"MANFRED," SYMPHONY IN FOUR TABLEAUX: Op. 58
- Lento lugubre; andante
- Scherzo: Vivace con spirito
- Pastorale: Andante con moto
- Finale: Allegro con fuoco
This symphony is frankly programme-music. It is not listed among Tschaikowsky's symphonies—where, in order of composition and opus number, it would stand between the Fourth (Op. 36, 1876-78) and the Fifth (Op. 64, 1888). "Manfred, Symphony in Four Tableaux, after the Dramatic Poem by Byron," was composed in 1885. The score contains the following preface, printed in French and Russian:
"I. Manfred wanders in the Alps. Tortured by the fatal anguish of doubt, racked by remorse and despair, his soul is a prey to sufferings without a name. Neither the occult science, whose mysteries he has probed to the bottom, and by means of which the gloomy powers of hell are subject to him, nor anything in the world can give him the forgetfulness to which alone he aspires. The memory of the fair Astarte, whom he has loved and lost, eats his heart. Nothing can dispel the curse which weighs on Manfred's soul; and without cessation, without truce, he is abandoned to the tortures of the most atrocious despair.
"II. The Fairy of the Alps appears to Manfred beneath the rainbow of the waterfall.
"III. Pastorale. Simple, free, and peaceful life of the mountaineers.
"IV. The underground palace of Arimanes. Manfred appears in the midst of a bacchanal. Invocation of the ghost of Astarte. She foretells him the end of his earthly woes. Manfred's death."[175]
I
(Lento lugubre; andante)
Manfred's despair and anguish, his inextinguishable longing and remorse, his fruitless quest after forgetfulness, form the emotional and dramatic burden of this movement. Manfred's theme is heard at the beginning—a sombre and tragic motive for bassoons and bass clarinet. There are also musical symbols for his passionate appeal for oblivion, for his occult powers, and for the thought of Astarte. "The movement should not be considered as panoramic in any sense. There is no attempt to depict any special scene, to translate into music any particular soliloquy. It is the soul of Manfred that the composer wishes to portray."
II
(Scherzo: Vivace con spirito)
This movement was suggested by the second scene of act two of Byron's drama, in which Manfred, beside the cataract, evokes the Witch of the Alps, tells her of Astarte and of his own remorse and longing, and—although she intimates that she may help him—rejects her aid; for he is not willing to swear obedience to her will. "As the scene in the poem may be regarded as a picturesque episode—for the incantation is fruitless and only one of many—so the music is a relief after the tumultuous passion and raging despair of the first movement. The vision of the dashing, glistening cataract continues until, with note of triangle and chord of harp, the rainbow is revealed." To the accompaniment of mysterious and ethereal harp tones Manfred conjures up the witch, "who rises beneath the arch of the sunbow of the torrent." Her song is suggested (violins and harps). There is a poignant reminiscence of Manfred's despair. "The glory of the cataract is once more seen. It pales as the theme of despair is heard again."
III
(Pastorale: Andante con moto)
This scene is general in its suggestiveness; it has no definite connection with any particular scene in Byron's poem. The opening is idyllic, but the mood of the music is soon altered. Again we are reminded of Manfred's unalterable woe. Perhaps Tschaikowsky had in mind here a tense passage in the scene between Manfred and the Chamois-Hunter (Act II., Scene I.):
"MANFRED. Think'st thou existence doth depend on time?
It doth; but actions are our epochs: mine
Have made my days and nights imperishable,
Endless, and all alike, as sands on the shore,
Innumerable atoms; and one desert,
Barren and cold, on which the wild waves break,
But nothing rests, save carcasses and wrecks,
Rocks, and the salt-surf weeds of bitterness.
"CHAMOIS-HUNTER. Alas! he's mad—but yet I must not leave him.
"MANFRED. I would I were—for then the things I see
Would be but a distempered dream.
"CHAMOIS-HUNTER. What is it?
That thou dost see, or think thou look'st upon?
"MANFRED. Myself, and thee—a peasant of the Alps—
Thy humble virtues, hospitable home,
And spirit patient, pious, proud, and free;
Thy self-respect, ingrained on innocent thoughts;
"This do I see—and then I look within—
It matters not—my soul was scorch'd already!"
IV
(Finale: Allegro con fuoco)
This bacchanal in the underground palace of Arimanes is Tschaikowsky's own invention; there is no bacchanal, or suggestion of one, in the corresponding scene in Byron's poem, where Arimanes, seated on his throne of fire, is surrounded by spirits, who praise him in a worshipful hymn.
At the climax of the music's wild revelling the motive of despair is recalled; the music becomes uncanny, mysterious; we hear the theme of Manfred. Nemesis, who has entered the hall together with the Destinies, invokes the wraith of Astarte:
"MANFRED. Can this be death? there's bloom upon her cheek;
But now I see it is no living hue,
But a strange hectic—like the unnatural red
Which Autumn plants upon the perish'd leaf.
It is the same! O God! that I should dread
To look upon the same—Astarte!—No,
I cannot speak to her—but bid her speak—
Forgive me or condemn me.
"PHANTOM OF ASTARTE. Manfred!
"MANFRED. Say on, say on—
I live but in the sound—it is thy voice!
"PHANTOM. Manfred! To-morrow ends thine earthly ills. Farewell!
"MANFRED. Yet one word more—am I forgiven?
"PHANTOM. Farewell!
"MANFRED. Say, shall we meet again?
"PHANTOM. Farewell!
"MANFRED. One word for mercy! Say thou lovest me.
"PHANTOM. Manfred!"
[The Spirit of ASTARTE disappears.]
"NEMESIS. She's gone, and will not be recall'd;
Her words will be fulfill'd. Return to the earth.
"A SPIRIT. He is convulsed.—This is to be a mortal,
And seek the things beyond mortality."
The music rises to a momentous and tragic climax. Manfred's death scene is brought before us. We are in the tower of his castle. Night approaches. The importunate demons have disappeared. Manfred and the Abbot are alone (Act III., Scene IV.):
"THE ABBOT. Alas! how pale thou art—thy lips are white—
And thy breast heaves—and in thy gasping throat
The accents rattle. Give thy prayers to Heaven—
Pray—albeit but in thought—but die not thus.
"MANFRED. 'Tis over—my dull eyes can fix thee not;
But all things swim around me, and the earth
Heaves as it were beneath me. Fare thee well—
Give me thy hand.
"ABBOT. Cold—cold—even to the heart;
But yet one prayer. Alas! how fares it with thee?
"MANFRED. Old man! 'tis not so difficult to die."
[MANFRED expires.]
"ABBOT. He's gone—his soul hath ta'en his earthless flight.
Whither? I dread to think; but he is gone."