IV.23 Dom (Cathedral)



Margaret is once again in a church looking for consolation. A spirit holds a conventional sermon to her, that she has lost her purity; that it was a crime what she has done and that he would make public her "dishonour" etc. etc. Goethe's opinion about all this is made quite clear, because the spirit is called Evil spirit.

Dom Cathedral

Amt, Orgel und Gesang. Gretchen unter vielem Volke. Böser Geist hinter Gretchen.
[Mass, Organ, and Singing. GRETCHEN among many people, EVIL SPIRIT behind GRETCHEN.]
BÖSER GEIST: EVIL SPIRIT.
Wie anders, Gretchen, war dir's,
Als du noch voll Unschuld
Hier zum Altar tratst
Aus dem vergriffnen Büchelchen
Gebete lalltest,
Halb Kinderspiele,
Halb Gott im Herzen!
Gretchen!
Wo steht dein Kopf?
In deinem Herzen
Welche Missetat?
Betst du für deiner Mutter Seele, die
Durch dich zur langen, langen Pein hinüberschlief?
Auf deiner Schwelle wessen Blut?
- Und unter deinem Herzen
Regt sich's nicht quillend schon
Und ängstet dich und sich
Mit ahnungsvoller Gegenwart?
How different, Gretchen, it was with thee,
When thou, still full of innocence,
Here to the altar cam'st,
Out of the well-worn, little book
Didst prattle prayers,
Half childhood's play,
Half God in thy heart!
Gretchen!
Where are thy thoughts?
Within thy heart
What foul misdeed?
Is it for thy mother's soul thou prayest, who
Through thee to long, long torment fell asleep?
Upon thy door-sill, whose the blood?
-Beneath thy heart already
Is there not stirring swelling life
That tortureth itself and thee
With its foreboding presence?
GRETCHEN: GRETCHEN.
Weh! Weh!
Wär ich der Gedanken los,
Die mir herüber und hinüber gehen
Wider mich!
Gretchen. Woe! Woe!
Would I were free of thoughts
That go within me hither and thither
Against my will!
CHOR: CHOIR.
Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla.
(Orgelton.)
Choir. Dies irae, dies illa
Solvet saeclum in favilla.
[Sound of the organ.]
BÖSER GEIST: EVIL SPIRIT.
Grimm faßt dich!
Die Posaune tönt!
Die Gräber beben!
Und dein Herz,
Aus Aschenruh
Zu Flammenqualen
Wieder aufgeschaffen,
Bebt auf!
Wrath grips thee!
The last trumpet sounds!
The graves are trembling!
And thy heart,
From rest in ashes
To flaming torments
Raised up, re-created,
Trembling ascends!
GRETCHEN: GRETCHEN.
Wär ich hier weg!
Mir ist, als ob die Orgel mir
Den Atem versetzte,
Gesang mein Herz
Im Tiefsten löste.
Would were away from here!
It seems to me as if the organ
Would stifle my breathing,
As if my inmost heart
Were melted by the singing.
CHOR: CHOIR.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet adparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet adparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.
GRETCHEN: GRETCHEN.
Mir wird so eng!
Die Mauernpfeiler
Befangen mich!
Das Gewölbe
Drängt mich!- Luft!
I'm stifling here!
The walls and pillars
Imprison me!
The vaulted arches
Crush me! - Air!
BÖSER GEIST: EVIL SPIRIT.
Verbirg dich! Sünd und Schande
Bleibt nicht verborgen.
Luft? Licht?
Weh dir!
Hide thyself! Sin and shame
Remain not hidden.
Air? Light?
Woe's thee!
CHOR: CHOIR.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus?
Cum vix justus sit securus.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?
BÖSER GEIST: EVIL SPIRIT.
Ihr Antlitz wenden
Verklärte von dir ab.
Die Hände dir zu reichen,
Schauert's den Reinen.
Weh!
The faces of the Glorified
Will turn away from thee;
To thee their hands to offer
Will the Pure shudder.
Woe!
CHOR: CHOIR.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
GRETCHEN: GRETCHEN.
Nachbarin! Euer Fläschchen!
(Sie fällt in Ohnmacht.)
Neighbour! Your smelling-salts!
[She falls in a swoon.]






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