We have come to the final episode of the Beyond / Jenseits blog posts, at least as far as recounting the little night opera’s libretto and music in German and English. (Catch up with all of the opera and the previous episodes on the Jenseits/Beyond homepage.)

The Woman’s return back to her body and back to living commences in Section XXII. But before that in Section XXII we are diverted to some riffs on the indignities of aging, especially and unfairly for the female sex. The Angels briefly take on new personas as an ageist artistic director and an eager plastic surgeon.

The Woman reacts in a manner and with music that recalls the earlier sections on her girlhood, evoking grim(m) fairy tales and declaring “Snow White has the smoothest face lifting in all the world”.

Then the finale begins in earnest. The Woman watches her Husband and Son sit vigil by her hospital bed. After all she has now experienced in the Beyond, she muses “I am dead and was never more alive.”

However the horror of operating table is reprised, and the Woman feels herself drawn back into the terror of witnessing her body being cut into. This time she conquers her fear.

In fact, you can tell from this part of the German libretto that text was added for the Woman to sing. I realized in composing this section that I needed additional words to draw out and better transition into what was ultimately a musical transformation of the fear theme from something chromatically gnarled into a soaring celebration. A long distance phone call between me and Helga led to her dictating me those extra words you can now see in ink in this copy of the original German libretto.

The 1st Angel also gets a phone call. The Woman may return back to her body. She will live on.

But does the Woman still want to go back?

After all, life is hard. But it’s also a gift.

And did all this really happen? Or was it some sort of dream?

Between the Woman and the Angels the answers to those questions are more cryptic than clear.

In the grand musical finale the Woman states: “I am that which always was, which always is and always will be. I am all and not at all.”

And in a hushed epilog, after the final piano chord ushers her back from the Beyond, she muses:

“Do I live and only have dreamed that I died?
Or am I dead and only have dreamed that I’m living?”

XXII, XXIII, XXIV

English Language Live Concert Recording

XXII

German Language Studio Recording

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR (2. ANGEL)

My dear Mrs. Stone…
My dear Mrs. Stone…

The Woman at a meeting with the Opera House’s Artistic Director

My dear Mrs. Stone. You know I hold you in the highest regard.
And that’s why I find it so difficult…I mean, it is absolutely not my own opinion. But the director doesn’t think you are right for the piece…he wants to cast the role with someone younger.

HUSBAND
They won’t get away with this. High monetary compensation! Contract violation! Damages! If necessary we’ll drag them to court!

WOMAN
Mirror, mirror in my hand
Who is the youngest in all the land

Snow White, far over the mountains in the hidden forest
She is much younger than you

2. ANGEL
Someone ate off of my plate. Someone drank out of my cup.

DOCTOR (1. ANGEL)
We’ll fix it good, my dear lady…

WOMAN
Flat, flat, stretch it flat
Taut, pull it tight
Let age be cured like an illness

DOCTOR
No problem, my dear lady. You won’t recognize yourself.

WOMAN
Snow White, far over the mountains
In the hidden forest
Has the smoothest face lifting in all the world

XXIII

German Language Studio Recording

WOMAN
Who am I
Who am I not
Eenie meenie minie moe
Catch a lady by the toe
Don’t turn around – we’re all falling down

I am dead and was never more alive.

1. ANGEL
Here today, dead tomorrow. And so they lived unhappily ever after.

2. ANGEL
Your husband and your son are sitting by your hospital bed.

WOMAN
Go home. You look so tired.

2. ANGEL

They’ve been waiting all night.

WOMAN For what?

1. ANGEL
The doctors have been operating for hours. They are determined to conquer death.

WOMAN
They’re cutting up my body

Razor sharp metal incisions

Ah-

No, I will not be afraid
No more!

No more!

Ah-

She calms down, conquering her fear.

1. ANGEL
(into cell phone) Understood.

WOMAN
What is that?
It pulls me back
Suddenly so heavy
A buzzing inside my head
I turn around in dizzying velocity like caught in a downward spiral

1. ANGEL
You may go back.

WOMAN
I don’t want to go back
The world is like a prison, the body is a jailor

1. ANGEL It’s a gift.

WOMAN
Nothing is as it was

1. ANGEL
All is just as it was. You have only dreamed.

WOMAN

Am I dreaming or is someone dreaming me?

2. ANGEL
Both. It depends.

1. ANGEL Love is slavery.

2. ANGEL
Love frees the slaves.

XXIV

German Language Studio Recording

WOMAN
I am the wave

And I am the ocean

I am that which always was

Which always is

And always will be

I am all

And not at all

WOMAN & BOTH ANGELS

One two three outside now
No one has to hide now
Right of me and left of me need not be

WOMAN
One two three I’m coming

Lighting change. The woman is alone.

WOMAN

Do I live and only have dreamed that I died?
Or am I dead and only have dreamed that I’m living?

The End