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!"