The Devil's Opera(185)
She sat back in satisfaction as the final notes were sounded by the orchestra.
* * *
Friedrich shook his head as the duet ended. It was now clear how at least part of the story was going to unfold. Poor Merlin.
And so it proved. In the following arias, plots were made with Medraut, who turned out to be Arthur’s illegitimate half-brother, to plot to overthrow Arthur and assume the throne. Even the Saxons were brought into this, which received a few catcalls from the imperial box.
The lights blacked out for the end of scene one to medium applause.
Friedrich turned to Gronow. “You wrote the libretto. This is not going to turn out well, is it?”
Gronow just smiled and said nothing.
“Pig,” Friedrich muttered. “Then at least give me another drink of your schnapps to bolster my courage.”
Gronow passed the flask over just as the lights came up for scene two. Friedrich took a hurried swig and passed it back, eyes on the solitary figure advancing from upstage.
Merlin, dressed in the finest of bishop’s garb and carrying a crozier, stood in the spotlight, and began again the beautiful melody Schütz had written for the Pater Noster.
“Our Father, Who art in Heaven…”
This time when Nimue advanced from the wings, the Morrigan came with her, shadowing her every step, halting at the edge of Merlin’s pool of light as Nimue glided to within a hand’s reach of the beleaguered bishop. Nimue’s spotlight was blue in this scene, and the Morrigan’s was red, as contrasted to the white light in which Merlin stood. The visual effect was quite striking.
Every word that Nimue sang, every note that she uttered, was supported, harmonized, and enhanced by the voice of the Morrigan. The effect was almost spellbinding, musically speaking, and Friedrich had to wrench himself from that enchantment repeatedly to pay attention to the story.
Merlin tried. He would battle back with the Pater Noster, force Nimue back a step, to circle a little wider. But the power shown by the sylph as bolstered by the goddess ultimately was more than he could resist, or endure, or defeat. The end came when Merlin dropped his crozier and fell to his knees, grasping at the hem of Nimue’s robe.
The music swirled into an air of triumph, as Nimue picked up the crozier and seemingly broke it and cast it aside, then grasped Merlin by the arm and chivvied him to the Dragon Tree at the rear of the set upstage. The Morrigan had already seemingly ascended to the branches of the tree, and the black cloak was spread out like wyvern’s wings. Nimue waved a hand, part of the tree’s trunk opened, and she thrust Merlin inside. The trunk closed with the sound of a thunder clap from the orchestra.
“This does not bode well,” Friedrich muttered. Gronow chuckled beside him, and he thumped Gronow’s thigh with his leg.
* * *
Amber smiled and nodded as Nimue began her victory aria. Abati’s silver voice was just superb for the role. This aria in particular demanded musical athletics that very few musicians she had known in the up-time could have done full justice to. Abati could, and his exultation—it still felt funny to think “his” when the sound she was hearing was high soprano—sounded eldritch, fey, beautiful, enticing; all of that. And to Abati’s credit in playing the role, Amber admitted, it also sounded evil.
The applause after the aria was quite loud, although not perhaps as extended as it could have been, Amber decided. Credit it to the fact that it was sung by one of the bad guys, she supposed.
The scene progressed after that aria. Nimue enlisted the aid of Arthur’s aunt Morgause, who in this story was only a few years older than Arthur himself. Then, bolstered by the Morrigan’s magic and music, and drawing on the magic of Merlin himself, the three women wove a web around Arthur. Without Merlin’s influence, counsel, and magic to help bolster and protect him, Arthur succumbed to the temptation, and the lights blacked out on the second scene as Morgause drew him through the curtains of her bed.
* * *
Friedrich looked over at Gronow during the few moments the curtain was down. “It does get better than this, doesn’t it? If all I wanted was tragedy, I could have stayed in my room and read Poe and Goethe.”
Gronow just chuckled.
The third scene of Act Two was short; only three songs in it. The scene opened the next morning after Arthur’s seduction with Arthur stumbling from stage left into the court before the Dragon Tree. He was disheveled, bleary-eyed, and unsure of what had happened. Nimue was waiting and musically pounced on him, delighting in informing him of what had occurred the previous night—the fact that not only had he committed adultery but he had also committed incest—and gleefully predicting his doom and the destruction of his kingdom. The Morrigan was standing in the branches of the Dragon Tree again, and her harmonies reinforced Nimue’s music.