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Passion
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY STEPHEN SONDHEIM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
HAPPINESS
FIRST LETTER
SECOND LETTER
THIRD LETTER
FOURTH LETTERI READ
TRANSITION
GARDEN SEQUENCE
TRANSITION
TRIO
HAPPINESS
GIORGIO and Clara's room. Drums. Lights slowly illuminate a bed with two figures
who are making love on it. The man (Giorgio) is astride the woman (Clara).
Drums crescendo to a climax as GIORGIO emits a soundless cry of orgasm, the
orchestra substituting for his voice as the drums cease. Music continues,
murmuring underneath as GIORGIO shudders a couple of times and falls into
Clara's arms. A moment, as he lies back.
CLARA
I'm so happy,
I'm afraid I'll die
Here in your arms
What would you do
If I died
Like this -
(She languishes across him)
Right now,
Here in your arms?
That we ever should have met
Is a miracle
GIORGIO
No, inevitable -
CLARA
Then inevitable, yes,
But I confess
It was the look --
GIORGIO
The look?
CLARA
The sadness in your eyes
That day
When we glanced
At each other in the park
GIORGIO
We were both unhappy
CLARA
Unhappiness can be seductive
GIORGIO
You pitied me...
BOTH
How quickly pity leads to love
CLARA
All this happiness
Merely from a glance
In the park.
So much happiness
So much love --
GIORGIO
I thought I knew what love was
CLARA
I wish we might have met so much sooner
I could have given you --
GIORGIO
I thought I knew what love was
CLARA
-- My youth
GIORGIO
I thought I knew how much I could feel
CLARA
All the time we lost...
GIORGIO
I didn't know what love was.
CLARA
I've never known what love was.
GIORGIO
But now --
CLARA
And now --
BOTH
-- I do.
It's what I feel with you.
The happiness I feel with you.
CLARA
So much happiness --
GIORGIO
You are so beautiful...
CLARA
-- Happiness by chance in a park.
GIORGIO
Not by chance,
By necessity --
CLARA
Surely, this is happiness -
GIORGIO
- by the sadness that we saw in each other.
CLARA
- no one else has ever felt before!
BOTH
Just another love story,
That's what they would claim.
Another simple love story -
Aren't all of them the same?
CLARA
No, but this is more,
we feel more!
BOTH
This is so much more!
(Smiling at each other)
Like every other love story.
Some say happiness
comes and goes.
then this happiness
is a kind of happiness
No one really knows.
GIORGIO
I thought I knew what love was.
CLARA
I'd only heard what love was.
GIORGIO
I thought it was no more than a name for yearning.
CLARA
I thought it was what kindness became.
GIORGIO
I'm learning -
CLARA
I thought where there was love there was shame.
GIORGIO
- that with you -
CLARA
But with you -
BOTH
- there's just happiness.
CLARA
Endless happiness ...
(Music continues underneath as they lie silently next to each other for a long
moment)
(spoken) What?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Not now ...
CLARA
(spoken) Tell me ... please.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I received my orders from headquarters. I've been transferred to the
Fourth Brigade.
CLARA (sad)
(spoken) When?
GIORGIO
(spoken) I leave in five days.
(CLARA takes this news in, then slowly reaches for her chemise)
(spoken) Clara, don't look so sad.
CLARA
(spoken) You're the one that makes me happy.
GIORGIO
(spoken) We'll make the most of the next four days. I'll steal as much time as I
can. Then after I leave, we'll write to each other ever day. We'll make love
with our words. You'll be with me ever day, Clara.
(She starts to dress while GIORGIO watches her)
CLARA
(spoken) I must go. I'm expected.
GIORGIO
(sung) God, you are so beautiful.
I love to see you in the light,
Clear and beautiful, memorize
Every inch,
every part of you
to take with me.
CLARA
(spoken) Giorgio...
GIORGIO
(sung) Your feet so soft,
As if they'd never touched the ground.
CLARA
(spoken) I must go ...
GIORGIO
(sung) Your skin so white, so pure, so delicate.
Your smell so sweet, your breathe so warm.
I will summon you in my mind,
I'm painting you indelibly on my mind.
CLARA
(sung) Let me go ...
GIORGIO
We must fill every moment.
CLARA
All this happiness ended by a word in the dark.
GIORGIO
Oh my love, oh my darling ...
CLARA
So much happiness wasn't meant to last.
GIORGIO
I am here,
I am with you
I am yours.
CLARA
I never knew what love was.
GIORGIO
Your skin,
your silken hair ...
CLARA
I always thought I didn't deserve it.
GIORGIO
Your breasts, your lips ...
CLARA
I didn't know what love was. GIORGIO
I want you every minute of my life ...
CLARA
I don't know how I'll live when you're gone!
GIORGIO
I will always be here.
CLARA
I don't know how I'll live ...
Giorgio ...
Don't leave me ...
(As they move away from each other, military drums join the orchestra, quietly
at first, then building in intensity to a climax. This time the drums drown the
orchestra, and we segue into a military formation, which takes us into the
Officers' mess hall)
Around the table sit: COLONEL Ricci, a rather taut gentleman, who carries the
weight of his position with authority and ease; Lieutenant Torasso, a man often
given to laughter and opera singing; Major Rizzoli, a sober, straight-arrow
type; Lieutenant Barri, a veterinarian with a love of gambling and not much
else; and DOCTOR Tambourri, a somewhat aloof and distinguished older officer.
As the lights bump up, a Cook (Sergeant Lomabardi) is overseeing the serving of
the meal. Torasso breaks into an aria from "Rigoletto" while the others talk
amongst themselves, ignoring him. After a beat:
COLONEL
(having had enough) (spoken) Thank you Lieutenant.
(TORASSO stops singing)
DOCTOR
(spoken) How was "Rigoletto"?
TORASSO
(spoken) Terrible. These touring companies get no better.
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Nor do you.
TORASSO
(spoken) I sing to lighten the weight of your cooking.
BARRI
(spoken) (examining his plate) Sergeant, what is this?
LOMBARDI
(spoken) It's veal.
BARRI
(spoken) Again? We had veal four days ago. And from the looks of it, it was this
veal.
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Lieutenant Barri, if I hear -
(They are suddenly interrupted by a woman's distant scream upstairs. They pause
momentarily before resuming their conversation, as if nothing unusual had
occurred)
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Colonel, I've heard a rumor that the King is about to sign a treaty
with the French.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Really?
COLONEL
(spoken) I've heard no such rumor, Major.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Where did you come by this information?
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) (uncomfortable) In town.
COLONEL
(spoken) You can't believe everything you hear in a whorehouse.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) (serious) That is where Garibaldi got much of his information, sir.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Ah, so that's why you go there!
(GIORGIO enters)
COLONEL
(spoken) Ah, Captain Bachetti. Welcome. We wondered when you were going to
arrive. May I introduce Doctor Tambourri, Major Rizzolli ...
TORASSO
(spoken) Lieutenant Torasso.
BARRI
(spoken) Lieutenant Barri.
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Sergeant LOMBARDI
BARRI
(spoken) Our cook.
COLONEL
(spoken) Come. Come and join us.
(GIORGIO hands a letter to Augenti.)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Could you post this one for me?
(GIORGIO sits; to his right remains an unoccupied chair and place setting)
LOMBARDI
(spoken) You'll have to excuse our rather limited menu, Captain. It's difficult
to grow vegetables in this mountain soil.
DOCTOR
(spoken) We're a bit isolated here, Captain. Not only from anything green and
edible, but also from life and ideas.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) I just add vinegar to everything
TORASSO
(spoken) Captain Bachetti, the COLONEL has been telling us of your triumphs
pinning down the Russian infantry.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'm not sure that my actions worried your attention.
TORASSO
(spoken) Come, come. Didn't you rescue a wounded man in the midst of fire and
then carry him on your horse to camp?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Only to our battalion.
BARRI
(spoken) Say you brought him back to camp! Why settle for being half a hero when
full-fledged is just a white lie away?
(The lights suddenly bump up; music under, agitated. CLARA enters to the side of
the stage, singing from a letter she holds.)
FIRST LETTER
CLARA
Clara ...
GIORGIO
Clara ...
I cried.
CLARA
I cried.
BOTH
Imagine that, a soldier who cries.
CLARA
I had to hide my eyes, so the others on the train
That carried me away from you would think I was asleep.
(A piano sounds offstage)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Music?
DOCTOR
(spoken) That's Signora Fosca playing.
COLONEL
(spoken) My cousin. I have no family and neither does she. She is in such poor
health, it's a continual worry.
DOCTOR
(spoken) That's her place setting, but she stays in her room most days. Perhaps
soon she'll be well enough to join us for a meal.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) She eats like a sparrow.
(TORASSO lets out an involuntary laugh, which is immediately stopped by a cold
stare from the Colonel)
TORASSO
(spoken) (sober) My apologies, sir.
(spoken) The comparison has struck me as funny. A sparrow seems to eat more than
Signora Fosca. A pity it is ...
COLONEL (to Giorgio)
(spoken) My cousin loves to read - it's her only passion, really. I can't find
enough books for her.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I also love reading. I've brought a few of my favorite books down.
Perhaps I could lend them to Signora Fosca, though I can't promise they will
appeal to her.
COLONEL
(spoken) Young man, she's been driven to reading military handbooks. I've no
doubt she will welcome anything in print.
(Private AUGENTI enters and delivers a few letters, one of which goes to
Giorgio)
AUGENTI
(spoken) Post arrived!
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Hand it round Augenti.
(spoken) (surprised) Nothing for me again? It's been two weeks.
AUGENTI
(spoken) It smells to me as if Captain Bachetti has a letter from an admirer.
(Music under; the lights bump up. CLARA reappears)
SECOND LETTER
CLARA
Giorgio ...
I, too, have cried inside.
BOTH
You must not be ashamed of your tears.
CLARA
I love you for your tears.
BOTH
Your absence only makes my love grow stronger.
And when I cannot bear it any longer -
(We hear another scream come from upstairs. Music stops as GIORGIO rises,
concerned; the others continue to eat, unfazed.)
COLONEL
(spoken) Don't be alarmed. It's my cousin. I am so accustomed to her outbursts
that I forget how unsettling they must be to a newcomer. My apologies for not
warning you.
DOCTOR
(spoken) She's not been having a good day. And a doctor is always expected to
help hurt, even when there is nothing one can possibly do.
TORASSO
(spoken) More lamb please.
DOCTOR (to Lombardi)
(spoken) I've noticed you finally managed to track down some tarragon.
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Yes, I'm glad you approved ...
(Another scream; the COLONEL looks to the Doctor)
COLONEL
(spoken) Doctor.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Excuse me.
(He wearily rises and crosses to the stairs, which he climbs.)
BARRI
(spoken) Sergeant, are there any more carrots?
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Seconds for you, Lieutenant? Can I take that as a compliment?
BARRI
(spoken) No, Sergeant, they're for my horses
(Laughter. TORASSO gives GIORGIO a slap on the back. GIORGIO is not amused.)
COLONEL
(spoken) In time, Captain Bachetti, you too will get used to life amongst us.
(Snare drums; everyone gets up. CLARA enters while the soldiers form to a march.
CLARA sings from another letter, accompanied chiefly by drums and sporadic bugle
calls)
THIRD LETTER
CLARA
Clara, I'm in hell,
GIORGIO
This is hell,
SOLDIERS
Living hell.
CLARA
Living hell.
This godforsaken place -
SOLDIERS
This godforsaken place -
CLARA
This sterile little town, these pompous little men,
GIORGIO
This military madness ...
SOLDIERS
This military madness ...
This military ...
ALL
Uniforms, uniforms ...
GIORGIO
Military madness ...
SOLDIERS
Military madness ...
CLARA AND GIORGIO
My days are spent in maneuvers ...
SOLDIERS
Uniforms, uniforms
CLARA AND GIORGIO
My evenings in discussing the day -
SOLDIERS
This is hell --
CLARA
My nights are spent in thinking of you.
GIORGIO
Don't forget me, CLARA ...
(CLARA exits as the Soldiers march off and the DOCTOR enters)
DOCTOR
(spoken) Good afternoon, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Doctor.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Your troops seem to be responding well to your command.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Thank you, sir.
DOCTOR
(spoken) How are you enjoying your new post?
GIORGIO
(spoken) (polite) I find everyone most hospitable.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Good. Your company at meals has certainly been a welcome change for me.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Thank you.
DOCTOR
(spoken) I trust the occasional outburst from Colonel Ricci's cousin hasn't
unsettled you today.
GIORGIO
(spoken) No. What exactly is wrong with her?
DOCTOR
(spoken) She is a kind of medical phenomenon, a walking collection of all
possible illnesses. Her diseases are beyond science ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) The screams?
DOCTOR
(spoken) Hysterical convulsions. One might say that her nerve endings are
exposed, where ours are protected by a firm layer of skin.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Is she in danger of succumbing to this illness?
DOCTOR
(spoken) I don't believe so. Her body is so weak, it doesn't have the strength
to produce a mortal disease.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I don't understand
DOCTOR
(spoken) The weak protect themselves. The defensive soldier often lives longer
than the brave one.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Is she young?
DOCTOR
(spoken) Late twenties, I would venture.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Pretty?
DOCTOR
(spoken) That you must decide for yourself.
GIORGIO
(spoken) You don't suppose that she's the Colonel's lover, do you?
DOCTOR
(spoken) Captain Bachetti, it's good to see you enjoy an occasional bit of
gossip.
(GIORGIO is immediately embarrassed)
(spoken) No need for discomfort, Captain. We're all human. Your curiosity is
understandable. No, I'm afraid Signora Fosca's physical state prevents her from
being anyone's lover. Good day.
(He moves off; bugle calls)
GIORGIO
Clara, don't forget me.
Keep me close to you, CLARA ...
(We segue back to the Colonel's dining room; it is morning. RIZZOLLI and BARRI
are finishing their breakfast as GIORGIO joins them and sits.)
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Late for breakfast, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I decided to accompany my troops at their morning drill. Before their
weekly maneuvers.
BARRI
(spoken) You're a better officer than I am. I let my sergeant oversee the
morning drill.
LOMBARDI
(Clearing Fosca's place setting)
(spoken) Well, it looks as if Signora Fosca has disappointed us once again.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Why keep setting her place?
(Bugle call)
BARRI
(spoken) (rises) Captain Bachetti, I'm afraid you'll have to take breakfast
alone.
GIORGIO
(spoken) We still have dinner to share, gentlemen.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Indeed.
BARRI
(spoken) Any chance we might interest you in a game of cards tonight?
GIORGIO
(spoken) No. I'm not a gambling man.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) The boredom of this place will make a gambler of you yet.
BARRI
(spoken) Good day, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Gentlemen ...
(RIZZOLLI and BARRI exit. GIORGIO takes out a letter, which he begins to read.
CLARA enters. A shadowy figure - FOSCA - appears at the top of the stairs and
begins slowly descending)
FOURTH LETTER
CLARA
Yesterday I walked through the park
To the place where we met.
Afterwards I sat on the bench
Where we sat all that sultry afternoon.
I thought about our room, our secret room
Where we were happy
And where we shall be happy again
Some day.
I see us in our room, our secret room,
And I don't feel so alone any more ...
(Against her song, the Chopinesque piano music which we heard before begins to
play)
I close my eyes, imagining that you are there,
Imagining your fingers touching mine,
Imagining our room,
The bed, the secrecy, the world outside,
Your mouth on mine ...
(FOSCA descends the last step. She carries some books and approaches her empty
place setting with an uncertain gait. As she turns from the shadows, revealing
herself, we discover that she is an ugly, sickly woman: incredibly thin and
sallow, her face all bones and nose, her hair pulled tightly back. Music holds)
FOSCA
Captain ...
(GIORGIO sees her and is momentarily stunned. CLARA exits. FOSCA gives a
nervous, grotesque smile as the orchestra resumes, playing the piano music.
GIORGIO quickly rises. FOSCA speaks, in rhythm to the music; her voice is lovely
and elegant, but melancholy)
I READ
FOSCA
(spoken) I hope I didn't startle you.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Not at all. Signora Ricci, I'm Captain Bachetti -
FOSCA
(spoken) (simultaneously) - Bachetti.
I know. My cousin has told me all about you.
(sung) I came to thank you for the books.
I would have sooner, but I've been so ill.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Well, now you seem to be feeling more normal.
FOSCA
(spoken) Normal? I hardly think so. Sickness is normal to me as health is to
you. Excuse me. I shouldn't speak of my troubles. I have been going through a
period of deep melancholy. I so enjoyed the novel by Rousseau.
(There is an awkward moment of silence as Adriana enters and pours FOSCA a cup
of coffee. As she leaves, the music becomes low and intense.)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes, it's wonderful. It's my favorite, really.
FOSCA
(spoken) The character of Julie is a great mystery.
GIORGIO
(spoken) You should have kept the book longer to meditate over.
FOSCA
(sung) I do not read to think.
I do not read to learn.
I do not read to search for truth
I know the truth, the truth is hardly what I need.
I read to dream.
I read to live.
In other people's lives.
I read about the joys, the world
Dispenses to the fortunate,
And listen for the echoes.
(Fiercely)
I read to live,
To get away from life!
(Calmer)
No, captain, I have no illusions.
I recognize the limits of my dreams.
I know how painful dreams can be
Unless you know they're merely dreams.
(Smiling acridly)
There is a flower which offers nectar at the top,
Delicious nectar at the top and bitter poison underneath.
The butterfly that stays too long and drinks too deep
Is doomed to die.
I read to fly, to skim -
I do not read to swim.
(Bitterly)
I do not dwell on dreams.
I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation
How can I have expectations?
Look at me
No, captain, look at me -
Look at me!
(Exalted)
I do not hope for what I cannot have!
I do not cling to things I cannot keep!
(Tightly)
The more you cling to things, the more you love them,
The more the pain you suffer when they're taken from you ...
(Calming down again)
Ah, but if you have no expectations,
You can never have a disappointment.
(Gives a short laugh; music continues under)
(spoken) Forgive me. I must be mad to chatter on about myself like this to you.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I assure you -
FOSCA
(spoken) No, forgive me, please ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) But truly, there is nothing to forgive -
FOSCA
(sung) Have you explored the town?
It is remote, isn't it?
And provincial, don't you think?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
FOSCA
(sung) And everything so brown:
The streets, the fields, the river even,
Though there are some lovely gardens.
(spoken) You do like gardens, I hope?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
FOSCA
Good, I can show you gardens.
And then of course there is the castle.
(spoken) The ruined castle.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Ah.
FOSCA
(spoken) I find it lovely. Probably because it's ruined, I suppose.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I didn't know there was a castle.
FOSCA
(sung) I like to take excursions there -
When I'm in better health.
Perhaps you join me and my cousin
One day ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) That would be delightful. I don't believe I've seen a flower or a
garden since the day I arrived.
(FOSCA suddenly gets up and slowly leaves the room. Confused, GIORGIO rises and,
after she has gone, takes his books and begins to leave. We hear the distant
sound of field drums, muffled, funereal. Fosca, just as unexpectedly, returns,
carrying a small bunch of flowers, which she offers to GIORGIO without a word)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Thank you. How delightful.
FOSCA
(spoken) (Crossing to the window) I'm surprised you haven't seen our wonderful
greenhouse.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Greenhouse?
FOSCA
(spoken) Yes, we haven't had much luck with the vegetables this year. But the
gardenias and petunias are magnificent.
(GIORGIO joins her at the window, as the drums become louder.)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Oh look. There's a funeral procession. I suppose they come here for
flowers to adorn the casket.
(FOSCA stiffens and steps back, drawing her hand to her mouth, her eyes staring)
(spoken) It's good to know that the dead here -
(FOSCA begins to tremble)
(spoken) Signora?
(FOSCA lets out a terrible cry and collapses on the floor. GIORGIO bends over
her.)
(spoken) Doctor! DOCTOR! Help!
(Two female attendants and the DOCTOR rush in and reach her. GIORGIO steps back,
staring helplessly as they carry her off)
TRANSITION
GIORGIO
How can I describe her?
The wretchedness,
God, the wretchedness
And the suffering, the desperation
Of that poor unhappy creature -
The embarrassment, Clara.
Looking at that loneliness,
Listening to all that self-pity ...
(Another formation of Soldiers takes us to the Garden)
SOLDIERS
The town -
It is remote, isn't it?
And provincial, don't you think?
And everything so brown:
The streets, the fields, the river even.
Of course there is the castle,
The ruined castle ...
GARDEN SEQUENCE
(The castle garden: The Colonel, the DOCTOR and FOSCA enter and stroll through
the garden down to Giorgio; music continues underneath. )
DOCTOR
(spoken) Ah, look at how they've let this garden go.
COLONEL
(spoken) This is not Milan, Doctor.
DOCTOR
(spoken) I'm all too well aware of that.
FOSCA
(spoken) I think it's rather beautiful.
DOCTOR
(spoken) For these parts, maybe ...
COLONEL
(spoken) Doctor, may I have a word with you?
DOCTOR
(spoken) Certainly.
COLONEL
(spoken) Captain Bachetti, would you lend my cousin your arm? I wish to have a
word with the Doctor.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Of course.
FOSCA
(spoken) I do know how to walk. My cousin treats me like I'm a child.
GIORGIO
All the while as we strolled,
Clara --
FOSCA
(spoken) I hope I didn't frighten you the other day.
GIORGIO
(spoken) No, not at all.
(sung) I could see you reading my letter.
All the while as we strolled -
FOSCA
(spoken) I'm not afraid of death. I rather think I'd welcome dying. It's
everything that follows that I dread: being shut up in a coffin, smothered in
the earth, turning into dust. These images send me into a state of terror.
GIORGIO
-- All I saw,
-- All I knew.
All that I could think of was you.
(CLARA enters, reading a letter)
FOSCA
Even talking of this makes me ...
(Momentarily, GIORGIO fears she will suffer another attack)
GIORGIO
(spoken) Surely if you are ill, there is every hope you will get better.
CLARA
All that I could think of was you
FOSCA
(spoken) Hope in my case is in rather short supply.
CLARA
How ridiculous -
GIORGIO
(spoken) Well, then one must look to life for whatever pleasures it can offer.
FOSCA
(spoken) And what might they be?
CLARA
To be looking at her
GIORGIO
(spoken) Helping others, for example.
FOSCA
(spoken) Helping others!
CLARA
And be thinking of you.
FOSCA
(spoken) I have worked in poorhouses, Captain.
CLARA
How could anyone
FOSCA
(spoken) I felt no different.
CLARA
So unbeautiful
FOSCA
(spoken) Pity is nothing but passive love.
CLARA
Stir my memory of you?
FOSCA
(spoken) Dead love.
CLARA
To feel a woman's touch
To touch a woman's hand,
Reminded me how much I long to be with you,
How long I've been without you near
And then to hear a woman's voice
To hold a woman's arm
To feel a woman's touch ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) These thoughts are bad for you. You must concentrate on everything
around you that suggests life. These trees, these flowers, the warm smell of the
air -
FOSCA
(spoken) You make it sound so simple Captain. As if a flower or a tree could
somehow make one happy.
CLARA
Perhaps it was the dress, the fragrance of her dress,
The light perfume of silk
That's warm from being in the sun
That mingles with a woman's own perfume
The fragrance of a woman ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) There is no absolute happiness in anyone's life, Signora. The only
happiness we can be certain of is love.
CLARA
The garden filled with you -
FOSCA
(spoken) Are you speaking of friendship? That kind -
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'm speaking of a superior kind of love -
CLARA
And all that I could do, because of you,
GIORGIO
(spoken) The kind between two people.
CLARA
Was talk of love -
FOSCA
(spoken) Two people ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
(GIORGIO sings to FOSCA as CLARA continues to sing the letter)
CLARA AND GIORGIO
- Love that fills every waking moment,
Love that grows every single day,
Love that thinks everything is pure,
Everything is beautiful
Everything is possible
CLARA
Love that fuses two into one,
Where we think the same thoughts,
Love the same things
Live as one.
Feel as one.
Breathe as one
Love that shuts away the world
That envelops my soul,
That ennobles my life GIORGIO
Love that fuses two into one,
Where you think the same thoughts,
Want the same things
Live as one.
Feel as one.
Breathe as one
Love that shuts away the world
That envelops your soul,
Your life
BOTH
Love that floods
Every living moment,
Love like -
CLARA
- ours
FOSCA
(spoken) Love like -?
GIORGIO
- like wine.
An intoxication.
(spoken) A great blindness, if you will.
FOSCA
(spoken) Yes, I have read about that kind of love. But you speak as one who
lives it.
(Music stops. She stumbles slightly; GIORGIO goes to aid her, but she pulls
herself away)
(spoken) I don't feel well. I must go home.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'm sorry
FOSCA
(spoken) You can be incredibly cruel, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Cruel?
FOSCA
To speak to me of love -
To dangle words like
"Happiness"
"Beautiful"