The Indian Queen est un semi-opéra (ou mask) écrit

The Indian Queen est un semi-opéra (ou mask) écrit par John Dryden et Robert Howard et
représenté pour la première fois en 1664. Il fut mis en musique par Henry Purcell en 1695, mais
celui-ci ne put terminer l'œuvre (il mourut fin 1695), qui fut achevée par Daniel Purcell, son
frère. Elle est typique des semi-opéras, combinaison de scènes parlées et de pièces chantées.
L'œuvre relate les conflits imaginaires entre Aztèques et Incas (ce qui est géographiquement
aberrant, les premiers se situant au Mexique et les seconds au Pérou qui ne voisinent pas) et
les amours entre la reine des Aztèques et le général des Incas.
La production que je vous propose aujourd’hui a été donnée par l’ensemble Musica Aeterna
sous la direction de Teodor Currentzis au Teatro Real de Madrid en novembre dernier. C’était,
je crois la toute dernière commande de celui qui était alors directeur du théâtre, Gérard Mortier.
L’opéra est une re-création puisque l’oeuvre a été refondue par Peter Sellars, qui a incorporé
des mélodies et des hymnes d’Henry Purcell avec des textes de Katherine Phillips, George
Herbert et d’autres auteurs contemporains de Purcell. Les textes parlés, une pratique qui
respecte la tradition du Masque Élizabétain, sont tirés d’un roman de l’auteure Nicaraguayienne
Rosario Aguilar « La Nina blanca y los pajaros sin pies » « La jeune fille blanche et les oiseaux
sans pieds »
L’action se passe dans le Nouveau Monde, avant la Conquête espagnole.
L’opéra est précédé d’un ballet en guise d’ouverture, qui décrit les 5 « journées » de la création
maya :
- L’origine de la terre et le cercle des Dieux
- Les premières habitations et l’hommage aux arbres
- Les premiers jeux de ballon
- La Danse du sacrifice
- La Danse de la résurrection
Puis c’est l’entrée des soldats espagnols.
Prologue, un jeune garçon (Teculihuatzin) et une jeune fille (Hunahpú) déplorent les
destructions de la guerre. Les tambours signalement l’arrivée des soldats avec leurs
prisonniers, parmi eux, le prince Mexicain Acacis, fils de la reine Zempoalla.
Hunahpú
Wake, Quivera, wake, our soft rest must cease,
And fly together with our country's peace;
No more must we sleep under plantain's shade,
Which neither heat could pierce nor cold invade;
Where bounteous nature never feels decay,
And opening buds drive falling fruits away.
Teculihuatzin
Why should men quarrel here, where all possess
As much as they can hope for by success?
None can have most where nature is so kind
As to exceed man's use, though not his mind.
Hunahpú
By ancient prophecy we have been told,
Our land shall be subdu'd by one more old;
And see that world already hither come.
Les deux :
If these be they we welcome then our doom.
Hunahpú
Their looks are such that mercy flows from hence,
More gentle than our native innocence;
By their protection let us beg to live:
They come not here to conquer, but forgive.
Les deux
If so your goodness may your power express,
And we shall judge both best by our success.
Symphonie : Retour des soldats espagnols
1er Acte
Texte parlé : Doña Isabel débarque dans le Nouveau Monde pour gouverner avec son
mari
1re scène: Doña Isabel dans la forêt
“O solitude” Doña Isabel [Texte: Katherine Philips]*
O solitude, my sweetest choice!
Places devoted to the night,
Remote from tumult and from noise,
How ye my restless thoughts delight!
O solitude, my sweetest choice!
O heav'ns! what content is mine
To see these trees, which have appear'd
From the nativity of time,
And which all ages have rever'd,
To look today as fresh and green
As when their beauties first were seen.
O, how agreeable a sight
These hanging mountains do appear,
Which th' unhappy would invite
To finish all their sorrows here,
When their hard fate makes them endure
Such woes as only death can cure.
O, how I solitude adore!
That element of noblest wit,
Where I have learnt Apollo's lore,
Without the pains to study it.
For thy sake I in love am grown
With what thy fancy does pursue;
But when I think upon my own,
I hate it for that reason too,
Because it needs must hinder me
From seeing and from serving thee.
O solitude, O how I solitude adore!
2e scène : La conversion des mayas
Texte parlé : Doña Isabel se voue à la conversion des femmes indigènes, en partie pour
les préserver des mauvais traitements qu’elles pourraient subir des soldats espagnols
Choeur
“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live” (Psaume 104:33-35]
I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will praise my God while I have my being.
And so shall my words please him: my joy shall be in the Lord.
As for sinners, they shall be consumed out of all the earth, and the ungodly shall come to an
end.
But praise ye the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.
3e scène: Le mariage de Don Pedro de Alvarado et de Doña Luisa, “la reine indígène”
Texte parlé : Doña Luisa, fille d’un grand chef maya, raconte qu’elle a été choisie pour
être sacrifiée/mariée au conquistador. D’abord effrayée, elle est séduite par la beauté du
général espagnol et accepte de se convertir
Choeur
“Blow up the trumpet” (Livre de Joel 2:15-47)
Blow up the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people and
sanctify the congregation.
Assemble the elders; gather the children and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go
forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the altar, and let them
say: spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should
rule over them.
Spare thy people, O Lord. Wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
4e scène: La nuit de noces “Él era mi Dios -- Il était mon Dieu”
Texte parlé: Doña Luisa, décrit la voluptueuse nuit de noces qu’elle passe avec celui qui,
de son ennemi, est devenu son Dieu
Hunahpú (Doña Luisa)
“Sweeter than roses” (texte anonyme)
Sweeter than roses, or cool evening breeze
On a warm flowery shore, was the dear kiss,
First trembling made me freeze,
Then shot like fire all o'er.
What magic has victorious love!
For all I touch or see since that dear kiss,
I hourly prove, all is love to me.
Symphonie: un bel andante décrit l’extase de la nuit de noces
5e scène : Doña Luisa rêve. “Soñé que le había convencido que dejara la guerra”
Texte parlé: Doña Luisa rêve de la vie idéale qu’elle aura avec celui qui est devenu son
Dieu, fort à l’amour comme à la guerre. Elle rêve de l’avoir convaincu de cesser de faire
la guerre.
Ixbalanqué (Héros Maya)
“Music for a while” Composé pour la pièce Oedipus de Dryden)
Music for a while
Shall all your cares beguile.
Wond'ring how your pains were eas'd
And disdaining to be pleas'd
Till Alecto free the dead
From their eternal bands,
Till the snakes drop from her head,
And the whip from out her hands
Texte parlé: Doña Luisa n’arrive ni à transformer ni à cesser d’aimer son ennemi, surtout qu’elle
porte maintenant son enfant.
Doña Luisa
“I love and I must”
I love and I must, and yet I would fain,
With a large dose of reason cure my pain,
But I am past hope, and yet it seems strange
A thing that's call'd man not subject to change.
Had I power to scorn as she to despise,
I might at once be inconstant and wise.
Then tell me, oh! tell me, how it should be
So easy to men, yet so hard to me.
6e scène : Les manœuvres des troupes espagnoles
Texte parlé: Un récit enflammé de la bataille et du massacre. Les Indiens se battent avec
courage, mais ils s’enfuient quand leur chef meurt au combat. Il y a tellement de morts
que leur sang a formé une rivière.
Chœur : chant de déploration
‘’Hear my prayer, O Lord’’ (Psaume 102)
‘’Hear my prayer, O Lord’’
And let my crying come unto Thee.
3e Acte
!re Scène :Après le massacre
Choeur
“Remember not, Lord, our offences” Chant de
pénitence à 5 parties
Remember not, Lord, our offences,
Nor th' offences of our forefathers;
Neither take thou vengeance of our sins,
But spare us, good Lord.
Spare thy people, whom thou has redeem'd
With thy most precious blood,
And be not angry with us for ever.
Spare us, good Lord.
Texte parlé: La Reine Indienne dit qu’elle a
été faite pour être servie et non pas pour
servir Don Pedro, qui est devenu cruel
2e scène : le chant du conquérant
Don Pedro de Alvarado
“With sick and famish’d eyes”(Texte : George
Herbert]
With sick and famished eyes,
With doubling knees, and weary bones,
To thee my cries,
To thee my groans,
To thee my sighs, my tears ascend:
No end?
My throat, my soul is hoarse;
My heart is wither'd like a ground
Which thou dost curse;
My thoughts turn round
And make me giddy: Lord, I fall,
Yet call.
Bowels of pity hear!
Lord of my soul, love of my mind,
Bow down thine ear!
Let not the wind
Scatter my words, and in the same
Thy name!
Look on my sorrows round;
Mark well my furnace!
O what flames,
What heats abound!
What griefs, what shames!
Consider, Lord; Lord, bow thine ear,
And hear!
Lord Jesu, thou didst bow
Thy dying head upon the tree;
O be not now
More dead to me!
Lord, hear! Shall he that made the ear
Not hear?
Behold! Thy dust doth stir,
It moves, it creeps to thee;
Do not defer
To succour me,
Thy pile of dust wherein each crumb
Says "Come".
My love, my sweetness, hear!
By these thy feet, at which my heart
Lies all the year,
Pluck out thy dart,
And heal my troubled breast, which cries,
Which dies.
Texte parlé: Doña Luisa se rend compte
que Don Pedro n’est plus amoureux d’elle,
qu’elle est sans pouvoir et que sa
conversion n’a servi à rien : il ne va jamais
l’épouser, elle sera concubine pour
toujours, même si elle lui a donné une fille
qu’il adore.
Doña Luisa
“Not all my torments can your pity move”
Not all my torments can your pity move,
Your scorn increases with my love.
Yet to the grave I will my sorrow bear;
I love, tho' I despair.
Texte parlé: Don Pedro est parti avec sa fille
pour retourner en Espagne épouser une femme
d’une grande beauté. Elle se résout à aller
consulter un prêtre maya
3e Scène : Cérémonie de divination des
prêtres Mayas: le Masque des Songes
Hunahpú, et un prête maya
“Their necessary aid you use” (extr. de Circé)
Their necessary aid you use,
Those pois’nous herbs and roots to choose,
Which mingled and prepared by your strong
art,
Do to your charms their chiefest force impart.
Your censers to the altar take,
And with Arabian gums sweet odours make,
Ixbalanqué, Choeur
“The air with music gently wound”
The air with music gently wound,
Sweet smells they love, and ever pleasing
sound.
Le prêtre maya
“Ye twice ten hundred deities” (grande scene
de divination proprement terrifiante)
Ye twice ten hundred deities
To whom we daily sacrifice,
Ye pow'rs that dwell with fates below
And see what men are doom'd to do,
Where elements in discord dwell:
Thou god of sleep arise and tell
Great Zempoalla what strange fate
Must on her dismal vision wait.
By the croaking of the toad
In their caves that make abode,
Earthy dun that pants for breath
With her swell'd sides full of death,
By the crested adders' pride
That along the cliffs do glide,
By thy visage fierce and black,
By the death's head on thy back,
By the twisted serpents plac'd
For a girdle round thy waist,
By the hearts of gold that deck
Thy breast, thy shoulders and thy neck,
From thy sleeping mansion rise
And open thy unwilling eyes,
While bubbling springs their music keep,
That used to lull thee in thy sleep
Sinfonía
Ixbalanqué
“Seek not to know” Texte de Dryden God of
dreams:
Seek not to know what must not be reveal'd,
Joys only flow when hate is most conceal'd.
Too busy man would find his sorrows more
If future fortunes he should know before;
For by that knowledge of his destiny
He would not live at all but always die.
Enquire not then who shall from bonds be
freed,
Who'tis shall wear a crown and who shall
bleed.
All must submit to their appointed doom,
Fate and misfortune will too quickly come.
Let me no more with powerful charms be
press'd
I am forbid by fate to tell the rest.
Escena 4 : La fille de Dom Pedro
Texte parlé : Dona Luisa, raconte comment
son père l’a emmené avec lui dans ses
conquêtes pour amadouer les Indiens
Overture,Sinfonia
5e Scène : Les conquistadores Don Pedro
de Alvarado et Don Pedrarias Dávila
boivent dans un bar du Chiapas
Don Pedro de Alvarado, Don Pedrarias
Dávila, Aerial spirits
“Ah, how happy”
Ah, how happy are we!
From human passions free.
Ah, how happy are we!
Those wild tenants of the breast,
No, never can disturb our rest.
Ah, how happy are we!
Yet we pity tender souls
Whom the tyrant of love controls,
Ah, how happy are we,
From human passions free!
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
Greatness clogg'd with scorn decays,
With the slave no empire stays.
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
Cease to languish the in vain
Since never to be loved again.
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
6e Scene : Le general Davila confie à son
épouse qu’il songe au suicide
Don Pedrarias Dávila (a capella)
“If grief has any pow’r to kill”
If grief has any pow'r to kill,
I have receiv'd my doom;
The tyrant has declar'd his will,
My time's not long to come;
So close he has besieg'd my heart,
No moment's ease I find,
In vain I struggle with the dart
That galls my tortur'd mind.
Nor do I beg for a reprieve,
I'm not so fond to live;
Nor will I any longer grieve,
Will you one smile but give.
Your mercy then should to my heart
An easy death convey,
I'd then defy the power of smart,
And melt in joys away.
7e Scène : Doña Luisa et Doña Isabel
rencontrent les esprits dans les
profondeurs de la forêt
Hunahpú
“Oh! Lead me to some peaceful gloom”
O lead me to some peaceful gloom,
Where none but sighing lovers come,
Where the shrill trumpets never sound,
But one eternal hush goes round.
There let me soothe my pleasing pain,
And never think of war again.
What glory can a lover have,
To conquer, yet be still a slave?
Hunahpú, Ixbalanqué, Choeur
“We the spirits of the air”
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
Greatness clogg'd with scorn decays,
With the slave no empire stays.
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
Cease to languish the in vain
Since never to be loved again.
We the spirits of the air
That of human things take care,
Out of pity now descend
To forewarn what woes attend.
8e Scène: Doña Luisa meurt doucement
pendant que les Dieux l’emportent vers
l’autre monde
Doña Luisa
“I attempt from love’s sickness” (Rondo)
I attempt from Love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.
No more now, fond heart, with pride no more
swell,
Thou canst not raise forces enough to rebel.
I attempt from Love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.
For Love has more power and less mercy than
fate,
To make us seek ruin and love those that
hate.
I attempt from Love's sickness to fly in vain,
Since I am myself my own fever and pain.
Melodía Danse du miroir du sommeil et de la
mort
4e Acte
1re Scène: Leonor prend sa mère dans ses bras et l’emporte à l’église où elle rencontre
Doña Isabel
Doña Isabel, Doña Luisa, Choeur
“Oh Lord rebuke me not” (Psaume 6:1-7)
O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation, neither chasten me in thy heavy displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are vexed.
My soul also is sore troubled: but, Lord, how long wilt thou punish me?
Turn thee, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O, save me, for thy mercy’s sake.
For in death no man rememb’reth thee: and who will give thee thanks in the pit?
I am weary of my groaning; every night wash I my bed, and water my couch with my tears.
My beauty is gone for very trouble, and worn away because of all mine enemies.
Turn thee, O Lord, and deliver my soul: O, save me, for thy mercy’s sake
2e Scène : La fille de Doña Isabel regrette sa mère qui avait abandonné sa culture, mais
qui y est revenue à la fin de sa vie.“Très bientôt, je parcourrai le chemin des étoiles”
Doña Luisa, Choeur
“They tell us”
They tell us that your mighty powers above
Make perfect your joys and your blessings by Love.
Ah! Why do you suffer the blessing that's there
To give a poor lover such sad torments here?
Yet though for my passion such grief I endure,
My love shall like yours still be constant and pure.
To suffer for him gives an ease to my pains
There's joy in my grief and there's freedom in chains;
If I were divine he could love me no more
And I in return my adorer adore
O let his dear life the, kind Gods, be your care
For I in your blessings have no other share.
5e Acte
Rituel secret dans la forêt à minuit
Choeur
“While thus we bow”
While thus we bow before your shrine,
That you may hear great pow'rs divine,
All living things shall in your praises join.
Texte parlé: Dona Luisa a prié pour sa mere en mêlant les prières de ses Dieux et de
ceux de sa mère. Elle se demande qui elle est : tout le monde admire sa beauté métisse.
Le grand prêtre maya, Choeur
“You who at the altar stand”
“All dismal sounds’’
You who at the altar stand
Waiting for the dread command
The fatal word shall soon be heard,
Answer then, is all prepared?
Choeur
All's prepared.
Le grand prêtre
Let all unallow'd souls begone
Before our sacred rites come on.
Take care that this be also done.
Choeur
All is done.
Le grand prêtre
Now in procession walk along
And then begin your solemn song.
Choeur
All dismal sounds thus on these off'rings wait,
Your pow'r shown by their untimely fate;
While by such various fates we learn to know,
There's nothing, no, nothing to be trusted here below.