ACT ONE
1.- Overture
Scene 1
(The Palace in Trachis, Thessaly. Dejanira, Lichas and Trachinians)
2. Accompagnato
LICHAS
See, with what sad dejection in her looks,
Indulging grief, the mournful princess sits.
She weeps from morning's dawn to shades of night,
From gloom of night to redd'ning blush of morn,
Uncertain of Alcides' destiny,
Disconsolate his absence she laments.
3. Air
LICHAS
No longer, fate, relentless frown,
Preserve, great Jove, the hero's life.
With glory's wreath his actions crown,
And oh, restore him to his mourning wife!
No longer, fate… (da capo)
4. Accompagnato
DEJANIRA
O Hercules! Why art thou absent from me?
Return, return, my hero, to my arms!
O gods, how racking are the pains of absence
To one who loves, who fondly loves, like me!
5. Air
DEJANIRA
The world, when day's career is run,
In darkness mourns the absent sun;
So I, deprived of that dear light
That warm'd my breast and cheer'd my sight,
Deplore in thickest gloom of grief
The absence of the valiant chief.
6. Recitative
LICHAS
Princess, be comforted, and hope the best!
A few revolving hours may bring him back,
Once more to bless your longing arms.
DEJANIRA
Ah no, impossible! He never will return.
LICHAS
Forbid it, Heav'n, and all ye guardian pow'rs
That watch o'er virtue, innocence and love!
Scene 2
(To Them Hyllus)
DEJANIRA
My son, dear image of thy absent sire!
What comfort bringst thou to thy mother's ear?
HYLLUS
Eager to know my father's destiny,
I bade the priests with solemn sacrifice
Explore the will of Heav'n. The altar smok'd,
The slaughter'd victim bled, when lo, around
The hallow'd walls a sudden glory blaz'd!
The priest acknowledg'd the auspicious omen,
And own'd the present god, when, in a moment,
The temple shook, the glory disappear'd,
And more than midnight darkness veil'd the place.
LICHAS
'Twas dreadful all!
HYLLUS
At length the sacred flamen,
Full of the deity, prophetic spoke:
7. Air
HYLLUS
«I feel, I feel the god, he swells my breast.
Before my eyes the future stands confest:
I see the valiant chief in death laid low,
And flames aspire from Oeta's lofty brow.»
8. Recitative
HYLLUS
He said; the sacred fury left his breast
And on the ground the fainting prophet fell.
DEJANIRA
Then I am lost. O dreadful oracle,
My griefs hang heavy on my tortur'd soul,
And soon will sink me to the realms of night!
There once again I shall behold my Hercules,
Or whirl the lance, or bend the stubborn bow,
Or to the listening ghosts his toils recount.
9. Air
DEJANIRA
There in myrtle shades reclin'd,
By streams that through Elysium wind,
In sweetest union we shall prove
Eternity of bliss and love.
10. Recitative
HYLLUS
Despair not, but let rising hope suspend
Excess of grief, 'till I have learn'd the certainty
Of my dear father's fate. Tomorrow's sun
Shall see your Hyllus bend his pious steps
To seek the hero through the travell'd globe.
If yet he lives, I will restore him to you,
Or perish in the search.
11. Air
HYLLUS
Where congeal'd the northern streams
Bound in icy fetters stand,
Where the sun's intenser beams
Scorch the burning Lybian sand,
By honour, love and duty led,
There with daring steps I'll tread.
12. CHORUS OF TRACHINIANS
O filial piety, O gen'rous love!
Go, youth inspir'd, thy virtue prove!
Immortal fame attends thee,
And pitying Heav'n befriends thee!
O filial piety… (da capo)
Scene 3
13. Recitative
LICHAS
Banish your fears! The noble Hercules
Lives, and from sacked Oechalia, which his arms
Have levell'd with the ground, returns a conqueror!
DEJANIRA
O joyful news, welcome as rising day
To the benighted world, or falling showers
To the parched earth! Ye lying omens, hence!
Hence, every anxious thought!
14. Air
DEJANIRA
Begone, my fears, fly hence, away,
Like clouds before the morning ray!
My hero found,
With laurels crown'd,
Heav'n relenting,
Fate consenting,
Springing joys my griefs control,
And rising transports swell my soul.
Begone, my fears… (da capo)
15. Recitative
LICHAS
A train of captives, red with honest wounds,
And low'ring on their chains, attend the conqueror.
But more to grace the pomp of victory,
The lovely Iole, Oechalia's princess,
With captive beauty swells the joyful triumph.
HYLLUS
My soul is mov'd for the unhappy princess,
And fain, methinks, I would unbind her chains;
But say, her father, haughty Eurytus?
LICHAS
He fell in single combat by the sword of Hercules.
DEJANIRA
No more, but haste, and wait thy lord's arrival!
(Exit Dejanira)
LICHAS
How soon is deepest grief exchanged for bliss!
16. Air
LICHAS
The smiling hours of joyful train
On silken pinions waft again
The moments of delight.
Returning pleasures banish woe,
As ebbing streams recruited flow,
And day succeeds to night.
The smiling hours… (da capo)
17. CHORUS OF TRACHINIANS
Let none despair; relief may come though late,
And Heav'n can snatch us from the verge of fate.
(Exeunt)
Scene 4
(A square before the PaIace. Iole and Oechalian virgins, led captive)
18. Recitative
IOLE
Ye faithful followers of the wretched Iole,
Your bonds sit heavier on me than my own.
Unhappy maids! My fate has dragg'd you down
Like some vast pile, that crushes with its fall
The neighb'ring domes, and spreads wide ruin round it.
FIRST OECHALIAN
You are our mistress still!
IOLE
Alas, Erastia,
Captivity, like the destroyer death,
Throws all distinctions down, and slaves are equal.
But if the gods relent, and give us back
To our lost liberty -- ah me! -- how soon
The flatt'rer hope is ready with his cordial!
Vain expectation! No, adieu for ever,
Ye smiling joys and innocent delights
Of youth and liberty! Oh, sad remembrance!
19. Air
IOLE
Daughter of gods, bright liberty!
With thee a thousand graces reign,
A thousand pleasures crowd thy train
And hail the loveliest deity.
But thou, alas, hast wing'd thy flight,
The graces that surround thy throne
And all the pleasures with thee gone,
Remov'd for ever from my sight.
Daughter of gods… (da capo)
20. Recitative
IOLE
But hark, the victor comes!
Scene 5
(To them Hercules and attendants)
21. March
22. Recitative
HERCULES
Thanks to the pow'rs above, but chief to thee,
Father of gods, from whose immortal loins
I drew my birth! Now my long toils are o'er,
And Juno's rage appeas'd. With pleasure now,
At rest, my various labours I review.
OechaIia's fall is added to my titles
And points the rising summit of my glory.
(Turning to Iole)
Fair princess, weep no more! Forget these bonds,
In Trachin you are free, as in Oechalia.
IOLE
Forgive me, generous victor, if a sigh
For my dear father, for my friends, my country,
Will have its way. I cannot yet forget
That such things were, and that I once enjoy'd them.
23. Air
IOLE
My father! Ah, methinks I see
The sword inflict the deadly wound:
He bleeds, he falls in agony,
Dying he bites the crimson ground.
Peaceful rest, dear parent shade,
Light the earth be on thee laid!
In thy daughter's pious mind
All thy virtues live enshrin'd.
(Exeunt Iole and Oechalians)
HERCULES
Now farewell, arms! From hence, the tide of time
Shall bear me gently down to mellow age.
From war to love I fly, my cares to lose
In gentle Dejanira's fond embrace.
25. Air
HERCULES
The god of battle quits the bloody field,
And useless hang the glitt'ring spear and shield,
While, all resign'd to conqu'ring beauty's charms,
He gives a Ioose to Iove in Cytherea's arms.
26. CHORUS OF TRACHINIANS
Crown with festal pomp the day,
Be mirth extravagantly gay.
Bid the grateful altars smoke,
Bid the maids the youths provoke
To join the dance, while music's voice
Tells aloud our rapt'rous joys!
