONFEDERATES, PEOPLE
Honour, all honour to the liberating arm!





TELL
Let's harbour no vain hope,
so long as the proud battlements of Altdorf
command our obedience.
(Enter Arnold and the rest of the Confederates.)





ARNOLD
(presenting Tell with the banner that had flown over the castle at Altdorf in the third act.)
You no longer have to make vows,
Altdorf is in our power!




ALL
Victory! Victory!
Altdorf is in our power!





ARNOLD
Why, o my father, is your presence
wanting to the joy of all Helvetia?
(The storm has by now quite passed away and we see in all its beauty a part of Switzerland. A multitude of be-flagged boats are sailing upon the Lake of the Four Cantons. The mountains which overlook Flüelen, still topped by great glaciers struck by the sun's rays, crown the picture.)





TELL
Everything here changes and grows in grandeur!
What pure air!





HEDWIGE
What a radiant day!





JEMMY
In the distance what a boundless horizon!





ARNOLD
Yes, before our eyes nature
unfolds its magnificence!





TELL
At our pious tones,
Liberty, come down again from the skies
and let your reign begin anew!
Liberty, come down again from the skies!





ALL
And let your reign begin anew.
Liberty, come down again from the skies! etc.





END OF THE OPERA