"O holy book!" "Inspired, prophetic words of everlasting truth!" "Go forth upon your way, Stiffelio May your words be" "a destroying tempest, a devouring wave," "a blasting thunderbolt" "for God's enemies upon this earth!" "He comes His wife awaits him" "Ah, may heaven grant that love prove no impediment to his zeal!" "I am here amongst you!" "My wife, my friends!" " Stiffelio!" " My son!" "How happily we all rejoice at your return!" "This day will live long in the hearts of those who love you" "A boatman called here several times" " Looking for me?" " Yes" "That must be Walter, the good boatman" "He consulted me about a strange event" "May we know what he told you?" "Yes He did not forbid me to repeat it" "As he put out from here at dawn's first light he saw a window open" "and there, gripped by mighty terror, a young man appeared" " (Oh, my suspicions!" ") - (Oh, heavens!" "What do I hear!" ")" " Come, continue" " Strange happening indeed!" " (Oh, heavens!" "What do I hear!" ")" " Strange happening indeed!" "There was a woman at his side who seemed out of her mind with fear" "He hesitated till, clearly overcome by an excess of terror," "he swiftly mounted the window ledge" "and plunged into the water" "How many days ago?" " Eight - (Oh, God!" ")" "(It was my plight that he witnessed!" ")" "Was the fugitive recognized?" "No He has only lost these papers" " May we see them?" " (Heavens!" ")" "What will you do with them?" "To return them I would have to read them" " and uncover a guilty intrigue" " Well then?" " (What will happen?" ")" " What have you decided?" "Let them burn together with the seducer's name" " (Heavens, I breathe again!" ")" " Noble heart!" "May they be scattered with these ashes, both the name and the crime" "God has spoken it, God has written :" "Let brother be merciful to brother" "Ah, he even disperses the memory of sin!" "We must pretend, we must lie I must have a talk with you" "(O Leuthold, through my daughter you have made an attempt upon my honour!" ")" "In that book I shall place a note to tell you when and where" "O God, have mercy!" "(But if you have truly cast a stain upon it your blood shall wipe it clean)" "God has spoken it, God has written :" "Let brother be merciful to brother" "O God, have mercy!" "My grief has touched thy heart" "The virtue of an Evangelical priest dwells within his heart" "Now that she has been saved Lina will never again lapse into sin" "Long live Stiffelio!" "What is this?" "A company of friends in festive mood is approaching" " What do they want?" " To see you" "Where is he?" "To you, Stiffelio, a song rises up from every heart" "You are the glory of Germany, who banishes all vice" "Justice, brotherly love you spread throughout the land" "For holy and eternal truth you wage a fierce war" "From fields, from banqueting halls, from palaces, from the altar your name shall resound amongst us for all eternity" "By what dreadful remorse I feel myself torn!" "The voice of his goodness will proclaim my sin the more loudly" "My brothers, to God alone you should sing praises" "Then shall your song echo throughout the universe" "She has no word for me!" "Not a glance!" "At last we are alone" "Rodolfo" "Oh, forgive me!" "My tongue is little inclined to call you Stiffelio" "Rodolfo Müller:" "that was the sweet-sounding name" "by which I called you that first time" "when my father received you here" "in flight from a hostile crowd" "How unhappy I have been, far from you!" "And yet the world was bright with triumphs for you and with delights!" "Delights?" "You are mistaken" "You were not with me" "Everywhere I saw virtue groan beneath the oppressor's yoke" "Young and old I saw enslaved to vice," "true worth vanquished by gold, justice hoodwinked" "and humanity floundering in a sea of iniquity" "Heavens!" "Oh, horror!" "Women, those simple guardians of virtue, breaking the bonds of conjugal affection" "I know it well Forgive me!" "The picture is too dreadful" "But now I see you once again and know" "that wifely virtue still exists" "What are you saying, Stiffelio?" "The truth Woe betide you if I am deceived!" "Your soul is great" "and would have forgiven" "Ah, no Forgiveness is easy for the heart that has never been stricken" "But within every soul infinite treasure lies concealed" "on which none can lay hands with impunity" "But your eyes are filled with tears" "You are trembling!" "I am not mistaken" "Some hidden grief torments you" "Speak to your husband" " No" " No?" "Well then, give me a smile" "Today recalls the memory of our wedding" "I know (What fearful torments!" ")" "From heaven my mother bestowed her blessing upon us" "Today her ring" "What is this?" "You do not have it?" "Where is it?" "It is no longer there!" "You must answer!" " What have you done with it?" " The ring?" "Yes, tell me To whom have you given the ring?" " Alas!" " To whom have you given it?" "Ah, clearly written on your brow is the shame that wages war in your heart" "That accusing silence can only be the offspring of a crime" "But may I be struck down by lightning, may the earth yawn beneath my feet, may all creation be unleashed against me if I have been dishonoured!" "Such unaccustomed fury prostrates me, robs me of my soul" " Müller?" " What now?" " Your friends await you" "Shall I never have a moment for myself?" "But how angry he is!" "Forgive me Let us go" "I will come back soon" "Soon, he said!" "Ah, I am lost!" "What excuses can I offer?" "Remorse makes me dumb I can find no words" "I am wretched, betrayed No one on earth can save me!" "Let my sighs and tears ascend" "to thee, O merciful God" "May thou forgive me in my sorrow" "and may he too pardon me, O God!" "May I be forgiven" "Or may my shame be expunged with my life!" "He will come back!" "I must find an answer!" "But what to answer?" "Perhaps I should confess?" "Ah, no!" "Better to write to him" ""Rodolfo "" "Heavens!" "I cannot!" "I will know all Ah!" "This is not what I would tell him" "A letter!" "Do you write to Herr von Leuthold?" " I?" " Be silent!" ""Rodolfo!" "I am no longer worthy of you!"" "Wretched woman, I was not mistaken!" "I could no longer keep silent My sufferings were too great" "And what of him?" "Despair and death are written for him here" " Heavens!" " Yes, death!" " Ah, no!" "May he live, O God!" "But must I deceive him?" "No, I cannot" "Tell him that your heart lacks the strength to wash away your sin," "that the demon of remorse inspires you with too great a terror" "Tell him that it is easier for a faithless one to make known the foul wrong which will mean his death" "Infamy is not enough for you" " You would be cowardly as well!" " Father!" "Yes, cowardly!" "But hear me" "You will save Rodolfo" "You will submit to a love which you do not deserve" "No!" "You must obey" " Never!" " Never?" "It shall never be!" "Never?" "No!" "So before the face of mankind" "I must stifle my anger" "I must overcome the shame" "of still calling you my daughter" "You, the worthless creature I despise, you, a father's dishonour!" "Ah, what a dreadful fate is mine, torture of a hapless penitent!" "Can you not see from these tears that I am already too greatly punished?" "You, the worthless creature I despise, you, a father's dishonour!" "I was not willingly drawn into the trap of sin" "Enough Now dry your tears" "Ah, I cannot" " No more You must do so" " No, I cannot" " It is your father's wish" " No, I cannot" "It is a wife's duty Rodolfo's life requires it" "I shall be silent" "The time has come" "Who will help me?" "Come now with me Tears are of no avail" "No one must suspect the fatal occurrence" "Let your sin be hidden as in the grave" "The honour of our blood compels, demands it!" "Let Müller's honour be preserved in the eyes of the world" "even though he has lost your inconstant love" "What dreadful words: for ever lost!" "Let my tears be hidden, my grief be dumb" " Let no one suspect!" " Let calm serenity smile on my face" "Let the fierce tempest of my soul be concealed" " Let no one suspect!" " Lost, lost!" "And yet for ever adored like a heavenly being within my heart" "Come now with me Tears are of no avail" "Let no one suspect the fatal occurrence" "Lost, lost!" "And yet for ever adored within this heart" "They avoid me" "But I will have that meeting which I have asked of her" "Here is the book I have a second key" "What do I see?" " Leuthold!" " Am I wanted?" "I wanted Klopstock's "Messiah"" "Let us cheer!" "Let us gladden Stiffelio's sojourn!" "Let us cheer the return of the mighty orator" "May joy and peace reign here in harmony" "May love smile in truth and constancy, the love which he would spread amongst mankind, the love which makes equal the slave and the master" "Let us cheer, and to our hymn may the love which burns in every heart give back a cheerful echo" "Let us cheer the mighty orator" " You are late" " I shun the joys of this world" " Even these celebrations?" " I leave them to the profane for they hold perils and snares for a man's honour" " What are you saying?" " I tell you that at this very moment a gentleman furtively opened a book with a key and in it concealed a note" "A note?" "And he awaits a reply" "That book is the instrument of a guilty intrigue" "Oh, heavens!" "What do I hear?" "Who is the man?" " He is with Lina and he has the book" " Can it be true?" "It is Frengel!" "But how to uncover the mystery?" "Later" "Cousin, are you thinking of your sermon?" "This evening there will be a gathering at church We shall all come" " Yes, all of us" " What is your theme?" "Judas' base treachery" "Sublime, marvellous thought!" "A fearful example to all the wicked" "Not only on the villain who sold his Master" "but on all guilty of betrayal will you hear my curse fall :" "on him who enters by stealth, who astutely feigns," "who lies in wait, then defiles the sacred ties of hearth and home, who holds out his hand to the man he has deceived" "and in his infamy boasts of the honour he has robbed!" "His anathema shall be merely to read aloud" "the inspired verse of the great poet" " It is locked!" " Lina has the key" " Then open it" " What are you saying?" " I wish it" " I" "Open it, I repeat" "Your terror is useless" "Herein a vile betrayer stands condemned" "What dreadful thought possesses and troubles me!" "Some fatal mystery this book will bring to light" "Ah, what dreadful thought possesses and troubles me!" "Some fatal mystery this book will bring to light" "You will not?" "Then I shall do it" "A letter!" "Heavens!" "Stay your hand" "It is not for you to read that letter" "You shall not know who wrote it or to whom" "No matter, give it back to me I wish it!" "I am an old man" " Give it back!" " No" "Wretched man, who shall save you from the anger that burns within me?" "Already I am blind with fury I can no longer curb my wrath" "He is my father!" "Let your anger fall wholly upon me" "Already I am blind with fury I can no longer curb my wrath" "But, my lord, respect the snowy whiteness of that head" "Within the graveyard I shall presently await you" "You shall find weapons of your choice Traitor, I shall be there before you!" "Ah, why did some demon sow suspicion in Stiffelio's heart?" "Ah, you are rash indeed to proclaim me a traitor" "Oh, heaven!" "Where am I?" "What unknown force draws me hither?" "He will come!" "Here, where all is horror!" "On every tombstone I read my crime" "carved in fearful letters" "The murmuring of every breeze seems a voice of thunderous reproof" "Ah, this is the sacred tomb of my mother!" "She so pure!" "And I" "Mother!" "Mother, aid me in my sorrow" "Ah, from among the ethereal thrones, where, blessed, you take your seat," "turn to your daughter, look upon her misery!" "Offer up my tears at the throne of the Almighty" "and if the blessed have tears to shed then weep for me" "For your sake God will not withhold his forgiveness from me" "Lina Lina!" "For pity's sake speak softly My father is near" "Rodolfo has guessed He knows all" "He suspects only Federico to be guilty Your father has destroyed the proof" "And the eternal remorse which awaits you?" "He who serves love does not fear it" "I was taken by surprise" " I do not love you in my heart" " Cruel woman!" "Yet I will love you always" "Then prove it" "Give back my letters and my ring" "Then go at once Go, away with you!" "No, I shall stay here to defend you" " Ah, go, away with you!" " No, I shall stay" "Ah, then you wish to destroy this unhappy, betrayed wretch" "If you stay, my whole life will run its course in weeping" "Accursed man!" "Will you not depart from the woman whom happiness once blessed?" "She, whose misfortunes you have caused, may yet live to bless you" "I shall stay" "Then Rodolfo shall know all" "He shall know nothing" " Father!" " Leave us" "Ah, I read in your eyes" "Obey me" "Choose!" "A duel?" "Yes, and to the death" "But our chances are unequal" "You refuse?" "I shall insult you before the world" "I care nothing for your threats" "All praise to him who shows respect for age" "You are an infamous wretch, a base coward" "Do I still not rouse you to anger?" "Are you dead to all sense of honour?" "Sir, I am patient" "Death and fury!" "Then listen" " Enough!" " Yet hear me once more" "If so far my lips have proclaimed you vile and infamous to no purpose" "I can yet reveal to all who you are" " Stankar, enough!" " An adventurer who wraps his life in mystery" "Noble Count Raffaele, you are nothing but" "a foundling!" " Ah, a sword!" " Fortune be thanked!" " A sword!" "On guard!" " To the death!" "To the death!" "No demon, no god shall save you from my blows" "My anger will wipe away this vile shame with your blood!" "What noise is this?" "A duel!" "Put up your weapons!" "Stiffelio!" "It is you!" "Holy is the place which you profane" "You tread upon the dead beneath your feet" "Above you stands the Cross" "Come elsewhere!" "God will be there also" "Leave us One of us must die" "I can follow you wherever you go" "Say, do you forget to whom you speak?" "I now speak in the name of God" "Here it is your duty to listen to me" "Lay down your arms" "Let the offence be buried in oblivion" "Let brother forgive brother" "Never!" "You are the younger:" "you be the first" "Raffaele, give me your hand" "Oh, unheard of excess!" "To take the hand of him whom you have betrayed!" "Ah, betrayed!" " What have I said?" " Speak!" " No, leave me" " Finish, I pray you" " Here, the sound of arms" " Let the mystery be revealed" " Oh, heavens!" " Lina!" " At last I shall know the truth" "Forgive me, forgive me, Rodolfo!" "Forgive!" "So it was he!" "Müller!" "Ah!" "It was true!" "Ah, no!" "It cannot be!" "Tell me at least that it is a lie" "Speak some word" "Justify yourself for pity's sake!" "But you are silent!" "All doubt is removed!" "You shall be crushed beneath my feet!" "Ah, at last the thunderbolt has broken forth to roar about my head" "Pray to God With these tears your fate is already sealed" "I am ready" "And the life that is left me will be a slow death" "You are guilty of a crime that shall no longer go unavenged" " God, the Father of all in misery!" " Justify yourself for pity's sake!" "God, the Father of all in misery, do not withhold thy pity!" "Speak some word" "Justify yourself for pity's sake!" "But you are silent!" "All doubt is removed!" "You shall be crushed beneath my feet!" "Know that it is not she whom you should punish" "Ah, I see who is to blame!" "Honour bade you take up that sword to avenge me" " No more!" "Take up your weapon!" " Against you?" "I will not" " Defend yourself" " No, no" "Do you not hear a terrible cry arising from these tombs?" "Tremble, villain!" "The fatal hour of your chastisement has sounded!" "Do not punish me, O Lord, in thy anger" "Stiffelio?" "Or I shall dissolve as mist in the sun!" "What sounds are those?" " They are your brethren" " Have mercy upon me," " What do they want of me?" " have pity, Lord" "They beg for comfort" " Comfort, ah!" " Have mercy," " Return to your right mind - and I shall sing thy praises" "Anger and hellish fury consume my desperate being" "Calmly you would lay a chill hand upon my heart" "Ah, first cause the blood to cease boiling within my veins and virtue, which now languishes, will grow stronger within me" "Leave me!" "Leave me!" "My heart is all destroyed" "Do not punish me, O Lord, in thy anger" "Do you not hear?" "Or I shall dissolve as mist in the sun!" "Oh, cruel moment!" " Lift up your thoughts" " Have mercy upon me," " Remember who you are!" " have pity, Lord" " Ah, yes, I am a minister!" " And I will sing thy praises" "O God, inspire me to speak to them" "Of peace, of pardon" "Of pardon, never!" "The faithless woman, let her be accursed!" "Oh, heavens!" "Through this Cross the All-Righteous" "has forgiven mankind" "The Cross!" "Alas!" "I freeze!" "I die!" "Unhappy man!" "He has fled!" "And with this letter he tempts Lina to follow him!" "Villain!" "Thus he escapes my vengeance" "O sword of honour, which for so many years has graced the ancient warrior's side" "and in the hour of need has reaped for him a harvest of glory," "begone from me!" "I no longer deserve you" "I am dishonoured!" "Dishonoured!" "And what is life without honour?" "Shame" "Well then Let it be taken from me" "Yes, yes, one instant" "and it will all be over" "To leave everything!" "Stiffelio!" "My daughter!" "My erring daughter!" "What!" "A tear!" "A tear dims a soldier's eye!" "O sorrow, how great you are" "to wring tears from me!" "Lina, I thought that in you an angel brought me heavenly bliss," "a ray of purest love to warm the frost of my declining years" "Fool!" "I was dreaming" "Vanished is my life's happiness" "No tear of innocence shall I behold in dying, no" "Only dishonour shall walk behind my coffin" "Ah, let us make an end" "Farewell, Stiffelio" "A last farewell" " He will come here" " Who?" "You here?" "I am looking for Stiffelio" "He will see no one" "He will see me when he knows that I have overtaken Raffaele" "What are you saying?" "He will come in a little while" "Leuthold here!" "Leuthold will come here!" "Beneath this roof one of us shall die" "Oh, inexpressible joy that floods this heart of mine, too great is the throb of happiness that spreads throughout my being!" "I feel a rapt ecstasy that comes close to madness!" "Both voice and breath fail within me!" "Oh, inexpressible joy!" "Ah, vengeance, come quickly!" "For your sake I shall be born again" "Say to the brethren that in a little while I shall be in church" "Leave me" "He is coming" " You sent for me?" " Yes" " I foresee recriminations" " Not a word" "If you desire vengeance I shall not object" "I have but one question" "What is that?" "What would you do if Lina were free?" " What are you saying?" " I ask a question Answer me" "What you suppose is impossible" "Fritz!" "Advise Lina that I await her here" "And what is your purpose?" "To find which is dearer to you :" "a guilty freedom" "or the future of the woman you have destroyed" "In there you will hear all" "Heavens!" "This talk between us cannot be avoided before we separate" "What!" "Are you going away?" "Yes, this evening" "You!" "How is this?" "You shall hear" "Opposite are the paths" "that in future our lives will follow" "I shall live mine in resignation" "with my gaze fixed upon God" "You, close to the man of your heart," "will be able to redeem yourself from shame" "What are you saying?" "When we became man and wife" "I hid from you my true name" "because I was everywhere persecuted" "The marriage thus entered upon may be dissolved" "This deed will break it" "Heavens!" "A divorce?" "It is for you to sign it" "I have already signed" "Ah, Rodolfo, I knew that a fatal blow awaited me here!" "But at least I know myself to be deserving of reproof" "No, I find here only the horror of a most bitter contempt" "Crush me, kill me!" "I will die for love of you!" "Do you hope with these tears to blunt the edge of my grief?" "That your indelible shame might at length be buried in oblivion?" "That I could accept my dishonour with resignation?" "Ah, offences against honour last as long as life itself" "Give me the deed" "Give it to me!" " Will you sign?" " Yes" " What do I hear?" "You thought my tears to be a wile" "Now let all doubt be removed!" "Now both of us are free" "It is over between us" "Now it is possible" " Hear me!" " No more, lady!" "I wish it" "I turn not to the husband" "but to the man of holy zeal," "him who yet before the scaffold" "can open the gates of heaven to the wicked" "It is no longer your wife who supplicates" "It is the sinner who stands before you" "Leave me, leave me!" "Minister, minister, hear my confession!" "You!" "You!" "What am I to hear?" "All that Müller would not hear" "He proposed to me a pact" "which would have given me to another," "as though, once I had lost him," "I could ever have found peace" "As if at that price I should wish to redeem my lost honour" "As if I should wish to live on, banished from his heart" "Enough!" "Enough!" "To be another's!" "Ah, then you do not understand my love" "Love!" "What are you saying?" " I have always loved you" " Ah, what are you saying?" "I still love you as God is my witness" " But what of him?" " It was a betrayal" " He betrayed you?" " Yes" " Let him be killed I have the right" " Heavens!" " He is in there" " He is there no longer" " What?" " A murder?" " A duel?" " An expiation" "He who could have made known my dishonour is now dead" "Come to the temple of the Lord" "There you will find new strength" "Ah, yes Let us flee to the church Let us flee these evil portals on which man has left the stamp of crime and death!" "Let this dwelling remain an example to all seducers" "God has cursed it with the thunderbolt of infamy" "Ah, then upon this earth there is no comfort for my sorrow" "I shall never find forgiveness for my involuntary sin" "Merciful God, unlock the treasure of thy pity," "I beseech thee, with the beating of this heart which never sinned" " I trust in thee, Lord Take pity on me" " Do not punish me, Lord, in thy anger" " Do not deny me thy goodness - or I shall dissolve as mist in the sun!" "I have punished him who betrayed me in my honour, which is thy gift" " Lord, grant me thy pardon" " Have mercy, have pity upon me, Lord" " as thou granted it to repentant David" " Have mercy, and I will sing thy glory" "Stiffelio!" " Here I am" " I shall yet hear his voice!" " Have mercy!" " What woman is that?" "He has not recognized me!" "Remain here" "Have mercy!" "Lift up your soul" "All hopes rest in thee" " Have mercy!" " Heavens!" " What ails you?" " It is she!" " Remember where you are!" "Courage!" " Ah, yes!" "Have mercy!" "But my mind is confused and thought evades me" "Have mercy!" "Open the holy book The Lord will inspire you" " You have spoken rightly" " Take heart" "Have mercy!" "Then Jesus, turning to the assembled people," "pointed to the adulteress at his feet" " and said :" " Oh, heavens!" "Whichever among you is without sin" "let him cast the first stone" "What are you saying?" "And the woman" "The woman rose up forgiven" " What are you doing, Stiffelio?" " Almighty God!" "Forgiven, forgiven" "God has spoken it" "Forgiven!" "Forgiven!" "Forgiven!" "God has spoken it!"