Welcome back to the next episode of our little night opera, Beyond (catch up on previous installments here). This is the section where our favorite opera diva’s dilemmas with the men in her cosmic life-in-review come to a head.

I can’t help but think – perhaps to my detriment in your eyes – of that famous 1976 pop-corn “Torn Between Two Lovers”. Mary MacGregor’s situation has much in common with our diva’s, torn as she is between staid Husband and passionate Conductor. I’ll concede MacGregor’s expresses her dilemma more sweetly musically…

But first we must dispense with the Therapist, who has proven less than helpful to the Woman, and in self defense simply fires her as his patient.

The Woman dismisses the Therapist as “a prenatal one-way street”. I particularly enjoy librettist Helga Krauss’ wicked turn of phrase there… (but I swear I have never found reason nor occasion to wield it against my husband the therapist. 😉 )

Then we transition quickly into a theatrical push-me-pull-you with the Woman caught between her Husband and the Conductor – quite literally caught between them in this metaphysical way station as their personas are taken up by the two Angels.

Both men represent forces that both attract and repel her. A choice not made in life is one she also seemingly cannot make in the Afterlife. The Woman brings this exercise to a dramatic halt, exclaiming “Love is slavery!”

To which the 1. Angel counters: “Love frees the slaves”.

(The 2. Angel is having a little too much fun with the dramatics, don’t you think?)

These three sections, XVIII – XX, flow together without interruption in the English language concert version, but are individually playable in the German studio version.

XVIII – XX

English Language Live Concert Recording

XVIII

German Language Studio Recording

WOMAN
Through seven havens must I travel
Bedewed in sundust I will awake from slumber

THERAPIST
The transference, something’s not working with the transference.

WOMAN I know.

THERAPIST
How do you know?

WOMAN
I know even though I don’t know why I know

I enter his little head and wander
It’s a maze of train traffic, railroads, tunnels

THERAPIST
We must call it quits.

WOMAN
A one-way street…he is a prenatal one-way street.

XIX

German Language Studio Recording

New Years Eve. Conductor and Husband toast with champagne. They speak concurrently.

TEXTVAMP: (repeat as often as needed)

HUSBAND
Criminal offending is measured in terms of prevalence, incidence and timing.

CONDUCTOR
Allegro di bravura, allegro di molto…

HUSBAND
Prevalence refers to the static aspect of an outcome…

CONDUCTOR
Doppio movimento…passionatamente…

HUSBAND

Degrees of severity vary between felony, misdemeanor and infraction…

CONDUCTOR Mezzo…mezzo, mezza voce

HUSBAND
Recidivism can also be studied from a dynamic perspective: how long does it take before a subject recidivates…

CONDUCTOR Maestoso…magnificat…

HUSBAND
…treating recidivism as a terminal event…

CONDUCTOR Attaca subito!

HUSBAND
The multivariate approach allows us to compare…

CONDUCTOR Fortezza, fortezza!

HUSBAND
This study represents the ‘successful’ segment of the unsuccessful population…

CONDUCTOR
Con bocca chiusa (he hums)…

Textvamp gets softer.

WOMAN
I need him near me and I need him away
There’s a force that attracts me to him and a force that repels Should I be pulled in too close I would burn in a furnace Should I pull too far away I would freeze in an ice flow

Textvamp gets louder.

Textvamp gets quieter.

I need him near me
And I need him away
Should I be pulled in too close I would burn in a furnace Should I pull too far away I would freeze in an ice flow I travel in orbit like a moon caught between two planets

1. ANGEL

Burn!

2. ANGEL Freeze!

1. ANGEL Risk it!

2. ANGEL
Nothing’s as it seems.

WOMAN
Is it all just a dream?
A mirage thin as air
Like the shimmering of moonlight upon a tranquil sea?

1. ANGEL Find out…

XX

German Language Studio Recording

CONDUCTOR Get a divorce!

HUSBAND
I’ll get wood for the fireplace.

The Woman feels torn between both men.

WOMAN Ah-

CONDUCTOR I love you.

WOMAN
Would you like red or white wine? …When in doubt, rule for the defense.

CONDUCTOR Ti amo, ti amo…

WOMAN Ah-

HUSBAND

It’s chilly, I’ll get you your shawl.

WOMAN Ah-

CONDUCTOR
Maria, mi amor, I want all of you!

WOMAN
Ah-
Trampled to bits, cut down and bloody, defiled and murdered by love

My neck broken in two in the arena

The guilty party has been sentenced to hanging at dawn

Stop it! That’s enough! I don’t want to see anymore!

2. ANGEL
I think it’s thrilling!
Trampled to bits, cut down and bloody, defiled and murdered by love

WOMAN
Love is slavery!

1. ANGEL
Love frees the slaves.