A Midsummer Night's Dream, opera a cappella

Time to shut this down

2011-02-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

This blog was created to help people in the first production in Memphis learn their music. We are in the process of recording the show for posterity (yay!) and cleaning up the scores for future productions. Some music for this show is still findable at my other blog.

Act I of the opera a cappella

2010-10-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

This recording is from the July 2010 workshop presentation at Opera New Jersey. They have been most helpful in bringing this project to fruition. It is interesting that Britten cuts most of this scene and inserts some of it later into his opera.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants
THESEUS
Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
HIPPOLYTA
Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.
Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS
EGEUS
Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
THESEUS
Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?
EGEUS
Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius.
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
Be it so she; will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death,
THESEUS
What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god;
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
LYSANDER
I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS
I must confess that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up--
Which by no means we may extenuate--
To death, or to a vow of single life.
Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA
LYSANDER
How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA
Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
LYSANDER
Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
LYSANDER
hear me, Hermia.
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
There will I stay for thee.
HERMIA
My good Lysander!
I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Troyan under sail was seen,
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
TOGETHER:
So Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
There will I stay for thee.
LYSANDER
Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter HELENA
HERMIA
God speed fair Helena! whither away?
HELENA
Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
HELENA
O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
HERMIA
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
HELENA
O that my prayers could such affection move!
HERMIA
Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.
HERMIA
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
Exit HERMIA and LYSANDER
HELENA
How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense.
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.

She exits.

Act 2 Over hill, over dale

2010-10-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Act 2 scene i from the play from lines 1-32 FULL pages 58-70; Piano Vocal 35-41

I assume that the "caissons go rolling along" song"
uses this line intentionally.

FAIRY: Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale
Thorough flood, thorough fire;
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon's sphere.
And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green,
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favors;
In those freckles live their savors.
I must go and seek some dewdrops here
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
Farewell thou lob of spirits. I'll be gone.
Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
ROBIN: The King doth keep his revels here tonight.
Take heed the Queen come not within his sight,
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling.
And jealous Oberon would have the child
Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild.
But she perforce withholds the loved boy,
Crowns him with flowers, and makes him all her joy.
And now they never meet in grove or green,
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen,
But they do square, that all their elves for fear
Creep into acorn cups and hide them there.

Either I mistake your shape and making quite,

2010-10-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Act 2 scene i line 33 FULL pages 71-84; Piano vocal pages 41-48

regrettably, some of the consequences and backstory of the war between Oberon and his queen, Titania, is omitted here. Musical setting inevitably makes things longer, even in music that appears to go at a pace resembling speech. This demo has pointed up some settings that change the Shakespeare more than it needs to be and it should probably be fixed to conform more closely to the original text.

FAIRY: Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow.
ROBIN: Thou speakest aright.
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in [the] likeness of a of a filly foal.
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And, when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her withered dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Some time for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And "Tailor!" cries, and falls into a cough,
And then the whole choir hold their hips and loffe
And waxin in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there.
But room, fairy. Here comes Oberon.
FAIRY: And here my mistress. Would that he were gone!
Enter Oberon the King of Fairies at one door, with his train, and Titania the Queen at another, with hers.
OBERON: Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
TITANIA: What, jealous Oberon? [Fairies] skip hence.
I have forsworn his bed and company.
OBERON: Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?
Why should Titania cross her Oberon?
I do but beg a little changeling boy
To be my henchman.
TITANIA: Set your heart at rest:
The Fairyland buys not the child of me.
His mother was a vot'ress of my order,
And in the spiced Indian air by night
Full often hath she gossiped by my side
And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands,
But she, being mortal, of that boy did die,
And for her sake I will not part with him.

How long within this wood intend you stay?

2010-10-05T11:45:00.000-07:00

FULL 84-100; piano vocal 48-54

Begins at Act 2 scene i line 143. Here the scene between Oberon and Titania ends and Oberon plots his revenge to cause Titania to fall in love with some creature. There are simple musical references to "Beautiful Dreamer" and the "William Tell Overture."

OBERON: How long within this wood intend you stay?
TITANIA: Perchance till after Theseus' wedding day.
If you will patiently dance in our round
And see our moonlight revels, go with us.
If not, shun me, and I will spare your haunts.
OBERON: Give me that boy and I will go with thee.
TITANIA: Not for thy fairy kingdom. Fairies, away.
We shall chide downright if I longer stay.
Titania and her fairies exit.
OBERON: Well, go thy way. Thou shalt not from this grove
Till I torment thee for this injury.--
My gentle Puck, come hither.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I showed thee once.
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid
Will make or man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
ROBIN: I'll put a girdle round about the earth
In forty minutes. He exits
Having once this juice,
I'll watch TItania when she is asleep
And drop the liquor of it in her eyes.
The next thing then she, waking, looks upon
(Be it on lion, bear, or wolf, or bull,
On meddling monkey or on busy ape)
She shall pursue it with the soul of love.
And ere I take this charm from off her sight,
(As I can take it with another herb),
I'll make her render up her page to me.

But who comes here? I am invisible;

2010-10-04T16:00:00.000-07:00

FULL page 100-117; Piano vocal 54-64

OBERON

But who comes here? I am invisible;

And I will overhear their conference.

Enter DEMETRIUS, HELENA, following him

DEMETRIUS

I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.

Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;

And here am I, and wode within this wood,

Because I cannot meet my Hermia.

Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more.

HELENA

You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;

But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,

And I shall have no power to follow you.

DEMETRIUS

Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?

Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth

Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?

| HELENA

| You draw me, you hard-hearted adamant;

| But yet you draw not iron, for my heart

| Is true as steel: leave you your power to draw,

| And I shall have no power to follow you.

| DEMETRIUS

| I love thee not, therefore pursue me not.

| Where is Lysander and fair Hermia?

| The one I'll slay, the other slayeth me.

| Thou told'st me they were stolen unto this wood;

| And here am I, and wode within this wood,

| Because I cannot meet my Hermia.

| Hence, get thee gone, and follow me no more

|_.

DEMETRIUS

I'll run from thee and hide me in the brakes,

And leave thee to the mercy of wild beasts.

HELENA

The wildest hath not such a heart as you.

Run when you will, the story shall be changed:

Apollo flies, and Daphne holds the chase;

The dove pursues the griffin; the mild hind

Makes speed to catch the tiger; bootless speed,

When cowardice pursues and valour flies.

DEMETRIUS

I will not stay thy questions; let me go:

Or, if thou follow me, do not believe

But I shall do thee mischief in the wood.

HELENA

Ay, in the temple, in the town, the field,

You do me mischief. Fie, Demetrius!

Your wrongs do set a scandal on my sex:

We cannot fight for love, as men may do;

We should be wood and were not made to woo.

Exit DEMETRIUS

I'll follow thee and make a heaven of hell,

To die upon the hand I love so well.

Exit

OBERON

Fare thee well, nymph: ere he do leave this grove,

Thou shalt fly him and he shall seek thy love.

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

2010-10-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

FULL page 118-126; Piano vocal 65-68

Re-enter PUCK

Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.

PUCK

Ay, there it is.

OBERON

I pray thee, give it me.

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:

There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,

Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;

And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin,

Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:

And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes,

And make her full of hateful fantasies.

Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:

A sweet Athenian lady is in love

With a disdainful youth: anoint his eyes;

But do it when the next thing he espies

May be the lady: thou shalt know the man

By the Athenian garments he hath on.

Effect it with some care, that he may prove

More fond on her than she upon her love:

And look thou meet me ere the first cock crow.

PUCK

Fear not, my lord, your servant shall do so.

Exeunt

Act 2 scene 2 Come now a roundel and a fairy song

2010-10-04T14:30:00.000-07:00

FULL page 127-132; Piano vocal 69-74

SCENE II. Another part of the wood.

Enter TITANIA, with her train

TITANIA

Come, now a roundel and a fairy song;

Sing me now asleep;

Then to your offices and let me rest.

The Fairies sing

You spotted snakes with double tongue,

Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen;

Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong,

Come not near our fairy queen.

Philomel, with melody

Sing in our sweet lullaby;

Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:

Never harm,

Nor spell nor charm,

Come our lovely lady nigh;

So, good night, with lullaby.

Weaving spiders, come not here;

Hence, you long-legg'd spinners, hence!

Beetles black, approach not near;

Worm nor snail, do no offence.

Philomel, with melody, & c.

Exeunt Fairies. TITANIA sleeps

Enter OBERON and squeezes the flower on TITANIA's eyelids

OBERON

What thou seest when thou dost wake,

Do it for thy true-love take,

Love and languish for his sake:

Be it ounce, or cat, or bear,

Pard, or boar with bristled hair,

In thy eye that shall appear

When thou wakest, it is thy dear:

Wake when some vile thing is near

Exit

Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

2010-10-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

FULL page 133-146; Piano vocal 75-89

Enter LYSANDER and HERMIA

LYSANDER

Fair love, you faint with wandering in the wood;

And to speak troth, I have forgot our way:

We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,

And tarry for the comfort of the day.

HERMIA

Be it so, Lysander: find you out a bed;

For I upon this bank will rest my head.

LYSANDER

One turf shall serve as pillow for us both;

One heart, one bed, two bosoms and one troth.

HERMIA

Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,

Lie further off yet, do not lie so near.

LYSANDER

O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!

Love takes the meaning in love's conference.

I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit

So that but one heart we can make of it;

Two bosoms interchained with an oath;

So then two bosoms and a single troth.

Then by your side no bed-room me deny;

For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

HERMIA

Lysander riddles very prettily:

Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,

If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

Lie further off; in human modesty,

Such separation as may well be said

Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:

Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!

| LYSANDER

| O, take the sense, sweet, of my innocence!

| Love takes the meaning in love's conference.

| I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit

| So that but one heart we can make of it;

| Two bosoms interchained with an oath;

| So then two bosoms and a single troth.

| Then by your side no bed-room me deny;

| For lying so, Hermia, I do not lie.

| HERMIA

| Lysander riddles very prettily:

| Now much beshrew my manners and my pride,

| If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.

| But, gentle friend, for love and courtesy

| Lie further off; in human modesty,

| Such separation as may well be said

| Becomes a virtuous bachelor and a maid,

| So far be distant; and, good night, sweet friend:

| Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end!

LYSANDER

Amen, amen, to that fair prayer, say I;

And then end life when I end loyalty!

Here is my bed: sleep give thee all his rest!

HERMIA

With half that wish the wisher's eyes be press'd!

They sleep

Through the forest have I gone.

2010-10-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

FULL page 147-159; 90-96

Enter PUCK

PUCK

Through the forest have I gone.

But Athenian found I none,

On whose eyes I might approve

This flower's force in stirring love.

Night and silence.--Who is here?

Weeds of Athens he doth wear:

This is he, my master said,

Despised the Athenian maid;

And here the maiden, sleeping sound,

On the dank and dirty ground.

Pretty soul! she durst not lie

Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.

Churl, upon thy eyes I throw

All the power this charm doth owe.

When thou wakest, let love forbid

Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:

So awake when I am gone;

For I must now to Oberon.

Exit

Enter DEMETRIUS and HELENA, running

HELENA

Stay, though thou kill me, sweet Demetrius.

DEMETRIUS

I charge thee, hence, and do not haunt me thus.

HELENA

O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.

DEMETRIUS

Stay, on thy peril: I alone will go.

Exit

HELENA

O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!

The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace.

Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies;

For she hath blessed and attractive eyes.

How came her eyes so bright? Not with salt tears:

If so, my eyes are oftener wash'd than hers.

No, no, I am as ugly as a bear;

For beasts that meet me run away for fear:

Therefore no marvel though Demetrius

Do, as a monster fly my presence thus.

What wicked and dissembling glass of mine

Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?

But who is here? Lysander! on the ground!

Dead? or asleep? I see no blood, no wound.

Lysander if you live, good sir, awake.

And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

2010-10-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

FULL Pages 159-175; Piano vocal 96-102

LYSANDER

[Awaking] And run through fire I will for thy sweet sake.

Transparent Helena! Nature shows art,

That through thy bosom makes me see thy heart.

Where is Demetrius? O, how fit a word

Is that vile name to perish on my sword!

HELENA

Do not say so, Lysander; say not so

What though he love your Hermia? Lord, what though?

Yet Hermia still loves you: then be content.

LYSANDER

Content with Hermia! No; I do repent

The tedious minutes I with her have spent.

Not Hermia but Helena I love:

Who will not change a raven for a dove?

The will of man is by his reason sway'd;

And reason says you are the worthier maid.

Things growing are not ripe until their season

So I, being young, till now ripe not to reason;

And touching now the point of human skill,

Reason becomes the marshal to my will

And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook

Love's stories written in love's richest book.

HELENA

Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?

When at your hands did I deserve this scorn?

Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,

That I did never, no, nor never can,

Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,

But you must flout my insufficiency?

O, that a lady, of one man refused.

Should of another therefore be abused!

Exit

She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:

2010-10-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 176-184; Piano vocal 103-107

LYSANDER

She sees not Hermia. Hermia, sleep thou there:

And never mayst thou come Lysander near!

For as a surfeit of the sweetest things

The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,

Or as tie heresies that men do leave

Are hated most of those they did deceive,

So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,

Of all be hated, but the most of me!

And, all my powers, address your love and might

To honour Helen and to be her knight!

Exit Hermia awakens with a cry and a start. She sees that Lysander is gone and goes to look for him.

Act Three Scene one, Are we all met?

2010-10-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 185-216; piano vocal 108-126
Act 3 scene one

Here the "mechanicals" gather to rehearse their play.

Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING
BOTTOM
Are we all met?
QUINCE
Pat, pat; and here's a marvel's convenient place
for our rehearsal.
SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, STARVELING
A marvel's convenient place.
QUINCE
This green plot shall be our
stage, this hawthorn-brake our tiring-house; and we
will do it in action as we will do it before the duke.
SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, STARVELING
The Duke!
BOTTOM
Peter Quince,--
QUINCE
What sayest thou, bully Bottom?
BOTTOM
There are things in this comedy of Pyramus and
Thisby that will never please. First, Pyramus must
draw a sword to kill himself; which the ladies
cannot abide.
SNOUT
By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
BOTTOM
I have a device to make all well.
Write me a prologue; and let the prologue seem to
say, we will do no harm with our swords, and that
Pyramus is not killed indeed; and, for the more
better assurance, tell them that I, Pyramus, am not
Pyramus, but Bottom the weaver:
SNOUT, SNUG STARVELING
Bottom the weaver!
BOTTOM
this will put them out of fear.
QUINCE
If that may be, then all is well. Come, sit down,
every mother's son, and rehearse your parts.
_
| Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your
| speech, enter into that brake: and so every one
| according to his cue.
| Enter PUCK behind
| PUCK
| What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here,
| So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
| What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor;
|An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.
|_
QUINCE
Speak, Pyramus. Thisby, stand forth.
BOTTOM
Thisby, the flowers of odious savours sweet,
QUINCE
Odours, odours.
BOTTOM
--odours savours sweet:
So hath thy breath, my dearest Thisby dear.
But hark, a voice! stay thou but here awhile,
And by and by I will to thee appear.
Exit
PUCK
A stranger Pyramus than e'er played here.
Exit
FLUTE
Must I speak now?
QUINCE
Ay, marry, must you; for you must understand he goes
but to see a noise that he heard, and is to come again.
FLUTE
Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue,
Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier,
Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew,
As true as truest horse that yet would never tire,
I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
QUINCE
'Ninus' tomb,' man: why, you must not speak that
yet; that you answer to Pyramus: you speak all your
part at once, cues and all Pyramus enter: your cue
is past; it is, 'never tire.'
FLUTE
O,--As true as truest horse, that yet would
never tire.
Re-enter PUCK, and BOTTOM with an ass's head
BOTTOM
If I were fair, Thisby, I were only thine.
QUINCE
O monstrous! O strange! we are haunted. Pray,
masters! fly, masters! Help!
Exeunt QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING
PUCK
I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round,
Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier:
Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound,
A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire;
And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn,
Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
Exit
QUINCE
Bless thee, Bottom! bless thee! thou art
translated.
Exit
BOTTOM
I see their knavery: this is to make an ass of me;
to fright me, if they could. But I will not stir
from this place, do what they can: I will walk up
and down here, and I will sing, that they shall hear
I am not afraid.

The ousel cock

2010-10-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Act 3 scene one FULL pages 217-219; Piano vocal 127-129

Bottom sings and his singing wakes Titania, who wakes up and falls in love with him, thanks to Oberon's enchantment.

BOTTOM

The ousel cock so black of hue,
With orange-tawny bill,
The throstle with his note so true,
The wren with little quill,--
TITANIA
[Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
BOTTOM
[Sings]
The finch, the sparrow and the lark,
The plain-song cuckoo gray,
Whose note full many a man doth mark,
And dares not answer nay;--
for, indeed, who would set his wit to so foolish
a bird? who would give a bird the lie, though he cry
'cuckoo' never so?
TITANIA
I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again:
Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note;
So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape;
And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me
On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
BOTTOM
Methinks, mistress, you should have little reason
for that: and yet, to say the truth, reason and
love keep little company together now-a-days; the
more the pity that some honest neighbours will not
make them friends. Nay, I can gleek upon occasion.
TITANIA
Thou art as wise as thou art beautiful.
BOTTOM
Not so, neither: but if I had wit enough to get out
of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn.

Out of this wood do not desire to go

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FULL pages 220-231; Piano vocal 130-138

TITANIA

Out of this wood do not desire to go:

Thou shalt remain here, whether thou wilt or no.

I am a spirit of no common rate;

The summer still doth tend upon my state;

And I do love thee: therefore, go with me;

I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee,

And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep,

And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep;

And I will purge thy mortal grossness so

That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.

Peaseblossom! Cobweb! Moth! and Mustardseed!

Enter PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH, and MUSTARDSEED

PEASEBLOSSOM

Ready.

COBWEB

And I.

MOTH

And I.

MUSTARDSEED

And I.

ALL

Where shall we go?

TITANIA

Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;

Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes;

Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;

The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees,

And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs

And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes,

To have my love to bed and to arise;

And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies

To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes:

Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

PEASEBLOSSOM

Hail, mortal!

COBWEB

Hail!

MOTH

Hail!

MUSTARDSEED

Hail!

ALL FAIRIES:

Hail!

Exeunt

Act Three scene two, I wonder if Titania be awaked

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FULL pages 232-241; Piano vocal 139-143

SCENE II. Another part of the wood.
Enter OBERON
OBERON
I wonder if Titania be awaked;
Then, what it was that next came in her eye,
Which she must dote on in extremity.
Enter PUCK
Here comes my messenger.
How now, mad spirit!
PUCK
My mistress with a monster is in love.
Near to her close and consecrated bower,
While she was in her dull and sleeping hour,
A crew of patches, rude mechanicals,
That work for bread upon Athenian stalls,
Were met together to rehearse a play
Intended for great Theseus' nuptial-day.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Pyramus presented, in their sport
An ass's nole I fixed on his head:
Anon his Thisbe must be answered,
And forth my mimic comes. When they him spy,
So, at his sight, away his fellows fly;
I led them on in this distracted fear,
And left sweet Pyramus translated there:
When in that moment, so it came to pass,
Titania waked and straightway loved an ass.
OBERON
This falls out better than I could devise.
But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes
With the love-juice, as I did bid thee do?
PUCK
I took him sleeping,--that is finish'd too,--
And the Athenian woman by his side:
That, when he waked, of force she must be eyed.

Stand close: this is the same Athenian.

2010-10-04T12:20:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 241-251; Piano vocal 143-149

Enter HERMIA and DEMETRIUS
OBERON
Stand close: this is the same Athenian.
PUCK
This is the woman, but not this the man.
HERMIA
If thou hast slain Lysander in his sleep,
Being o'er shoes in blood, plunge in the deep,
And kill me too.
The sun was not so true unto the day
As he to me: would he have stolen away
From sleeping Hermia?
where is he?
Ah, good Demetrius, wilt thou give him me?
DEMETRIUS
I had rather give his carcass to my hounds.
HERMIA
Out, dog! out, cur! thou drivest me past the bounds
Of maiden's patience. Hast thou slain him, then?
DEMETRIUS
You spend your passion on a misprised mood:
I am not guilty of Lysander's blood;
Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell.
HERMIA
I pray thee, tell me then that he is well.
DEMETRIUS
An if I could, what should I get therefore?
HERMIA
A privilege never to see me more.
Exit
DEMETRIUS
There is no following her in this fierce vein:
Here therefore for a while I will remain.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe:
Which now in some slight measure it will pay,
If for his tender here I make some stay.
Lies down and sleeps
OBERON
What hast thou done? thou hast mistaken quite
And laid the love-juice on some true-love's sight:
About the wood go swifter than the wind,
And Helena of Athens look thou find:
PUCK
I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
Exit
OBERON
Flower of this purple dye,
Hit with Cupid's archery,
Sink in apple of his eye.
When his love he doth espy,
Let her shine as gloriously
As the Venus of the sky.
When thou wakest, if she be by,
Beg of her for remedy.
Re-enter PUCK
PUCK
Captain of our fairy band,
Helena is here at hand;
And the youth, mistook by me,
Pleading for a lover's fee.
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!

Stand aside: the noise they make will cause Demetrius to awake

2010-10-04T12:10:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 251-263; piano vocal 149-157

OBERON

Stand aside: the noise they make

Will cause Demetrius to awake.

Enter LYSANDER and HELENA

LYSANDER

Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?

Scorn and derision never come in tears:

Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,

In their nativity all truth appears.

How can these things in me seem scorn to you,

Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?

HELENA

You do advance your cunning more and more.

When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!

These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?

Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:

Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,

Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.

| LYSANDER

| Why should you think that I should woo in scorn?

| Scorn and derision never come in tears:

| Look, when I vow, I weep; and vows so born,

| In their nativity all truth appears.

| How can these things in me seem scorn to you,

| Bearing the badge of faith, to prove them true?

| HELENA

| You do advance your cunning more and more.

| When truth kills truth, O devilish-holy fray!

| These vows are Hermia's: will you give her o'er?

| Weigh oath with oath, and you will nothing weigh:

| Your vows to her and me, put in two scales,

| Will even weigh, and both as light as tales.

LYSANDER

Demetrius loves her, and he loves not you.

DEMETRIUS

[Awaking] O Helena, goddess, nymph, perfect, divine!

To what, my love, shall I compare thine eyne?

Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show

Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow!

That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow,

Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow

When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss

This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!

O spite! O hell!

2010-10-04T12:05:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 263-284; piano vocal 157-171

HELENA

O spite! O hell! I see you all are bent

To set against me for your merriment:

If you we re civil and knew courtesy,

You would not do me thus much injury.

Can you not hate me, as I know you do,

But you must join in souls to mock me too?

If you were men, as men you are in show,

You would not use a gentle lady so;

To vow, and swear, and superpraise my parts,

When I am sure you hate me with your hearts.

You both are rivals, and love Hermia;

And now both rivals, to mock Helena:

LYSANDER

You are unkind, Demetrius; be not so;

For you love Hermia; this you know I know:

And here, with all good will, with all my heart,

In Hermia's love I yield you up my part;

And yours of Helena to me bequeath,

Whom I do love and will do till my death

HELENA

Never did mockers waste more idle breath.

DEMETRIUS

Lysander, keep thy Hermia; I will none:

If e'er I loved her, all that love is gone.

My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd,

And now to Helen is it home return'd,

There to remain.

LYSANDER

Helen, it is not so.

DEMETRIUS

Disparage not the faith thou dost not know,

Lest to thy peril thou aby it dear.

Look, where thy love comes; yonder is thy dear.

Re-enter HERMIA

HERMIA

Thou art not by mine eye, Lysander, found;

Mine ear, I thank it, brought me to thy sound

But why unkindly didst thou leave me so?

LYSANDER

Why should he stay, whom love doth press to go?

HERMIA

What love could press Lysander from my side?

LYSANDER

Lysander's love, that would not let him bide,

Fair Helena, who more engilds the night

Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.

Why seek'st thou me? could not this make thee know,

The hate I bear thee made me leave thee so?

HERMIA

You speak not as you think: it cannot be.

HELENA

Lo, she is one of this confederacy!

Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!

Have you conspired, have you with these contrived

To bait me with this foul derision?

Is all the counsel that we two have shared,

The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,

When we have chid the hasty-footed time

For parting us,--O, is it all forgot? Is all forgot?

HERMIA

I am amazed at your words.

I scorn you not: it seems that you scorn me.

HELENA

Have you not set Lysander, as in scorn,

To follow me and praise my eyes and face?

And made your other love, Demetrius,

Who even but now did spurn me with his foot,

To call me goddess, nymph, divine and rare,

Precious, celestial? Wherefore speaks he this

To her he hates?

HERMIA

I understand not what you mean by this.

Lysander, whereto tends all this?

LYSANDER

Away, you Ethiope!

Hang off, thou cat, thou burr! vile thing, let loose,

Or I will shake thee from me like a serpent!

HERMIA

Why are you grown so rude? what change is this?

Sweet love,--

LYSANDER

Thy love! out, tawny Tartar, out!

Out, loathed medicine! hated potion, hence!

HERMIA

Hate me! wherefore? O me! what news, my love!

LYSANDER

Ay, by my life;

And never did desire to see thee more.

Therefore be out of hope, of question, of doubt;

Be certain, nothing truer; 'tis no jest

That I do hate thee and love Helena.

HERMIA

O me! you juggler! you canker-blossom!

You thief of love! what, have you come by night

And stolen my love's heart from him?

HELENA

Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,

No touch of bashfulness? What, will you tear

Impatient answers from my gentle tongue?

Fie, fie! you counterfeit, you puppet, you!

HERMIA

Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.

Now I perceive that she hath made compare

Between our statures; she hath urged her height;

And with her personage, her tall personage,

she hath prevail'd with him.

How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;

How low am I? I am not yet so low

But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.

O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!

2010-10-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 285-300; piano vocal 172-183

This is turned into an ensemble as this part of the scene comes to its climax.

HELENA

O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!

She was a vixen when she went to school;

And though she be but little, she is fierce.

HERMIA

'Little' again! nothing but 'low' and 'little'!

Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?

Let me come to her.

LYSANDER

Get you gone, you dwarf;

You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;

You bead, you acorn.

DEMETRIUS

You are too officious

In her behalf that scorns your services.

Let her alone: speak not of Helena;

Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend

Never so little show of love to her,

Thou shalt aby it.

| HELENA

| O, when she's angry, she is keen and shrewd!

| She was a vixen when she went to school;

| And though she be but little, she is fierce.

| HERMIA

| 'Little' again! nothing but 'low' and 'little'!

| Why will you suffer her to flout me thus?

| Let me come to her.

| LYSANDER

| Get you gone, you dwarf;

| You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;

| You bead, you acorn.

| DEMETRIUS

| You are too officious

| In her behalf that scorns your services.

| Let her alone: speak not of Helena;

| Take not her part; for, if thou dost intend

| Never so little show of love to her,

| Thou shalt aby it.

| OBERON When Oberon and Puck sing, it is in the musical foreground and most audible)

| This is thy negligence: still thou mistakest,

| Or else committ'st thy knaveries wilfully.

| PUCK

| Believe me, king of shadows, I mistook.

| Did not you tell me I should know the man

| By the Athenian garment be had on?

| And so far blameless proves my enterprise,

| That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes;

Exit the lovers

OBERON

Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight:

Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night;

The starry welkin cover thou anon

With drooping fog as black as Acheron,

And lead these testy rivals so astray

As one come not within another's way.

Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep

With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep:

Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye;

Exit

Up and down

2010-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

Full score 301-327; piano vocal 184-200

PUCK
Up and down, up and down,
I will lead them up and down:
I am fear'd in field and town:
Goblin, lead them up and down.
Here comes one.
Re-enter LYSANDER
LYSANDER
Where art thou, proud Demetrius? speak thou now.
PUCK
Here, villain; drawn and ready. Where art thou?
LYSANDER
I will be with thee straight.
PUCK
Follow me, then,
To plainer ground.
Exit LYSANDER, as following the voice
Re-enter DEMETRIUS
DEMETRIUS
Lysander! speak again:
Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?
PUCK
Thou coward, art thou bragging to the stars,
Telling the bushes that thou look'st for wars,
And wilt not come? Come, recreant; come, thou child;
I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled
That draws a sword on thee
DEMETRIUS
Yea, art thou there?
PUCK
Follow my voice: we'll try no manhood here.
Exeunt
Re-enter LYSANDER
LYSANDER
He goes before me and still dares me on:
When I come where he calls, then he is gone.
The villain is much lighter-heel'd than I:
I follow'd fast, but faster he did fly;
That fallen am I in dark uneven way,
And here will rest me.
Lies down
Sleeps
Re-enter PUCK and DEMETRIUS
PUCK
Ho, ho, ho! Coward, why comest thou not?
PUCK
Come hither: I am here.
DEMETRIUS
Nay, then, thou mock'st me. Thou shalt buy this dear,
If ever I thy face by daylight see:
Now, go thy way. Faintness constraineth me
To measure out my length on this cold bed.
By day's approach look to be visited.
Lies down and sleeps
Re-enter HELENA
HELENA
O weary night, O long and tedious night,
Abate thy hour! Shine comforts from the east,
That I may back to Athens by daylight,
From these that my poor company detest:
And sleep, that sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye,
Steal me awhile from mine own company.
Lies down and sleeps
PUCK
Yet but three? Come one more;
Two of both kinds make up four.
Here she comes, curst and sad:
Cupid is a knavish lad,
Thus to make poor females mad.
Re-enter HERMIA
HERMIA
Never so weary, never so in woe,
Bedabbled with the dew and torn with briers,
I can no further crawl, no further go;
My legs can keep no pace with my desires.
Here will I rest me till the break of day.
Heavens shield Lysander, if they mean a fray!
Lies down and sleeps
PUCK
On the ground
Sleep sound:
I'll apply
To your eye,
Gentle lover, remedy.
Squeezing the juice on LYSANDER's eyes
In your waking shall be shown:
Jack shall have Jill;
Nought shall go ill;
The man shall have his mare again, and all shall be well.
Exit

Act IV of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM opera a cappella

2010-10-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

Act Four FULL pages 1-75; piano vocal 201-233
This reading is from July 2010 at Opera New Jersey in Princeton. It is not done with the voice orchestra (or voicestra as we are now calling it) but instead with piano. Delta cappella vocal percussionist, Paul Koziel is also lending his talent to this presentation.

Act IV, scene i, with the four lovers still asleep on stage, enter Titania, Queen of Fairies, and Bottom and Fairies, and Oberon, the King, behind them unseen by those onstage.

TITANIA: Come sit the down upon this flow'ry bed,
While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
And stick muskroses in thy sleek smooth head,
And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
BOTTOM: Where's Peaseblossom?
PEASEBLOSSOM: Ready.
BOTTOM: Scratch my head, Peaseblossom. Ah
Where's Monsieur Cobweb?
COBWEB: Ready
BOTTOM: Get you your weapons in your hand and kill me a redhipped humblebee
on the top of a thistle, and, good monsieur, bring me the honey bad.
Where's Monsieur Mustardseed?
MUSTARDSEED: What's your will?
BOTTOM: Nothing, good monsieur, but to help Cavalery Cobweb to scratch.
I must to the barber's, monsieur,
for me thinks I am marvels hairy about the face.
And I am such a tender ass, if my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch.
TITANIA: Sleep thou, and I will wind thee in my arms.
Fairies be gone, And be all ways away.
So doth the woodbine the sweet honey suckle gently entwist;
the female ivy so enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
O, How I love thee! How I dote on thee!
(Bottom and Titania sleep. Enter Robin Goodfellow)
OBERON: Welcome good Robin. Seest thou that sweet sight?
Her dotage I do begin to pity.
I will undo this hateful imperfection of her eyes.
Be as thou wast wont to be. See as thou wast wont to see
Dian's bud o'er Cupid's flower
Hath such force and blessed power.
TITANIA: My Oberon, what visions have I seen!
Methought I was enamored of an ass.
OBERON: There lies your love.
TITANIA: How came these things to pass?
Oh, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now.
OBERON: Silence awhile. Robin, take off his head.
Titania, music call;
and strike more dead than common sleep of all these five the sense.
TITANIA: Music, ho, music such as charmeth sleep!
FAIRIES: Lulla, lulla, lullaby, Lulla, lulla, lullaby.
ROBIN: Now, when thou wak'st, with thine own fool's eyes pee.
OBERON: Sound music.
Come, my queen, take hands with me,
And rock the ground whereon these sleepers be.
(Titania and Oberon dance)
Now thou and I are new in amity,
And will tomorrow midnight solemnly,
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly,
and bless it to all fair prosperity.
There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be Wedded,
with Theseus, all in jollity
TITANIA and OBERON: There shall the pairs of faithful lovers be Wedded,
with Theseus, all in jollity
ROBIN: Fairy king, attend and mark.
I do hear the morning lark.
OBERON: Then, my queen, in silence sad
Tip we after night's shade.
We the globe can compass soon
Swifter than the wand'ring moon.
TITANIA: Come, my lord, and in our flight
Tell me how it came this night
That I sleeping here was found
With these mortals on the ground.
(Wind horn. Enter Theseus and his train, Hippolyta and Egeus)
THESEUS: We will, fair queen, up to the mountain's top
And mark the musical confusion of hounds and echo in conjunction.
I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
When in a wood of Crete they bayed the bear with hounds of Sparta,
Never did I hear such gallant chiding,
For besides the groves,
The skies, the fountains, of e'vry region near
Seemed all one mutual cry.
I never heard so musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
THESEUS: What nymphs are these?
EGEUS: My lord, this is my daughter here asleep,
and this Lysander, this Demetrius is,
This Helena, I wonder of their being here together.
THESEUS: Go bid the huntsmen wake them with their horns.
(Shout within. Wind horns. They all start up)
THESEUS: Good morrow, friends.
LYSANDER: Pardon, my lord.
THESEUS: I pray you all stand up.
I know you two are rival enemies.
How comes this gentle concord in the world,
That hatred is so far from jealousy
To sleep by hate and fear no emnity?
LYSANDER: My lord, I shall reply amazedly, Half sleep, half waking.
But as yet, I swear, I cannot truly say how I came here.
But, as I think, I came with Hermia hither.
Our intent was to be gone from Athens,
where we might, without peril of the Athenian law
EGEUS: Enough, enough my lord, you have enough.
I beg the law, the law upon his head,
They would have stolen away
They would, Demetrius,
Theyreby to have defeated you and me:
You of your wife, and me of my consent,
DEMETRIUS: My lord...
My lord, fair Helen told me of their stealth,
Of this their purpose hither to this wood,
And I in fury hither followed them,
Fair Helena in fancy following me.
But, my good lord, I wot not by what power.
(But by some power it is)
My love to Hermia Melted as the snow
And all the faith, the virtue of my heart,
The object and the pleasure of mine eye is only Helena!
To her, my lord, was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia.
But like a sickness I did loathe this food.
But, as in health, come to my natural taste,
Now I do wish it, Love it, long for it,
And Forevermore be true to it.
THESEUS: Fair lovers, you are fortunately met.
Of this discourse we more will hear anon.
Egeus I will overbear your will,
For in the temple by and by, with us,
These couples shall eternally be knit.--
Away with us to Athens. Three and three
We'll hold a feast in great solemnity.
Come, Hippolyta.
DEMETRIUS: Are you sure that we are awake?
It seemsto me that yet we sleep, We dream.
Do not you think that the Duke was here and bid us follow him?
HERMIA: Yea, and my father.
HELENA: And Hippolyta.
LYSANDER: And he did bid us follow to the temple.
DEMETRIUS: Why, then, we are awake. Let's follow him,
And by the way let us recound our dreams.
HELENA, HERMIA, LYSANDER: By the way let us recount our dreams.
DEMETRIUS: By the way let us recount our dreams.
HELENA, HERMIA, LYSANDER: By the way let us recount our dreams.
DEMETRIUS: Our dreams.
BOTTOM: (waking up) Peter Quince! Flute the bellows-mender!
Snout the tinker! Starveling! God's my life!
Stolen hence and left me asleep!

Act 5 Lovers and Madmen

2010-10-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 403-415; piano vocal 234-239

ACT V

SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.

Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, Lords and Attendants

HIPPOLYTA

'Tis strange my Theseus, that these

lovers speak of.

THESEUS

More strange than true: I never may believe

These antique fables, nor these fairy toys.

Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,

Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend

More than cool reason ever comprehends.

The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

(Repeated) The lunatic, the lover and the poet

Are of imagination all compact:

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold,

That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic,

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt:

The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven;

And as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen

Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing

A local habitation and a name.

Such tricks hath strong imagination,

That if it would but apprehend some joy,

It comprehends some bringer of that joy;

Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.

2010-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 416-436; piano vocal 240-252

THESEUS

Here come the lovers, full of joy and mirth.

Enter LYSANDER, DEMETRIUS, HERMIA, and HELENA

Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love

Accompany your hearts!

LYSANDER

More than to us

Wait in your royal walks, your board, your bed!

THESEUS

Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?

What masque? what music? How shall we beguile

The lazy time, if not with some delight?

Looking at a paper handed to him or perhaps in a pocket of his robe

Reads

'A tedious brief scene of young Pyramus

And his love Thisbe; very tragical mirth.'

Merry and tragical! tedious and brief!

That is, hot ice and wondrous strange snow.

I will hear that play;

Go, bring them in: and take your places, ladies.

VOICE OFFSTAGE (Philostrate, but anyone can do it)

The prologue is addressed.

THESEUS

Let him approach.

Flourish of trumpets

Enter QUINCE for the Prologue

Prologue

If we offend, it is with our good will.

That you should think, we come not to offend,

But with good will. To show our simple skill,

That is the true beginning of our end.

Consider then we come but in despite.

We do not come as minding to contest you,

Our true intent is. All for your delight

We are not here. That you should here repent you,

The actors are at hand and by their show

You shall know all that you are like to know.

THESEUS

His speech, was like a tangled chain; nothing

impaired, but all disordered. Who is next?

Enter Pyramus and Thisbe, Wall, Moonshine, and Lion

Wall

In this same interlude it doth befall

That I, one Snout by name, present a wall;

And such a wall, as I would have you think,

That had in it a crannied hole or chink,

Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby,

Did whisper often very secretly.

This loam, this rough-cast and this stone doth show

That I am that same wall; the truth is so:

And this the cranny is, right and sinister,

Through which the fearful lovers are to whisper.

THESEUS

Would you desire lime and hair to speak better?

DEMETRIUS

It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard

discourse, my lord.

THESEUS

Pyramus draws near the wall: silence!

Pyramus

O grim-look'd night! O night with hue so black!

O night, which ever art when day is not!

O night, O night! alack, alack, alack,

I fear my Thisby's promise is forgot!

And thou, O wall, O sweet, O lovely wall,

That stand'st between her father's ground and mine!

Thou wall, O wall, O sweet and lovely wall,

Show me thy chink, to blink through with mine eyne!

Wall holds up his fingers

Thanks, courteous wall: Jove shield thee well for this!

But what see I? No Thisby do I see.

O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!

Cursed be thy stones for thus deceiving me!

THESEUS

The wall, methinks, being sensible, should curse again.

PYRAMUS

No, in truth, sir, he should not. 'Deceiving me'

is Thisby's cue:

Yonder she comes.

Enter Thisbe

Thisbe

O wall, full often hast thou heard my moans,

For parting my fair Pyramus and me!

My cherry lips have often kiss'd thy stones,

I see a voice

2010-09-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 179-453; piano vocal 253-264

This is full of parodies

Pyramus

I see a voice: now will I to the chink,

To spy an I can hear my Thisby's face. Thisby!

Thisbe

My love thou art, my love I think.

Pyramus

Think what thou wilt, I am thy lover's grace;

And, like Limander, am I trusty still.

Thisbe

And I like Helen, till the Fates me kill.

Pyramus

Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true

Thisbe

As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.

Pyramus

O kiss me through the hole of this vile wall!

Thisbe

I kiss the wall's hole, not your lips at all.

Pyramus

Wilt thou at Ninny's tomb meet me straightway?

Thisbe

'Tide life, 'tide death, I come without delay.

Exeunt Pyramus and Thisbe

Wall

Thus have I, Wall, my part discharged so;

And, being done, thus Wall away doth go.

Exit

THESEUS

Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

DEMETRIUS

No remedy, my lord, when walls are so wilful to hear

without warning.

HIPPOLYTA

This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.

THESEUS

The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst

are no worse, if imagination amend them.

Enter Lion and Moonshine

Lion

For this one speech, the vocal accompaniment is done by the people on stage and not the voice orchestra

You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear

The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor,

May now perchance both quake and tremble here,

When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.

Then know that I, one Snug the joiner, am

A lion-fell, nor else no lion's dam;

For, if I should as lion come in strife

Into this place, 'twere pity on my life.

THESEUS

A very gentle beast, of a good conscience.

Moonshine

This lanthorn doth the horned moon present;

Myself the man i' the moon do seem to be.

DEMETRIUS

Here comes Thisbe.

Enter Thisbe

Thisbe

This is old Ninny's tomb. Where is my love?

Lion

[Roaring] Oh--

Thisbe runs off

LYSANDER

And so the lion vanished.

DEMETRIUS

And then came Pyramus.

Sweet Moon, I thank thee

2010-09-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 454-461; piano vocal 265-269
Here is the "Death of Pyramus" from Act V of DREAM, sung by baritone Timothy Bostwick. Tim was an artist in residence at Opera New Jersey this summer (2010). Obviously you will hear the references from opera and beyond. I appear to have some words reversed from the original which will have to be fixed!

Sweet Moon, I thank thee for thy sunny beams;
I thank thee, Moion, for shining now so bright;
For, by thy gracious, golden, glittering, gleams,
I trust to take of truest Thisby sight.
But stay, O spite!
But mark poor knight
What dreadful dole is here!
Eyes, do you see?
How can it be?
O dainty duck! O dear!
Thy mantle good,
What, stain'd with blood!
Approach, ye Furies fell!
O Fates,
Cut thread and thrum;
Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!
O wherefore, Nature, didst thou lions frame?
Since lion vile hath here deflower'd my dear:
Which is--no, no--which was the fairest dame
That lives, that loves, that liked, that look'd with cheer.
Come, tears, confound;
Out, sword, and wound
The pap of Pyramus;
Ay, that left pap,
Where heart doth hop:
(Stabs himself)
Thus die, I, thus, thus, thus.
Now am I dead,
Now am I fled;
My soul is in the sky:
Tongue, lose thy light;
Moon take thy flight:
(Exit moonshine)
Now die, die, die, die, die.
(Dies)

Asleep my love? (Death of Thisbe)

2010-09-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 462-467; piano vocal 269-272

LYSANDER

She will find him already with those sweet eyes.

Re-enter Thisbe

Thisbe

Asleep, my love?

What, dead, my dove?

O Pyramus, arise!

Speak, speak. Quite dumb?

Dead, dead? A tomb

Must cover thy sweet eyes.

These My lips,

This cherry nose,

These yellow cowslip cheeks,

Are gone, are gone:

Lovers, make moan:

His eyes were green as leeks.

O Sisters Three

Come, come to me,

With hands as pale as milk;

Lay them in gore,

Since you have shore

With shears his thread of silk.

Tongue, not a word:

Come, trusty sword;

Come, blade, my breast imbrue:

Stabs herself

Thus Thisby ends:

Adieu, adieu, adieu.

Dies

The iron tongue of midnight

2010-09-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 468-473; piano vocal 273-275

THESEUS

The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:

Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time.

I fear we shall out-sleep the coming morn

As much as we this night have overwatch'd.

This palpable-gross play hath well beguiled

The heavy gait of night. Sweet friends, to bed.

A fortnight hold we this solemnity,

In nightly revels and new jollity.

Exeunt

Enter PUCK

PUCK

Now the hungry lion roars,

And the wolf behowls the moon;

Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,

All with weary task fordone.

Now the wasted brands do glow,

Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,

Puts the wretch that lies in woe

In remembrance of a shroud.

Now it is the time of night

That the graves all gaping wide,

Every one lets forth his sprite,

In the church-way paths to glide:

And we fairies

Now are frolic: not a mouse

Shall disturb this hallow'd house:

I am sent with broom before,

To sweep the dust behind the door.

Through the house give glimmering light

2010-09-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

FULL pages 474-491; piano vocal 276-288

Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train

OBERON

Through the house give glimmering light,

By the dead and drowsy fire:

Every elf and fairy sprite

Hop as light as bird from brier;

And this ditty, after me,

Sing, and dance it trippingly.

TITANIA

First, rehearse your song by rote

To each word a warbling note:

Hand in hand, with fairy grace,

Will we sing, and bless this place.

OBERON

Now, until the break of day,

Through this house each fairy stray.

To the best bride-bed will we,

Which by us shall blessed be;

And the issue there create

Ever shall be fortunate.

So shall all the couples three

Ever true in loving be;

OBERON, TITANIA

So shall all the couples three

Ever true in loving be

OBERON

Every fairy take his gait;

And each several chamber bless,

Through this palace, with sweet peace;

And the owner of it blest

Ever shall in safety rest.

Trip away; make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and train

PUCK

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber'd here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

if you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.

END

Midsummer Night's Dream presentation at Opera America

2009-07-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Last week, Opera New Jersey studio artists presented two readings of excerpts from DREAM. The first was at McCarter Theatre, the second at the offices of Opera America.

There are some photos from the workshop on my other blog.

I hope to have some video and audio from these workshops up soon.

Come, now a roundel

2008-12-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

This is from Opera Memphis' 2008 teen camp. It is from Act II scene ii

Titania:
Come, now a roundel and a fairy song.
Sing me now asleep.
Then to your offices and let me rest.

Fairies:
You spotted snakes with double tongue,
Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen.
Newts and blindworms, do no wrong,
Come not near our Fairy Queen.

(Chorus)
Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby.
Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby.
Never harm
Nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.

Weaving spiders, come not here.
Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence.
Beetles black, approach not near.
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
(repeat chorus)

Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour

2008-09-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

ACT I
SCENE I. Athens. The palace of THESEUS.
Enter THESEUS, HIPPOLYTA, PHILOSTRATE, and Attendants
THESEUS
Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour
Draws on apace; four happy days bring in
Another moon: but, O, methinks, how slow
This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires,
Like to a step-dame or a dowager
Long withering out a young man revenue.
HIPPOLYTA
Four days will quickly steep themselves in night;
Four nights will quickly dream away the time;
And then the moon, like to a silver bow
New-bent in heaven, shall behold the night
Of our solemnities.
THESEUS
Go, Philostrate,
Stir up the Athenian youth to merriments;
Awake the pert and nimble spirit of mirth;
Turn melancholy forth to funerals;
The pale companion is not for our pomp.
Exit PHILOSTRATE
Hippolyta, I woo'd thee with my sword,
And won thy love, doing thee injuries;
But I will wed thee in another key,
With pomp, with triumph and with revelling.
Enter EGEUS, HERMIA, LYSANDER, and DEMETRIUS
EGEUS
Happy be Theseus, our renowned duke!
THESEUS
Thanks, good Egeus: what's the news with thee?

Full of vexation

2008-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

(Sung by Stephen Len White)

Full of vexation come I, with complaint
Against my child, my daughter Hermia.
Stand forth, Demetrius. My noble lord,
This man hath my consent to marry her.
Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke,
This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child;
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes,
And interchanged love-tokens with my child:
~~Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung,~~
~~With feigning voice verses of feigning love,~~
~~And stolen the impression of her fantasy~~
~~With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,~~
~~Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers~~
~~Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:~~
With cunning hast thou filch'd my daughter's heart,
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness: and, my gracious duke,
Be it so she; will not here before your grace
Consent to marry with Demetrius,
I beg the ancient privilege of Athens,
As she is mine, I may dispose of her:
Which shall be either to this gentleman
Or to her death, ~~according to our law~~
~~Immediately provided in that case.~~

What say you, Hermia?

2008-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

THESEUS
What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid:
To you your father should be as a god;
One that composed your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it.
Demetrius is a worthy gentleman.
HERMIA
~~So is Lysander.~~
THESEUS
~~In himself he is;~~
~~But in this kind, wanting your father's voice,~~
~~The other must be held the worthier.~~
HERMIA
~~I would my father look'd but with my eyes.~~
THESEUS
~~Rather your eyes must with his judgment look.~~
HERMIA
~~I do entreat your grace to pardon me.~~
~~I know not by what power I am made bold,~~
~~Nor how it may concern my modesty,~~
~~In such a presence here to plead my thoughts;~~
~~But I beseech your grace that I may know~~
~~The worst that may befall me in this case,~~
~~If I refuse to wed Demetrius.~~
THESEUS
~~Either to die the death or to abjure~~
~~For ever the society of men.~~
~~Therefore, fair Hermia, question your desires;~~
~~Know of your youth, examine well your blood,~~
~~Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,~~
~~You can endure the livery of a nun,~~
~~For aye to be in shady cloister mew'd,~~
~~To live a barren sister all your life,~~
~~Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.~~
~~Thrice-blessed they that master so their blood,~~
~~To undergo such maiden pilgrimage;~~
~~But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,~~
~~Than that which withering on the virgin thorn~~
~~Grows, lives and dies in single blessedness.~~
HERMIA
~~So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord,~~
~~Ere I will my virgin patent up~~
~~Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke~~
~~My soul consents not to give sovereignty.~~
THESEUS
~~Take time to pause; and, by the nest new moon--~~
~~The sealing-day betwixt my love and me,~~
~~For everlasting bond of fellowship--~~
~~Upon that day either prepare to die~~
~~For disobedience to your father's will,~~
~~Or else to wed Demetrius, as he would;~~
~~Or on Diana's altar to protest~~
~~For aye austerity and single life.~~
DEMETRIUS
~~Relent, sweet Hermia: and, Lysander, yield~~
~~Thy crazed title to my certain right.~~
LYSANDER
~~You have her father's love, Demetrius;~~
~~Let me have Hermia's: do you marry him.~~
EGEUS
~~Scornful Lysander! true, he hath my love,~~
~~And what is mine my love shall render him.~~
~~And she is mine, and all my right of her~~
~~I do estate unto Demetrius.~~
LYSANDER
I am, my lord, as well derived as he,
As well possess'd; my love is more than his;
My fortunes every way as fairly rank'd,
If not with vantage, as Demetrius';
And, which is more than all these boasts can be,
I am beloved of beauteous Hermia:
Why should not I then prosecute my right?
Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head,
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes,
Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry,
Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
THESEUS
I must confess that I have heard so much,
And with Demetrius thought to have spoke thereof;
But, being over-full of self-affairs,
My mind did lose it. But, Demetrius, come;
And come, Egeus; you shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.
For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself
To fit your fancies to your father's will;
Or else the law of Athens yields you up--
Which by no means we may extenuate--
To death, or to a vow of single life.
Come, my Hippolyta: what cheer, my love?
Demetrius and Egeus, go along:
I must employ you in some business
Against our nuptial and confer with you
Of something nearly that concerns yourselves.
EGEUS
~~With duty and desire we follow you.~~
Exeunt all but LYSANDER and HERMIA

How now, my love!

2008-09-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

How now, my love! why is your cheek so pale?
How chance the roses there do fade so fast?
HERMIA
Belike for want of rain, which I could well
Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
LYSANDER
Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
~~But, either it was different in blood,--~~
HERMIA
~~O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low.~~
LYSANDER
~~Or else misgraffed in respect of years,--~~
HERMIA
~~O spite! too old to be engaged to young.~~
LYSANDER
~~Or else it stood upon the choice of friends,--~~
HERMIA
~~O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.~~
LYSANDER
~~Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,~~
~~War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it,~~
~~Making it momentany as a sound,~~
~~Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;~~
~~Brief as the lightning in the collied night,~~
~~That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,~~
~~And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'~~
~~The jaws of darkness do devour it up:~~
~~So quick bright things come to confusion.~~
HERMIA
~~If then true lovers have been ever cross'd,~~
~~It stands as an edict in destiny:~~
~~Then let us teach our trial patience,~~
~~Because it is a customary cross,~~
~~As due to love as thoughts and dreams and sighs,~~
~~Wishes and tears, poor fancy's followers.~~
LYSANDER
~~A good persuasion:~~ therefore, hear me, Hermia.

I have a widow aunt, a dowager

2008-09-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

(Sarah Squire vocal)

LYSANDER
I have a widow aunt, a dowager
Of great revenue, and she hath no child:
From Athens is her house remote seven leagues;
And she respects me as her only son.
There, gentle Hermia, may I marry thee;
And to that place the sharp Athenian law
Cannot pursue us. If thou lovest me then,
Steal forth thy father's house to-morrow night;
And in the wood, a league without the town,
~~Where I did meet thee once with Helena,~~
~~To do observance to a morn of May,~~
There will I stay for thee.
HERMIA
My good Lysander!
I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus' doves,
By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves,
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the false Troyan under sail was seen,
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke,
In that same place thou hast appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
LYSANDER
Keep promise, love. Look, here comes Helena.
Enter HELENA

God speed fair Helena

2008-09-21T03:50:00.000-07:00

(Sarah Squire and Joan Travis vocals)

HERMIA
God speed fair Helena! whither away?
HELENA
Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
Demetrius loves your fair: O happy fair!
Your eyes are lode-stars; and your tongue's sweet air
More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.
Sickness is catching: O, were favour so,
Yours would I catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My ear should catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody.
Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated,
The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
O, teach me how you look, and with what art
You sway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
HERMIA
I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
HELENA
O that your frowns would teach my smiles such skill!
HERMIA
I give him curses, yet he gives me love.
HELENA
O that my prayers could such affection move!
HERMIA
The more I hate, the more he follows me.
HELENA
The more I love, the more he hateth me.
HERMIA
His folly, Helena, is no fault of mine.
HELENA
None, but your beauty: would that fault were mine!
HERMIA
Take comfort: he no more shall see my face;
Lysander and myself will fly this place.
Before the time I did Lysander see,
Seem'd Athens as a paradise to me:
O, then, what graces in my love do dwell,
That he hath turn'd a heaven unto a hell!
LYSANDER
~~Helen, to you our minds we will unfold:~~
To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold
Her silver visage in the watery glass,
Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass,
A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal,
Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.
HERMIA
And in the wood, where often you and I
Upon faint primrose-beds were wont to lie,
Emptying our bosoms of their counsel sweet,
There my Lysander and myself shall meet;
And thence from Athens turn away our eyes,
To seek new friends and stranger companies.
Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us;
And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
Keep word, Lysander: we must starve our sight
From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight.
LYSANDER
~~I will, my Hermia.~~
Exit HERMIA
~~Helena, adieu:~~
~~As you on him, Demetrius dote on you!~~
Exit
HELENA (spoken)
How happy some o'er other some can be!
Through Athens I am thought as fair as she.
But what of that? Demetrius thinks not so;
He will not know what all but he do know:
And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes,
So I, admiring of his qualities:
Things base and vile, folding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind:
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste;
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste:
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
As waggish boys in game themselves forswear,
So the boy Love is perjured every where:
For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne,
He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine;
And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt,
So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
I will go tell him of fair Hermia's flight:
Then to the wood will he to-morrow night
Pursue her; and for this intelligence
If I have thanks, it is a dear expense:
But herein mean I to enrich my pain,
To have his sight thither and back again.
Exit