FOUR YEARS ON SENTRY Singspiel in one act by Theodor Körner Music by Franz Schubert The General - Spoken role The Captain - Tenor Walter, a village justice - Baritone Kate, his daughter- Soprano Duval, her husband- Tenor Guy, a peasant- Tenor Soldiers, Country folks A border village in Germany, during the Napoleonic Wars. OVERTURE SCENE I An open space in the village. Walter's house on the left, a hill on the right. A large view of the landscape in the distance. Walter, Duval, Kate; countrymen and country-women with their tools (going out of Walter's house to their labour in the fields). N. 1. Introduction CHORUS of countrymen and country-women: The new day is shining bright, the air is mild, the sky is clear; the day has scattered the troubles that the dark night had brought in. KATE, DUVAL, WALTER: The war rumbles all round us throughout the devastated nature, but over our quiet country-side is lying a peaceful sky. CHORUS: The war rumbles all round us etc. WALTER: Come on, to the labour! There, in the fields, everyone will know what one's own job is. Fortunate be he who finishes sowing before the war overtakes him! CHORUS: Come on, to the labour! There, in the fields, etc. (exeunt Walter with the peasants). SCENE II Kate, Duval. KATE: My dear husband, you are always busy! Stay beside me at least for a while! We stay together so rarely and that is always your fault. DUVAL: My dear wife, what can I do? I would like to spend more time with you, but should I let your father do everything? I am always beside you in my thoughts. KATE: We have loved each other for four years already, and for two since we got married! Yet in my heart I feel I am still the same, as if I had met you yesterday. DUVAL: How much I have changed in a little time! When I was a soldier of the regiment, I used to enjoy the merry bustle. I loved dangers and battles only, because I had nothing to lose, then. But since Fate bound us together, that frenzy has ceased and now I do take care of myself and of my life. N. 2. Duet KATE: Dear Henry! DUVAL: Sweet darling! KATE, DUVAL: Ah, how happy we both are! No word can express the quiet joy of our soul, its blissful content! Tender caresses accompany the flowing of the golden age through the flourishing nature. But for loving hearts youth never passes and heaven is a place on earth. SCENE III The aforesaid, Walter out of breath. WALTER: Children, do not fear! Compose yourself. KATE and DUVAL: Father, what happens? What can it be? WALTER: My children! Our enemies are back. We thought they were far away but, as I have just seen over there, a host of soldiers is on the march, heading for our village. I have come at a run! Ah, my dear son, if they find you here, it is all over for you, I am sure; when they retreated, four years ago, you remained here, working as a groom, for my daughter's sake! You are to pay the penalty for this; they still apply the martial law. KATE: Oh, Lord! DUVAL: Compose yourself ! Be quiet! My dear wife! Trust your husband! Nothing is lost, nay, it is just the opposite if we keep our head. KATE: I will hold you tightly in my arms and if it is all over for you, if those barbarous people really want to shoot you, their bullets must pierce my bosom first! DUVAL: Put your heart at rest! I have no knowledge of having committed any crime and I have not betrayed my country. I was up there, on sentry, and they should call me back as soon as the retreat was ordered. But they forgot about my sentry-post; it is not my fault. I stayed up there all the day and when I finally dared to go down, it was late: I looked for my companions but I found that no soldiers had remained. Trust me, nobody will recognise me; moreover, if they are not my companions of the second regiment, the others have never seen me. N. 3. Trio KATE, WALTER: Would that your hopes not deceive you! Would that your faith is always firm! DUVAL: Would that my hopes do not deceive me! Would that my faith is always firm! KATE, WALTER, DUVAL: Fate has been so benignant to us! It will not forsake us just now! SCENE IV Guy. The aforesaid. N. 4 Quartet GUY: My friend, save yourself quickly! The second regiment is already marching into the village. Away, away! You will be lost as soon as they recognise you! KATE, WALTER: Oh, Lord! For certain he will be lost as soon as they recognise him! DUVAL: My regiment? Impossible! GUY: Believe me! I know it well! KATE, WALTER It is all over for you! DUVAL: Courage and cunning are needed. Be silent and let me think. I can still save myself! KATE, WALTER, GUY: May Heaven protect you and be your salvation! DUVAL: (aside) How will I escape this danger? What daring scheme can I devise? Will I manage to save myself? What can I do? What can I try? KATE, WALTER, GUY: How will he escape this danger? What daring scheme can he devise? Will he manage to save himself? What can he do? What can he try? DUVAL: My friends! I have got it! I will be back to you soon! Rarely a cruel fate can separate the lovers whom God joined together. KATE, WALTER, GUY: What trick have you devised? How will you save yourself? DUVAL: Come with me, we have no time to lose! I will tell you all about the trick. KATE: My Henry! DUVAL: Trust me for the time being.. KATE: I will! DUVAL: ...and trust our good fate! KATE, DUVAL, WALTER, GUY: Rarely a cruel fate can separate etc. (Everyone enters the house but Kate). SCENE V Kate, alone. N. 5. Aria KATE: God! God! Listen to my voice! Answer my prayer benignantly! Look, I prostrate myself on the ground! My God, etc. Will my faith, my hope, be vain to your fatherly heart? Is he to pay with his own life for what he dared with a light heart?, for what he did for me, for my love? Will my vows become idle dreams; will my tender hopes die so soon; are love and happiness only ravings? No, you cannot want this; your fatherly heart will prevent you from this. You are my faith, God! You will not separate two hearts that cannot beat any longer if unfastened! No, Father, no; you cannot! SCENE VI Kate, Duval in uniform with a knapsack and a rifle. DUVAL: Kate, listen: this is the trick I devised. I will go back to my sentry-post and, trust me, everything will be all right. Thus it is that I can save myself. KATE: Is that what you mean? DUVAL: Yes, that will turn out well! I will stay in the place I used to be four years ago, with a rifle in my hands and a knapsack on my shoulder. I have never quitted my sentry-post, thus abiding by my military duty! Though no-one ever relieved the sentry, I have steadily kept a good watch till now. KATE: Ah, Henry! Will your plan succeed? No, it sounds too bold to me. It would be much easier to run away. Come on, take to flight; I will follow you! N. 6. March and chorus of the soldiers. (The March begins in the distance and draws nearer and nearer) DUVAL: Listen! They are coming, I must go to my sentry-post! Go away, darling, before anyone sees you here! KATE: Ah! Can it be that, as soon as we have a taste of happiness and we begin to enjoy it, it disappears? DUVAL: Farewell! Rely on me, rely on our love; pray for me! KATE: Yes, I will rely on you and on our love; and I will pray for you! KATE, DUVAL: (embracing each other) Come, Fate! We are waiting for you! (Kate enters the house, while Duval climbs up the hill). SCENE VII Duval. The Captain with his soldiers. CHORUS of the soldiers: Gladly we go to the battlefield, and gladly we come back! We feel sprightly in the storm and in the clouds of gunpowder! Let the chargers rear, let the glasses froth; sprightly we feel in the storm and in the clouds of gunpowder! Love, gold and pleasures, young girls and good old wine: everything is our booty! Girls, bring us the glasses, and let the old virtuous men grumble! CAPTAIN: Stop! We have arrived at the night-camp. I have already been here once; I recognise the trees over there! Yes, everything is clear, now: we are at old friends'! Four years have passed since our first stay in this village. Let everyone have his old lodging, but set the guards first. Go, lance-corporal! You know the orders: occupy those hills. What do I see? There is a sentry! Are our men already here? Who would have expected this? Hey, fellow countryman! Speak, how did you arrive? I say! You look very familiar. I bet that is Duval. For certain, I am not mistaken! Duval! Duval! DUVAL: Who is calling me? CAPTAIN: Get down, you traitor! DUVAL: I am on sentry and will not quit the place I have guarded during four years. CAPTAIN: Insolent rascal! Hey you, arrest him! DUVAL: Do not put your hands on the guard! How dare you! CAPTAIN: Catch him!!! SCENE VIII The aforesaid. Walter. Kate. Guy, going out of the house. Countrymen and country-women holding back the soldiers who try to storm the hill. N. 7. Ensemble KATE, WALTER, PEASANTS and GUY: Good Lord, he is lost! CAPTAIN: Get down! DUVAL: I stay here! WALTER: Pray, Captain, grant him pardon: that is my poor son; he has not done anything wrong! For pity's sake, have mercy! PEASANTS and GUY: For pity's sake, have mercy! CAPTAIN: Prayers are useless, forgiveness is unknown in wartime; the martial law provides that he is to be shot. SOLDIERS: The martial law etc. KATE, WALTER, GUY: Let mercy speak, take all our possessions, imprison us all but spare his blood. CAPTAIN: Prayers are useless, etc. CAPTAIN, SOLDIERS: The martial law, death and torment are awaiting you. Yes, you are destined to ruin, you are hopeless. KATE, WALTER, GUY: What a moment of dread and torment! Ah, he is destined to ruin, we are hopeless. KATE: Let mercy speak, etc. CAPTAIN: Prayers are useless, etc. SOLDIERS: The martial law is awaiting you. Yes, you are destined to ruin, you are hopeless. CAPTAIN: Prayers are useless, etc. KATE, WALTER, GUY, PEASANTS: What a moment etc. DUVAL: The General ! ALL: The General ! SCENE IX The aforesaid. The General. GENERAL: What is it? What happened? What an uprising do I see? CAPTAIN: General! I was about to set the guards. I had just arrived at the sentry-post when I saw Duval, who has been a deserter for four years, on that hill. He bravely defends his life; we all know him but nobody dares to touch him. DUVAL: I am ready to surrender at once, provided you order to relieve the sentry. I will be untouchable till then, and I will defend the sentry-post I was entrusted with. GENERAL: Well, this is reasonable and in accordance with the rules. Captain, relieve the sentry! And now that you are under arrest, I ask you: what can you tell me in your defence? DUVAL: I surrender, as I promised, but I cannot understand why I did wrong since I did not betray my country. I was on sentry up there; yes, I was, but would that they had let me know when the retreat was ordered!, On the contrary, they forgot about my sentry-post, it is not my fault. I stayed up there all the day and when I finally dared to go down, it was late: I looked for my companions but I found that no soldiers had remained. KATE: Since he was honest and thrifty... DUVAL: ... the Judge received me as his son and gave his daughter's hand to me as a reward. Four years! Now release me, Sir! PEASANTS: Release him, have mercy! GENERAL: If it were the truth... DUVAL: By God and by my soldierly honour! GENERAL: Captain? CAPTAIN: I recognise it frankly: we may have forgotten him. WALTER, GUY, KATE: General ! Have mercy! Pity that poor young man! Ah, do not tear him from our arms! Grant a pardon! GENERAL: So be it ! I grant a pardon! ALL: He grants a pardon! N. 8. Finale KATE, DUVAL, GUY, WALTER and CHORUS: What a merry moment joins us together; how our fortune has changed, its promise was not a lie! The joys of life are bestowed only on those people who pick up their fair flowers after a hard fight! (Translation: Silvia Ogier) (courtesy of: Bongiovanni Musica e Dischi, Bologna, Italy)