♥Agnes Baltsa♥ singing "Il est sauvé...Adieu le cher passé!" from Jules Massenet's "Thérèse"

When I first told my mother I was listening to "Thérèse" she just asked "What?"...so you see it's not a very well known opera, but as I maybe mentioned before (when I was posting about "Ascanio in Alba"), the not very popular pieces many times are real gems. "Thérèse" is such a gem. Really. Many people declare "Werther" as Massenet's best opera, but I highly doubt that. It's got a perfect romantic story and wonderful music.
It all plays during the French revolution in october 1792. A typical love triangle between Thérèse, her husband André Thorel and her lover Armand de Clerval is the keystone of the story. Thérèse loves her husband and feels compelled to die with him (in the end of the story), even though she knows she loves Armand more. Well the whole story now is very obvious - you can guess the rest and even the details of the story. It's not a very extraordinary story, but a) who needs one? and b) isn't it the simplicity of a story that makes it nice?

However, below the posted video, you can find, as almost always, the lyrics (in French, English and German). Enjoy!

This song is from the last scene of the opera. Recorded 1981 in Rome.



Lyrics:

French:

THÉRÈSE
Il est sauvé!...Adieu le cher passé!...
J'aurai, pour consoler mon âme inassouvie,
le souvenir exquis...et l'austère
devoir! André!...Mot dont le froid
accent glace mes fièvres...devoir
pour qui l'on vit, devoir pour qui l'on
meurt...

(regardant au dehors, inquiète)

Mais, quelle est cette foule? Elle gronde!
Elle avance...C'est l'échafaud qui
vient, ... la charrette qui passe! J'entends
des cris de mort!...Et qui donc va
mourir?

(un grand cri)

Ah!...grand dieu! qu'ai-je donc vu?...
Est-ce lui?...C'est André! André! lui!
Mon époux! André qui va périr pour le
salut de l'autre!...André! c'est moi!
André!...
Je pouvais fuir, oui, fuir avec Armand!

Mais je veux te rejoindre! Je te donne
ma vie...ayant porté ton nom!

(hors d'elle-même)

Salut, devoir! A bas la guillotine! André!
Attends! Attends! André! Regarde-moi!

VOIX D'ANDRÉ
(au dehors)
Thérèse!...

THÉRÈSE
Ah! André! Je te rejoins! allons! foule
stupide!...Réunis les époux!

André! Je veux mourir! André!
Vive le roi!

(Cris farouches au dehors. La chambre est
envahie par les sectionnaires, les gens du
peuple, les femmes)

LA FOULE
(hurlant)
A mort! A l'Abbaye! Au Tribunal!
A mort! A mort! à mort!

THÉRÈSE
O mort! ouvre tes bras! Marchons!

English:

THÉRÈSE
He is saved!...Farewell, dear past!...
To console my unappeased heart, I shall
have exquisite memory and austere
duty; André! O word whose cold breath
freezes my lips - duty, for which one
lives, duty, for which one dies.

(looking out, anxiously)

But what is this crowd? It growls, it
advances...It is the scaffold coming, the
tumbril passing! I hear the cries of
"Death!"...And who then is to die?

(crying out)

Great heavens! What do I see?...I it
he?...It is André, André, my husban,
André who is perish to save another!

...André! It is I! André!...
I could have fled, yes, fled with
Armand!
But I want to join you! I give you my
life, having borne your name!

(beside herself)

Duty, I greet you! Down with the
guillotine! André! Wait! Wait! André,
look at me!

ANDRÉ's VOICE
(from outside)
Thérèse!...

THÉRÈSE
Ah! André! I am joining you. Come,
senseless mob, reunite the married
couple!
André! I want to die! André! Long live
the king!

(Savage cries from without. The room is
invaded by section-leaders and men and
women of the people.)

THE CROWD
(howling)
Death! To the Abbey! To the tribunal!
Death! Death! Death!

THÉRÈSE
O death, open your arms! Let us go!

German:

THÉRÈSE
Er ist gerettet. Adieu, verlorenes Glück
...Mir bleibt als Trost der ungestillten
Liebe allein nur die Erinnerung und die
strenge Pflicht. André! O Wort, dass
mich erschauern macht mit seinem
kalten Hauch. O Pflicht, für die man
lebt - o Pflicht, für die man stirbt.

(Sie blickt nach draussen, unruhig)

Welch drohende Menge? Was für ein
Tosen. Sie kommen näher...Es naht
das Schafott, der Todeskarren...
Sie schreien "zum Tod". Wer soll denn
sterben?

(aufschreiend)

Ah, großer Gott, was muss ich sehen?...
Wer ist's?...André, André! Mein Gemahl!
André, er geht in den Tod, um
den Freund zu retten.
André! Ich bin's. André!...
Ich könnte fliehen, ja, fliehen mit Armand.
Bald sehen wir uns wieder! Dir will ich
mein Leben geben...dessen Namen ich trage.

(außer sich)

Heil dir, Pflicht! Nieder mit der Guillotine!
André. Warte! Warte! Warte! André. Sieh
mich an!

ANDRÉS STIMME
(von außen)
Thérèse!...

THÉRÈSE
Ah, André. Ich komme zu dir. Sieh her.
Oh, blödes Pack. Gib mir den Gatten
zurück!
Ich will sterben! André!
Es lebe der König!

(Man hört draussen das Volk wild aufheulen,
bis einzelne ins Zimmer dringen)

DIE MENGE
(durcheinander)
Nieder mit ihr. Zum Schafott! Zum
Gericht! Zum Tod!

THÉRÈSE
O Tod, öffne deine Arme. Nimm mich auf.