Marietta’s Song
Mar 19th, 2009 by oldfogey
This is one of the most haunting arias in all opera. I cannot understand why it is not more popular. It is from Die tote Stadt (The Dead City) by Erich Korngold. Korngold was one of the greatest of all Hollywood film composers - and one of the most underrated classical composers. This opera, written when he was a very young man, before he left for Hollywood, is about the city of Bruges, in Belgium. A city of grim churches, dark canals, decaying houses - all of which mirror the state of mind of the hero, Paul, mourning the death of his young wife. He meets Marietta, a dancer from Lille, who reminds him of his dead wife. She sings this song to him. Its words are trivial.
‘Joy sent me from above, hold me close my faithful love. In the darkness of the end of day you will light my way. Fear trembles in our hearts - hope rises up to heaven.’
Marietta leaves. Paul, now obsessed with her, stalks her through the night, watches her as she laughs and sings with the dancing troupe she belongs to. He becomes outraged by what he sees as her mockery of religion and the hope of the afterlife in which he might be reunited with his dead wife. Marietta, piqued by his obsession with his dead wife, tries to seduce him. Next morning, she is there at his house. She mocks him and the religous procession passing by below. She snears at the portrait of his dead wife, takes the braid of the dead wife’s hair and dances with it. Paul enraged strangles her.
But he doesn’t. It’s a dream, a vision. He is alone. The braid of hair is still where it was. Then Marietta knocks and comes in brightly. She has forgotten her umbrella and flowers. She smiles at him, shrugs her shoulders at his indifference and leaves. But she has brought him back from the land of the dead to the living. Paul is now reconciled to his wife’s death. He sings Marietta’s silly song. He can begin again
Here is the version from the first act, as Marietta sings it. This is Carol Neblett, with Rene Kollo as Paul. The end, where they duet, is immensely touching. Then she flies of.
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