Thursday 12th of November 2015 at 8-10 pm
INTRODUCTION
LIBRETTO
PERFORMANCE
CHORUS
The world
turns on its dark side. It is
winter.
The
Argument
ALTO
Man has
measured the heavens with a
telescope,
driven the
gods from their thrones.
But the
soul, watching
the chaotic mirror,
knows that
the gods return.
Truly, the
living god consumes
within and
turns the flesh to cancer.
Scene
CHORUS
Is evil
then good? Is reason
untrue?
ALTO
Reason is
true to itself; But pity
breaks open the heart.
CHORUS
We are
lost. We are as
seed before the wind.
We are
carried to a great
slaughter.
BASS
(Narrator)
Now in
each nation there were
some cast out
by
authority and tormented,
made to
suffer for the general wrong.
Pogroms in
the east, lynching
in the west;
Europe
brooding on a war
of starvation,
And a
great cry went up from the people.
CHORUS
OF THE OPPRESSED
When shall
the usurers city cease,
And famine
depart from the fruitful land?
TENOR
I have no
money for my bread; I have no
gift for my love.
I am
caught between my desires
and their frustration
as between
the hammer and the anvil.
How can I
grow to a man
stature?
SOPRANO
How can I
cherish my man in such
days,
or become
a mother in a world
of destruction?
How shall
I feed my children on so
small a wage?
How can I
comfort them when I am dead?
A
Spiritual
CHORUS
and SOLOISTS
Steal
away, steal away, steal away to Jesus;
Steal
away, steal away home I ain't
got long to stay here.
My Lord,
He calls me, He calls
me by the thunder,
The
trumpet sounds within-a my soul,
I ain't
got long to stay here.
Steal
away, steal away, steal away to Jesus;
Steal
away, steal away home I ain't
got long to stay here.
Green
trees a-bending, poor
sinner stand a-trembling,
The
trumpet sounds within-a my soul,
I ain't
got long to stay here.
Steal
away, steal away, steal away to Jesus;
Steal
away, steal away home I ain't
got long to stay here.
PART II
CHORUS
A star
rises in mid-winter. Behold the
man!
The
scapegoat! The child
of our time.
BASS
(The Narrator)
And a time
came when in
the continual persecution
one race
stood for all.
DOUBLE
CHORUS
PERSECUTORS,
PERSECUTED
Away with
them! Curse
them! Kill them!
They
infect the state.
Where?
How? Why?
We have no
refuge.
BASS
(The Narrator)
Where they
could,
they fled
from the terror,
And among
them a boy escaped secretly, and was kept in hiding in a
great city.
CHORUS
OF THE SELF-RIGHTEOUS
We cannot
have them in our Empire.
They shall
not work, nor beg a
dole.
Let them
starve in
No-Mans-Land!
BASS
(The Narrator)
And the
boys mother wrote a
letter, saying:
Scene
MOTHER
(Soprano)
Oh my son!
In the dread terror
they have
brought me near to death.
BOY
(Tenor)
Mother!
Mother!
Though men
hunt me like an animal,
I will
defy the world to reach you.
AUNT
(Alto)
Have
patience.
Throw not
your life away in futile sacrifice.
UNCLE
(Bass)
You are as
one against all.
Accept the
impotence of your
humanity.
BOY
(Tenor)
No! I must
save her.
A
Spiritual
CHORUS and SOLOISTS
Nobody
knows the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody
knows like Jesus.
Oh
brothers, pray for me,
Oh
brothers, pray for me,
And help
me to drive Old Satan
away.
Nobody
knows the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody
knows like Jesus.
Oh
mothers, pray for me,
Oh
mothers, pray for me,
And help
me to drive Old Satan
away.
Nobody
knows the trouble I see, Lord,
Nobody
knows like Jesus.
Scene
BASS
(The Narrator)
The boy
becomes desperate in his agony.
ALTO
A curse is
born. The dark
forces threaten him.
BASS
(The Narrator)
He goes to
authority. He is met
with hostility.
ALTO
His other
self rises in him, demonic
and destructive.
BASS
(The Narrator)
He shoots
the official—
ALTO
But he
shoots only his dark brother—
And
see— he is
dead.
BASS (The
Narrator)
They took
a terrible vengeance.
The
Terror
CHORUS
Burn down
their homes! Beat in
their heads!
Break them
in pieces on the wheel!
BASS (The
Narrator)
Men were
ashamed of what
was done.
There was
bitterness and horror.
A
Spiritual of anger
CHORUS and BASS
Go down,
Moses, way down in Egypt land;
Tell old
Pharaoh, to let my
people go.
When
Israel was in Egypt's land,
Let my
people go.
Oppressed
so hard they could not stand,
Let my
people go.
“Thus
spake the Lord”, bold Moses
said,
Let my
people go.
"If
not, I'll smite your first-born dead”,
Let my
people go.
Go down,
Moses, way down in Egypt land;
Tell old
Pharaoh, to let my
people go.
The boy
sings in his Prison
BOY
(Tenor)
My dreams
are all shattered in a
ghastly reality.
The wild
beating of my heart is
stilled: day by day.
Earth and
sky are not for those
in prison.
Mother!
Mother!
MOTHER
(Soprano)
What have
I done to you, my son?
What will
become of us now?
The
springs of hope are dried up.
My heart
aches in unending pain.
ALTO
The dark
forces rise like a flood.
Men's
hearts are heavy: they cry
for peace.
A
Spiritual
CHORUS
& SOPRANO
Oh, by and
by, by and by,
I'm going
to lay down my heavy load.
I know my
robe's going to fit me well,
I tried it
on at the gates of hell.
Oh, hell
is deep and a dark despair,
Oh, stop,
poor sinner, and don t go there!
Oh, by and
by, by and by,
I'm going
to lay down my heavy load.
PART
III
CHORUS
The cold
deepens.The world
descends
into the
icy waters where lies
the jewel of great price.
ALTO
The soul
of man is
impassioned like a woman.
She is old
as the earth, beyond
good and evil,
the
sensual garments.
Her face
will be illumined like the sun.
Then is
the time of his deliverance.
Scene
BASS
The words
of wisdom are these:
Winter
cold means inner warmth,
the secret
nursery of the seed.
CHORUS
How shall
we have patience
for the
consummation of the mystery?
Who will
comfort us in the
going through?
BASS
Patience
is born in the
tension of loneliness.
The garden
lies beyond the desert.
CHORUS
Is the man
of destiny master of us all?
Shall
those cast out be unavenged?
BASS
The man of
destiny is cut off
from fellowship.
Healing
springs from the womb of time.
The
simple-hearted shall exult in the end.
CHORUS
What of
the boy, then? What of
him?
He, too,
is outcast, his
manhood broken
in the
clash of powers.
God
overpowered him—
the child
of our time.
GENERAL
ENSEMBLE
TENOR
I would
know my shadow
and my light,
so shall I
at last be whole.
BASS
Then
courage, brother,
dare the
grave passage.
SOPRANO
Here is no
final grieving, but an
abiding hope.
ALTO
The moving
waters renew the earth.
It is
spring.
(Chorus
repeats the wordsof the
soloists)
A
Spiritual
CHORUS and SOLOISTS
Deep
river,
my home is
over Jordan.
Deep
river, Lord,
I want to
cross over into camp-ground.
Oh chill!
Oh don't you want to go,
To that
gospel feast,
That
promised land,
That land
where all is peace?
Walk into
heaven,
and take
my seat,
And cast
down my crown
at Jesus'
feet.
Deep
river,
my home is
over Jordan,
I want to
cross over into camp-ground,
Lord!
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