The Tale of Genji

 

 

Libretto by COLIN GRAHAM

based on the books by Lady Murasaki Shikibu

for an opera in two acts by MINORU MIKI

 

Commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to commemorate the 25th Season, with support from the Driscoll Fund for Contemporary Opera

 

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Two Notes

 

Lady Murasaki Shikibu is thought to have written The Tale of Genji over a long period c.1000 A.D. It was written in installments and this perhaps accounts for the extremely episodic form of the novel which comprises six "books" (in fifty-four chapters) of which only the first four involve Genji himself. The last two concern the story of his various offspring and how they achieve the glory that was denied him in his lifetime. The opera is based only upon these first four books: forty chapters in total of which the first seventeen contain the meat of our story. It concerns Genji's development from boy to man, from the anguished youth, deprived of his mother as a child, to the responsible adult and his realization that it is his obsession that drives everyone - Fujitsubo, Murasaki, Rokujo, Aoi and himself - to "the sadness of things".

 

Mono no aware ¹

 

In The Tale of Genji the most important of all virtues, the aristocratic touchstone by which men and women at Court were ultimately measured, was essentially their sensitivity to the inherent pathos of things, especially in the traditional arts.

 

This aesthetic, known as mono-no-aware, is as difficult a term to translate as can be found. It has been variously defined:

 

"...a word frequently used in The Tale of Genji and other classical literature. Among its wide range of meanings are 'pathetic', 'moving', 'beautiful'. The phrase mono-no-aware corresponds to lacrimae rerum, 'the pity of things', which is often taken to to be the underlying theme of Murasaki's novel."²

 

"...an ejaculation of vague and undefined sadness."³

 

"...an emotional awareness. Aware has a long history, from its origins in an exclamation of admiration, surprise or delight, to its modern meaning of 'misery'. In the Heian Period its most characteristic use was to express a feeling of gentle, sorrow-tinged appreciation of transitory beauty."⁴ 

 

1. From the Tale of Genji: A Reader's Guide by William J. Puette, Charles E. Tuttle Company 1983

2. Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince, Alfred A. Knopf, 1964

3. Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji, tr. Edward Seidensticker, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.

4. Murasaki Shikibu, The Izumi Shikibu Diary, tr. Edward Cranston, Harvard University Press, 1969

 

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The Characters

 

The Old Emperor and The Recluse of Akashi* (Bass)

Prince Genji, the Shining One (Baritone)

To-no-Chujo, his closest friend (Tenor)

Suzaku, the Crown Prince (Baritone)

Koremitsu, Genji's servant (Baritone)

Fujitsubo, the Emperor's favorite wife and Murasaki* (Soprano)

The Lady Rokujo, Genji's first love and The Lady of Akashi* (Soprano)

Kokiden, mother of the Crown Prince and Shonagon, Murasaki's foster-mother (Mezzo-soprano)

Aoi, Genji's wife (Mezzo-soprano)

The Boy Genji (Mute)

The Boy Suzaku (Mute)

Ryozen, officially the Emperor's son, actually the son of Fujitsubo and Genji (Mute)

Chorus of Courtiers etc S.A.T.B.

 

* These roles must be doubled

 

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Synopsis

 

 

Act One

 

Scene 1 : The Old Emperor - the Paulownia Court

 

During a court festivity the OLD EMPEROR introduces the characters of the story, among them his favorite son, Prince GENJI, known from his childhood as "the Shining One", and the women in Genji's life: FUJITSUBO (The Emperor's favorite wife), the Lady ROKUJO (Genji's first affaire-du-coeur) and AOI, who has been his wife since they were joined as children in an official and loveless marriage.

 

Since his mother was an "unofficial wife" of the Emperor, Genji cannot succeed to the throne, much as his father would like it. He becomes notorious for his many affairs with women in each of whom he is driven to find the image of his late mother. His son by Fujitsubo (the woman who most resembles his mother and for whom he deserted the bitterly jealous Rokujo) has been accepted by the apparently ignorant Emperor as his own child. Genji's chief opponent at court is KOKIDEN, official wife of the Emperor whose son, SUZAKU, will succeed to the throne on the retirement of his venerable father.

 

Scene 2 - Fujitsubo and Rokujo

 

Genji visits both Fujitsubo, with whom he is passionately in love and who is carrying his child, and Rokujo, his first love whom he deserted for Fujitsubo. Both women spurn his advances and berate him for the philandering that brings other so much unhappiness. "The fate of woman is inconstant man."

 

Scene 3 - Genji and To-no-Chujo

and

Scene 4 - Murasaki

 

On one of his nocturnal rambles with TO-NO-CHUJO, his brother-in-law, Genji finds a young girl, MURASAKI, living in a tumble-down house in the middle of the forest with her foster-mother, the nun SHONAGON. Genji is entranced by the fact that Murasaki so closely resembles both his late mother and Fujitsubo and promises Shonagon that Murasaki will be cared for after Shonagon's death

 

Scene 5 - The Warning Dream

 

Genji's conflicting emotions begin to tell on him and he is warned about the possible results of the pain he causes others.

 

Scene 6 - The Autumn Festival

 

At the Autumn Festival, the Emperor asks Genji and To-no-Chujo to dance for him and then announces his retirement in favor of the Crown Prince, Suzaku. Another scandal is caused when Genji secretly introduces Murasaki into his household under the nose of Aoi, his estranged but loving wife.

 

Fujitsubo's baby is growing to be more and more like his real father, Genji, who refuses to understand why Fujitsubo keeps him so coldly away from her. In her shame, she insists that both herself and her child, as well as Rokujo and Aoi, are victims of Genji's selfish obsession. She also taunts him with his "unsuitable" attraction to Murasaki and is not interested in his protestations that it is because of their remarkable resemblance to each other.

 

Scene 7 - The death of Aoi

 

Genji is summoned to the bedside of Aoi who has fallen ill, weakened from childbirth and distraught by her unrequited love for her husband. She is driven to her death by the vengeful spirit of Rokujo and Genji is unable to prevent it.

 

Scene 8 - Rokujo and Genji

 

When he later reproaches her, the unwitting Rokujo is horrified to realize that her dream spirit has been responsible for Aoi's death and she resolves to go into a convent, although not without first laying a curse on Genji: if he is unfaithful to the woman he eventually marries, Rokujo's spirit will return to destroy them both.

 

Act Two

 

Scene 9 and 10 - Banishment and Farewells

 

In spite of the scandal Genji marries Murasaki. Kokiden uses this, and his infidelity to Rokujo, who has inexplicably disappeared, to insist that her son Suzaku, now the Emperor, banish Genji from court. Fujitsubo reluctantly promises she will protect Murasaki from the court during Genji's absence.

 

Scene 11 - Exile on Suma, and the Storm

 

Exiled to the distant and lonely shore of Suma, Genji and Murasaki can only sustain their love through letters. In a violent storm Genji appeals to the Gods and receives a vision of his father, the Old Emperor, who commands him to set sail immediately. The tempest wrecks the boat and Genji is rescued by an Old Recluse on the island of Akashi.

 

Scene 12, 13, 14 - The Island of Akashi / The Emperor's chambers

 

Separated for so long from Murasaki and in spite of himself, Genji seduces the Old Recluse's beautiful daughter who bears a strong resemblance to the Lady Rokujo.

 

(Scene 13) Meanwhile the Emperor Suzaku interprets the endless storms that rage on Edo as signs of the gods' displeasure at Genji's banishment. After many months of indecision he overrides Kokiden's objections and recalls Genji to the court to act as Regent to Fujitsubo's son in whose favor he will now abdicate.

 

(Scene 14) Although Genji now has a daughter by the lady of Akashi, and in spite of the lady's grief, he decides to return alone to Edo - and to Murasaki.

 

Scene 15 - Death and Farewell

 

The spirit of Rokujo now exacts the promised revenge by destroying the lives of the two women he most loves, Fujitsubo and Murasaki.

 

(Scene 16) On the eve of his glorious elevation to the Regency Genji sees his whole life pass before him and realizes it has been his own selfish desires that have caused others so much unhappiness. Burdened by his grief he takes his place in glory by the side of his son, the new Emperor.

 

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The Tale of Genji

 

 

Act One

 

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1 : The Old Emperor - The Paulownia Court

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NOTE: Square brackets [ ] indicate optional cuts

 

A short Prelude: A shining, golden sunburst as,

slowly, a scene of great splendor, the Emperor's

Court, is revealed.

 

In attendance on the Emperor are FUJITSUBO,

KOKIDEN, THE BOY GENJI, THE BOY SUZAKU,

TO-NO-CHUJO and members of the Court.

 

As the Prelude ends, and the Chorus sing, the OLD

EMPEROR rises and comes slowly forward to address

the audience. The lights narrow down to focus on

him. No one else moves or pays any attention to

anything he says until indicated below: for the

Court, it is as if he had not yet moved from his

place.

 

CHORUS The sun shines down in majesty!

The sun blesses us with his power!

May he shine on us for ever

And bless us as he shines in glory!

Glory! Glory! }

 

The Emperor then speaks with a gentle irony, from

the front of the stage.

 

OLD EMPEROR I have seen many summers,

I have known many loves.

When I retire from the world

No one will know and no one will care

If I live or I die.

 

(Old Emperor) We Emperors live in the clouds

And from this exalted position

I look back on life,

And see into the hearts of those I have loved:

My spirit will guide them, protect them,

And at times trouble and disturb them.

 

Of the women I have known as my consorts,

Of them all there was one I loved most -

 

(THE BOY GENJI is seen in a spotlight)

 

At her death she bore me a son -

A son of amazing perfection:

Genji, the Shining One,

My greatest grief, my greatest joy.

 

Of Genji I tell you the tale.

 

Born of such love,

He passes his life

Seeking his mother

In every woman he loves.

 

(FUJITSUBO is seen with GENJI)

 

Then into my life

Came a vision of wonder:

Fujitsubo -

A face and a spirit

So like the mother of Genji

That I married her.

I love her -

 

And Genji loves her.

 

(KOKIDEN and THE BOY SUZAKU are seen.)

 

But as custom would have it

(As so often it does),

The wife whom I wed

When I was seven years old

Was neither so sweet nor so fair:

Kokiden, the mother of Suzaku,

My other son, and my heir.

 

(Old Emperor) So this guilty father has two sons -

One not born of love, and having none of mine,

Who must some day be Emperor -

One born of love and having all my love

Who must be nothing - were it not for my love.

 

[Recit. or spoken] Oh yes, things got off to a bad start

when the Minister of the Left was tactless

enough to offer his daughter Aoi in marriage

to The Shining One - instead, as Kokiden

expected, to her son, the Crown Prince.

To spite her I blessed the children in

marriage. This was also a mistake, since the

marriage was fated not to be blessed at all.

 

(During this paragraph, which is accompanied by

Court Music, and the following, GENJI and

SUZAKU change places ceremonially with their

BOY counterparts. During the following

passage, the mime must be arranged to present

each woman in turn.)

 

[sung] This circle of women

Spin the fate of my Genji:

The mother he lost,

Fujitsubo, who now has his love,

Aoi, whom he married too young,

And Kokiden,

A stepmother so jealous

She would paint the stars green.

 

(He returns to his place as the Chorus repeat

their song of praise, during which AOI moves

towards GENJI who only has eyes for FUJITSUBO, who

now turns away, as do KOKIDEN and SUZAKU.)

 

CHORUS Glory! Glory!

The sun shines down in majesty!

The sun blesses us with his power!

May he shine on us for ever

And bless us as he shines in glory!

Glory! Glory!

 

EMPEROR as the lights fade on the tableau and the music pauses:

 

Yes, I might have known it was all a mistake.

For there was also the Lady Rokujo.

 

(Rokujo's theme is heard and her shadow appears as

the lights fade on the EMPEROR. During a short

transitional interlude GENJI exchanges AOI for

FUJITSUBO and the scene changes to: )

 

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2 : Fujitsubo and Rokujo

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In one part of the stage FUJITSUBO and GENJI are

in her apartment while in another part the Lady

ROKUJO is pacing angrily about her house. In one

way or another she continues to exhibit this

impatience during the following exchanges between

FUJITSUBO and GENJI.

 

FUJITSUBO I cannot believe you dare to come near me.

 

GENJI I cannot believe I dare to stay away.

There is no one who draws me -

 

FUJITSUBO interrupting

No one? And what of the lady Rokujo?

And all the pitiful women you love and desert?

What of your neglected wife?

Do you know how unhappy she is?

 

GENJI You are right to accuse me

And I have no defense.

Others have come and others have gone,

But again my heart draws me only to you.

 

FUJITSUBO interrupting:

And again my shame must turn my face away.

 

GENJI Your shame?

 

FUJITSUBO Three months have passed and I can no longer hide

the burden of my sin. It bears me down so far

I can no longer look into my husband's eye,

Knowing I carry your child -

The child of the Emperor's son.

 

(GENJI moves as if to comfort her but she

continues without pausing)

 

[DUET begins:]

 

No, do not come near me -

I cannot bear your comfort,

I cannot bear your love.

 

GENJI To this my dreams have come -

 

FUJITSUBO So few the nights, so few the dreams -

BOTH I wish the dream would carry me away

Into the night.

 

GENJI To this my dreams have come -

 

FUJITSUBO If I could vanish with the dream -

GENJI in canon If I could vanish with the dream

 

BOTH My memory would still be one of shame.

 

GENJI Of love -

 

FUJITSUBO Of shame.

 

BOTH We pass all our lives upon a slender bridge

That spans the shores of sadness and delight

While Time flows on, deaf to our sorrowing hearts.

 

FUJITSUBO Go now:

I cannot bear your comfort,

 

BOTH I/you cannot bear your/my love -

 

FUJITSUBO refusing his embrace

Go now -

Must Aoi and the lady Rokujo

Know the same despair?

 

Suddenly the scene changes to ROKUJO who

immediately echoes FUJITSUBO's last word.

 

[ARIA:]

 

ROKUJO Despair!

Despair of love -

Love and shame -

The shame of love.

The shame of loving one who cannot love.

 

(Rokujo) Not shame - despair!

Despairing of a love I cannot escape.

To kill despair, must I then kill myself?

Alive or dead,

I have a spirit that will never rest.

 

Oh shame! Oh love! despair!

 

When first he came to me I was his only love,

His first and only love.

What woman can resist The Shining One?

But once she surrenders

His love turns only to contempt.

 

(ROKUJO:) Weak, widowed woman,

Blind to the separating years?

How could you fall so far,

Only to end in despair?

 

The fate of woman is inconstant man.

[Key phrase]

 

Oh love! oh shame! despair!

 

GENJI appears at her screen.

 

[In spite of Genji's lines, the following is

really a continuation of Rokujo's aria]

 

GENJI "Though I am lost in the mists of early sky

I see your gate and cannot pass you by."

 

ROKUJO cynically

"Is it so difficult to pass

This insubstantial gate of grass?"

 

(coldly) It was not always so. Why do you honor me

tonight?

Does your wife sleep so sound she does not hear

The cricket's warning bell?

Or have you tired of all the lighter ones

You love so well?

 

GENJI Though I am guilty, you do me wrong -

 

ROKUJO interrupts:

I do you wrong? I do you wrong?

 

[She resumes aria]

 

(ROKUJO) Do you know the despair -

That hunger of listening

For a voice you do not hear?

Do you know the despair

Of waiting for the dawn to close your eyes?

Can you understand the shame

Of loving one

Who gives his heart to kitchenmaids?

Can you understand a love

So painful it destroys the soul?

 

[The curse:] I warn you, Shining One,

A spirit so corrupted, so destroyed,

Must somehow find a way to peace,

Destroying all who cross its path.

 

(GENJI attempts an embrace - she repulses him)

 

ROKUJO "No, plunge into those morning mists -

You have no true heart for the blossoms here."

 

With an orchestral echo of ROKUJO's warning, the

lights fade on her and leave GENJI in

the street. This develops into a short

interlude as he broods on what ROKUJO

and FUJITSUBO have both said to him.

 

---

3 : Genji and To-no-Chujo

---

 

GENJI alone in the street - a bitter echo of

Rokujo's aria. 

 

GENJI Must I know the despair

Of searching for a love I cannot find?

Must I know the despair

Of waiting for the dawn when I am blind

To all the dreams night offers me?

Can I forget the shame

That follows tasting every flower

When the face I seek is nowhere to be found?

[Though dawn may break, my day is never clear:

Yes, "Plunge into the morning mists -

I have no true heart for the blossoms here!"]

 

(His reverie is interrupted by the arrival of

TO-NO-CHUJO, a man of charming virility and the

same age as Genji, his brother-in law. He carries

a letter from Aoi.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO joking:

Once again I find you in the dawn -

How sad it is to find your sleeves

So wet with dew!

Is the Lady Rokujo at last so tired of waiting

That she turns you from her door?

 

GENJI My brother,

Some questions are not worth the asking.

 

TO-NO-CHUJO And don't deserve an answer?

But come, let us take shelter from the rain.

 

GENJI Why must it always rain

When our spirits are already so low?

 

(The two men turn aside into a deserted shrine.) 

 

TO-NO-CHUJO I bring you a letter from my sister Aoi

My sister, your wife -

Who sees so little of her husband.

 

GENJI taking the letter

Her letters reproach me for all my sins.

So many letters - so many sins.

Some letters I deserve

And some I keep for fonder memories.

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Now those I would like to see!

 

GENJI Some are not for seeing -

 

TO-NO-CHUJO laughing

But those are the ones I most want to see!

 

[Aria-Scherzo:]

 

Letters of passion

And letters of fire!

Letters of promise

And tormented desire!

 

Secret obsessions

And secret delights -

Tearful confessions

Of amorous nights!

Written at dusk,

Scented with musk,

Full of resentment

Or hinting consent -

Innocent maidens declaring their love,

Comparing your charms to the heavens above;

Elderly ladies exposing their charms,

Hoping to snare you in hungry old arms -

 

What is your secret?

Is it your youth?

Or is it your beauty?

Now tell me the truth -

Or is it this face of gloomy despair?

How do you do it? Say how

 

(TO-NO-CHUJO) And say where

Are those letters of passion,

Those letters of fire,

Tormented obsession

And secret desire,

The tearful confession

Of secret delights,

The hope and the promise -

Of amorous nights?

 

GENJI Are you finished?

 

TO-NO-CHUJO But why keep their letters if they cause you such

pain?

 

(During the following we see AOI, FUJITSUBO and

ROKUJO in their own areas)

 

GENJI Perhaps to remind me of the pain I have caused,

Or the beauty I seek -

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Ah, there is the difference between us:

You are always seeking perfection -

 

GENJI Are you speaking of my mother?

 

TO-NO-CHUJO No, of your wife. Her noble soul

Suffers much from your neglect -

While others bask in your perfection:-

Perfect in nature, perfect in form -

 

GENJI All you say is all I most despise.

I do not seek perfection in any woman -

How could I be worthy of her?

 

[Aria:] No, it is always one I see,

And all are reflections of her -

Sometimes only a vision in the mist -

A phantom too painful to bear.

But suppose -

 

(At this point, the three women, FUJITSUBO, AOI

and ROKUJO, with TO-NO-CHUJO, join in a quiet,

wordless backing to GENJI's aria. Or, it could be

the unseen, wordless chorus or both soloists and chorus.)

suppose there was someone -

Suppose behind some hidden gate,

Overgrown with late chrysanthemums,

Where no one knows there is a ruined house

Beside the shadows of a lake -

 

{OTHER VOICES or} TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose.....

 

GENJI Where moonbeams linger,

Loath to pass this place of wonder

That shimmers in the breeze -

Where leaves are dancing in the night -

 

{OTHER VOICES or} TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose.....

 

GENJI Suppose that here is locked away

A creature of unimagined beauty.

How could we, like the moonbeams, pass her by?

 

(The rain has stopped and now the two men resume

their walk in the moonlight as the aria continues.

The three women disappear [quick change for

FUJITSUBO] and the wordless voices give way to a

bamboo flute [fue] which is heard off-stage.)

 

After a short passage of flute music, the aria

continues without break. It is as if GENJI and

TO-NO-CHUJO did not at first hear the flute.

 

GENJI Suppose that, in the silence of the night,

Music should utter wordless charms

That pierce the soul and cause the moon

To hold its breath -

 

(He stops as he hears the music.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO quietly

Suppose.....

GENJI Suppose.....

 

(He looks wonderingly at TO-NO-CHUJO and then

approaches the ruined house where the music plays.

TO-NO-CHUJO remains in the street and takes over

the aria.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Suppose....

Drawn by the music, steals closer to the house -

Suppose "SUPPOSE" seems not be "suppose"....

 

So I shall stay to see what happens next!

 

(As GENJI approaches the house the scene changes

to its interior.)

 

---

4 : Murasaki

---

 

In the shadows of the old house a single

candlelight gleams. MURASAKI is playing a sad

melody on her flute, rather well, while SHONAGON,

who is not well, is praying with an offering of flowers.

 

MURASAKI is still a child; SHONAGON, Murasaki's

grandmother, a nun of some 40 years, has a fair

delicate skin and an air of breeding and cultivation.

 

GENJI, rapt, listens to the flute and the conversation from

the veranda, peeping through the panels of a screen.

After a moment, SHONAGON turns to MURASAKI fondly.

 

SHONAGON Why are you sad tonight, my dove?

 

MURASAKI stops playing for a moment:

Because my baby sparrows flew away.

 

SHONAGON I told you, my heart,

You cannot keep birds in a cage.

 

MURASAKI Where will they go?

Will they be safe from the crows?

 

SHONAGON Murasaki, my child,

What will become of you when I'm gone?

 

(MURASAKI does not want to consider this and she

resumes playing her sad tune.)

 

GENJI outside Murasaki -

How beautiful she is!

As if Fujitsubo was still a child.

 

SHONAGON "Shall no one gather

This fairest bud of springtime?

Shall I never see

Its petals open to the day

Before the dew must fade

And vanish with the sun?"

 

(GENJI pushes one of the center panels of the

screen aside and rustles his fan. SHONAGON comes

forward and then retreats as she sees the young

prince. MURASAKI stops playing. A silence.)

 

SHONAGON This is very strange indeed!

Have you not wandered from your path, my lord?

 

(GENJI enters the room. SHONAGON retreats still

further and MURASAKI runs to hide behind her skirts.)

 

GENJI Amida Buddha's guiding hand makes no mistake,

Even on the darkest night.

 

SHONAGON Why should he guide you here?

And to this humble place

We are most confused.

 

GENJI Very sudden and confusing, I am sure.

 

(Throughout the conversation which follows he is

unable to take his eyes off MURASAKI who peeps

shyly round SHONAGON's kimono sleeves.)

 

GENJI cont. I know you think me headstrong,

Frivolous -

Amida knows I am not frivolous at all.

 

SHONAGON This unexpected conversation

Is nothing of the sort!

But how are we expected to behave

With such a - such a shining gentleman?

 

GENJI I heard you call her Murasaki -

Will you not tell me who she is?

 

SHONAGON stiff and embarrassed

Enough to tell you that her mother is dead.

Being a - natural child, and, alas, a woman,

The prince her father disowned her at her birth.

I do my best to keep her safe from harm.

 

GENJI I'm sure you do. But who...

 

SHONAGON interrupting

All I can tell you:

She is the niece of a highborn lady who -

 

GENJI Fujitsubo!

 

SHONAGON taken aback

- who does not even know she lives.

 

GENJI How can it be that such a one

Is born into the confusion of this world?

I never really knew my mother,

But her face lives on in every memory.

We share the same fate, this child and I -

Her very youth enchants me

And I ask myself -

I am asking you

To let me share my life with hers.

To love and protect her,

To bring the bud to flower in the sun.

 

SHONAGON moved but appalled by GENJI's confession, she puts her

arms round Murasaki protectively:

 

This bud is tender, not ready to be plucked -

Not ready to be dazzled by the sun.

very formal:

We must decline your very kind proposal.

 

(GENJI ignores her and reaches out his hand to

MURASAKI.)

 

GENJI Would you like to come and live with me?

 

(MURASAKI avoids his hand and quickly removes

herself to the other side of SHONAGON. Not

knowing what to say, she starts to play her flute

again. After a moment, GENJI absently plucks a

chord on a little koto [ wagon, yamata koto or

yamata koto ] that lies nearby.

A strange trio begins: GENJI, plucking chords on

the koto while trying to talk to MURASAKI who

either ignores him or answers him on the flute,

and the musings of the very disturbed SHONAGON who

sits between GENJI and MURASAKI.)

 

GENJI As in a dream I came upon a dream -

 

SHONAGON Dreams are only dreams - they come and go -

 

GENJI I long to share that dream with her.

 

SHONAGON - as insubstantial as the mist.

 

GENJI The mist might dare to linger till the day -

 

SHONAGON The day dispels the mist, reveals the truth -

 

GENJI You find my feelings so hard to understand?

 

SHONAGON is silent.

 

GENJI with a sigh

Her beauty echoes all my dreams -

determined: I long to pluck her from among the thorns!

 

SHONAGON Sir, you forget yourself.

She is too young to understand

All that is on your mind.

 

GENJI with an angry chord on the koto: (MURASAKI stops playing)

It is you who do not understand.

I see how young she is

And there is nothing on my mind

For you - or her - to fear.

 

(SHONAGON turns sadly away as MURASAKI plays

again. Softer chords now on the koto as GENJI

turns his attention back to MURASAKI.)

 

SHONAGON to herself:

I have not long to live in this sad world.

What will become of her?

 

GENJI to himself:

Though I may leave this blossom here tonight,

All of myself I leave behind with her -

 

SHONAGON (with GENJI)

Though he may leave this blossom here tonight -

 

(MURASAKI lays her head in SHONAGON's lap to

sleep. [The flute in the orchestra takes over.])

 

BOTH I fear what harm the winds of fate may bring.

 

SHONAGON I have not long to live....

 

GENJI All of myself I leave.....

 

BOTH In this sad world.

I fear what harm -

GENJI what harm -

BOTH The winds of fate may bring.

 

(With the two voices, koto and flute at last in

harmony, there is an faint echo in the orchestra

of Rokujo's music, and at this moment TO-NO-CHUJO

puts his head impetuously through the screen and

breaks the spell.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO My brother, this will make a long night unless you

get some rest. (He whispers:) You might have

called me - now I shall stay to enjoy the cherries

you have plucked!

 

GENJI aside Brother, you understand nothing!

To SHONAGON: Dear lady, you will hear from me again:

I promise not to leave you, or the child,

To wither in this secret place.

 

(GENJI As in a dream I came upon a dream....

(SHONAGON I have not long to live in this sad world

 

(GENJI I'll share that dream with her.

(SHONAGON What will become of her?

 

SHONAGON is rocking the child in her lap as GENJI

and TO-NO-CHUJO leave the house.

 

The Scene fades.

 

---

5 : The Warning Dream

---

 

The nostalgic music of the Interlude is suddenly

interrupted by angry, nightmare music, and GENJI

is seen writhing on his bed.

 

It is past midnight. He has been asleep for some time.

 

An owl hoots. Lady ROKUJO appears at GENJI's

bedside. She is exceedingly beautiful.

 

ROKUJO The fate of woman is inconstant man!

I know how you long to escape my passionate soul.

The weeks go by, the months go by,

And still you never come to me.

Your absence tears at my heart

And your silence is the measure of my sorrow.

While my soul is devoured by thoughts of you

I shall not be forgotten in your dreams!

The fate of woman is inconstant man...

 

[NOTE: See Murasaki p 32, Aoi p 33.]

 

(The OLD EMPEROR appears at her side. ROKUJO

retires a little into the background.)

 

EMPEROR My son, you scatter your affections too freely at court -

There are too many rumors -

They burn, they fester and they rot the soul

With a malignant fever!

 

(AOI appears distantly. The shade of ROKUJO

reacts angrily at this appearance. The owl hoots again.)

 

EMPEROR continues without pause:

Nor are you so young, nor so innocent

As to ignore the pain you cause your wife.

You may love her, but be kind

Be gentle and good to your wife.

Never give a woman reason to resent you.

 

(The owl hoots again. TO-NO-CHUJO brings AOI towards GENJI as the

EMPEROR retires into the shadows.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO I bring you news of Aoi - my sister, your wife.

 

GENJI Aoi - so cold ....

 

TO-NO-CHUJO I bring you the mother of your child.

 

(At the mention of "child" GENJI stiffens and

drops his head in guilt.)

 

The face you turn away from the world

Seems to darken the truth.

 

AOI Are you so hidden like the sand at high tide

That so often I sigh for you,

That never I see you?

I have no claim on your love,

But fate has made me your wife

And soon to be the mother of your child.

(with ROKUJO) Do you know what I endure

(alone) From the murmurs at Court?

I see the downcast eye -

I hear the distant laughter as I leave a room.

Have pity on your child if not on me.

 

[A short QUARTET develops, based on elements of

the text above, ad lib.:

 

AOI Do you know the pain I endure...

Fate has made me your wife...

Have pity... etc

 

ROKUJO Do you know the pain I endure...

The fate of woman is inconstant man...

The weeks go by, the years go by...

And still you never come to me....

 

EMPEROR and TO-NO-CHUJO

Do you know what pain they endure?.....

The face you turn away from the world

Seems to darken the truth.....

You cannot ignore the pain that you cause....

Be kind...be gentle...be good...

 

(GENJI wakes: the shades disappear. The owl hoots again.)

 

GENJI Are these demons that haunt me?

My soul is devoured by their thoughts!

Rokujo - Aoi...

No! Murasaki - Fujitsubo!

I see the clouds as smoke

That rises from the pyre

I have built of our lives.

I see perfection in Fujitsubo -

Perfection I can create in Murasaki.

Fujitsubo - Murasaki -

Murasaki - Fujitsubo.

How can I escape my dream?

 

(A distant fanfare. TO-NO-CHUJO enters in formal

dress. He is not the severe To-no-Chujo of the dream.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Where have you been? Are you ill?

You look terrible!

I bring you a word from your father:

Tonight, at the Festival of Flowers,

He wishes you to attend Fujitsubo.

 

(A lighting change as GENJI is immediately dressed

for the Festival, assisted by TO-NO-CHUJO.

 

(A closer fanfare as the scene fades and the Court

is called to the Festival.)

 

---

6 : The Autumn Festival

---

 

COURT MUSIC (gagaku): Entrance of the Emperor.

To KOKIDEN's displeasure, he indicates that

FUJITSUBO and GENJI are to sit on his left (the

pride of place) and SUZAKU, the Crown Prince, and

KOKIDEN, his mother, on the right. KOKIDEN lets

her fury show.

 

AOI, heavily pregnant, sits below GENJI; Lady

ROKUJO sits below KOKIDEN. TO-NO-CHUJO with GENJI

and AOI.

 

EMPEROR

SUZAKU FUJITSUBO

KOKIDEN GENJI

ROKUJO AOI

TO-NO-CHUJO

 

The whole court are dressed in colors of Autumn

for this Autumn Festival - the Emperor in Scarlet and gold.

 

I. Gagaku: Entrance music, leading into

2. CHORUS

 

CHORUS On this auspicious day

We celebrate the falling of red leaves.

Brightly coloured as the leaves may be,

All are doomed to fall,

All are doomed to scatter.

So in this world of ours

Nothing shall last forever.

 

EMPEROR alone And on this day of melancholy beauty

We call upon Prince Genji,

Our Shining One,

And upon To-no-Chujo

To dance "The Waves of the Azure Sea."

 

3. "The Waves of the Azure Sea" (Saibara)

 

GENJI and TO-NO-CHUJO dance the first movement,

accompanied by court music and the ensemble of

singers (Chorus).

 

CHORUS as they dance

How shall I compare

This world of ours?

To the blue waves behind a boat

As it draws us away into the dawn.

 

How shall I lament

This world of ours?

My tears shall fall as leaves of gold

That fall and cover all our woes.

 

Out of the light

We journey into darkness:

Oh moonlight, shine upon the waves

And guide our boat to shore.

 

During the orchestral close to the dance (GENJI

and TO-NO-CHUJO still dancing) KOKIDEN turns to

SUZAKU and speaks in a false undertone, intending

the EMPEROR to hear.

 

KOKIDEN It is an insult! Fujitsubo and the "Shining One" -

How dare they sit upon the Emperor's left?

 

SUZAKU Mother, it is the Emperor's wish.

 

KOKIDEN And is it his wish to disinherit you

And make that woman's son his heir?

 

SUZAKU It is not for us to say,

And not for us to ask!

 

KOKIDEN I say it is an insult!

 

The dance ends. GENJI adjusts the sleeves of his

robe and waits for the music to start again.

SUZAKU, with the Emperor's consenting gesture,

rises to give GENJI a flower for his cap - much to

KOKIDEN's disgust. While SUZAKU is up, KOKIDEN

seizes the advantage of taking his place next to

the Emperor.

 

4. Second Movement, accompanied only by the Court

musicians. "GENJI resumes the dance to the lively

strains of the next movement. Excited by the

rhythm of the steps, he glows with a warm color,

and the name "Genji, the Shining One" seems even

more fitting than usual."

 

KOKIDEN aside to the EMPEROR while Genji dances

Oh Sire, how remarkable is Genji in the dance!

 

EMPEROR Indeed.

 

KOKIDEN And how remarkable is his resemblance to your

little son!

 

EMPEROR Indeed. And what do you imply?

 

KOKIDEN But nothing! Knowing nothing of the Prince's

secret ways. (She makes sure that AOI hears the rest)

I hear he keeps some woman in the poorer quarters

of the town.

 

EMPEROR And have you "heard" whom that may be?

 

KOKIDEN Some child, I fear...Poor child!

And his poor wife!

 

The EMPEROR makes an irritated gesture to shut her

up and continues to watch the dance.

 

CHORUS There is no doubt at all

The Shining Prince surpasses beauty -

He dances like a bird upon the wave,

Enchanting our hearts,

Bringing tears to our eyes.

 

EMPEROR Before such beauty I understand [too well]

How brief our journey is upon the earth.

Soon I shall be free of passing dreams,

Untroubled by the follies of this world.

 

(He weeps.)

 

FUJITSUBO, ROKUJO, AOI

And shall the Gods look down to say

"He is too perfect for the world."

 

(The dance ends. All are deeply affected - except

KOKIDEN.)

 

5. The Proclamation

 

KOKIDEN sarcastic

Too perfect for this world indeed!

Surely the Gods are struck dumb with admiration?

We are all overcome by such perfection!

 

(She laughs. The EMPEROR, extremely irritated,

signs for music to prelude a proclamation: one

loud chord from all the stage instruments.

 

EMPEROR On this auspicious day, (glancing at KOKIDEN)

Made perfect by the beauty that has touched our

hearts,

(leaning towards FUJITSUBO)

I wish to celebrate perfection

And here proclaim the Lady Fujitsubo

As Empress of Japan,

The Shining Prince as Councillor of State,

And -

 

(But KOKIDEN has been boiling up with rage:)

 

KOKIDEN interrupting

Empress! Councillor! It is just as I feared!

Twenty years as mother of the Crown Prince -

 

EMPEROR aside to her

Don't get in such a state! (aloud) And Prince

Suzaku shall be my heir.

aside again:

Then no one will put your nose out of joint!

aloud: Our other son, Reizen, shall succeed his brother -

stemming another outburst: All in good time!

 

(He signals for another fanfare and then to

TO-NO-CHUJO to continue the dancing.)

 

[ 6. "Autumn Winds"

 

ENSEMBLE (CHORUS and all soloists)

The leaves are trembling

On the edges of the branch

And wonder what the Autumn brings.

In fear they fade from green

To gold, and red, and purple -

Echoing the sunset of the year.

The leaves fly up

As Autumn winds disturb

And chase them in a dance of gold.

The air is filled with gold

With gold, and red, and purple -

And scatters us with blessings of the Sun.

 

During orchestral section of the dance:

 

GENJI aside to FUJITSUBO:

And through the dancing waves

Could you not see a heart

As stormy as a wish to die?

 

FUJITSUBO aside to him:

Of dancing waves I cannot speak:

Each movement touched me to the heart.

But the windows of these thoughts

Are closed forever.

 

(GENJI is about to reply when AOI speaks.)

 

AOI Have you no words for me,

Or are they all for your companion?

 

ENSEMBLE and all soloists (except AOI, EMPEROR)

 

The Autumn winds

Are breathing signs of Winter:

Soon icy branches bared will show

How brief our time of joy

When red, and gold, and purple

Give way to icy thoughts of death. ]

 

7. The departure

 

(The EMPEROR rises.)

 

EMPEROR Let us conclude our Festival:

I see the sun about to set.

An autumn rain is rustling in the trees

As if the skies would join us with their tears.

 

(The EMPEROR and his suite depart, followed by

FUJITSUBO in due precedence - to KOKIDEN's

annoyance. She follows with SUZAKU.

 

[At this moment KOREMITSU enters to GENJI.]

Then ROKUJO would follow, as is her right as the

Emperor's sister-in-law, but AOI (AND THE PIT

ORCHESTRA) deliberately intervene.

 

A look passes between ROKUJO and GENJI. After

this moment she leaves in the opposite direction.

 

Lights fade as GENJI hurries from the empty stage.

 

The Lights come up on Fujitsubo's apartments.

 

A waiting-woman hurries the baby's crib away as

GENJI appears by her screen. He waits a moment as

he observes FUJITSUBO lost in deeply troubled

meditations. "Her hair as it cascaded over her

shoulder, the lines of her head and face, the glow

of her skin, were to Genji irresistibly beautiful.

They were very much like each other, she and Murasaki."

 

No longer in control of himself, GENJI slips

inside the screen and pulls at her sleeve. She

sinks to the floor in sheer terror.

 

GENJI How can you be so cruel?

You hide yourself away for weeks,

You will not let me see the child -

But why?

 

FUJITSUBO interrupting

To protect him from you and from the world:

No one shall see him in your image.

In his heart I am sure the Emperor knows:

He smiles, and says all beauty must resemble

itself.

 

For him he is a flawless jewel.

For me, only the love of my child

Keeps terror at bay.

 

GENJI What do we bring from former lives

That we should know such loneliness?

 

FUJITSUBO sharp

Loneliness? I hear you are not lonely -

That you are hiding some child -

 

GENJI interrupting

A child that might be you

As if you were still a child.

Though you know her not,

She is your brother's own child,

Rejected by him at her birth.

Murasaki and I,

(Genji) We are deserted by the world,

I have been a wretched husband to Aoi

And only Murasaki can atone for me.

 

FUJITSUBO with contempt

And would you sacrifice this child

Upon the altar of your guilt?

 

GENJI I lost my mother as a child -

They married me when still a child -

I ran to you when still a child,

Seeking my mother in your smile.

And when, too late, you turned your face away

My only refuge was Rokujo's love.

I loved you then,

I love you still,

And I will love you till the day I die.

 

FUJITSUBO I am not your mother,

Yes, I was your lover, to my shame,

You are the father of my child -

A love, a shame that I shall always bear.

I loved you then,

I love you still,

And I will love you till the day I die

 

BOTH I loved you then,

I love you still,

And I will love you till the day I die.

 

FUJITSUBO preventing the embrace

And for that love,

Until that day

We must not meet again.

 

(KOREMITSU hurried in.)

 

KOREMITSU The Lady Shonagon has died -

The child is alone in the house,

Weeping her heart out with the servants.

 

GENJI Bring her at once to Nijo.

 

(KOREMITSU leaves hastily and the lights fade.)

 

 

INTERLUDE : A PASSAGE OF TIME

 

[Koto with orchestra,

bridging into the koto lesson of the next scene.

 

---

7 : Heartvine and Lavender - Aoi and Murasaki

---

 

The orchestra fades out as MURASAKI - less of a

child than she was, but still innocent and

unsophisticated, and even more like FUJITSUBO -

is seen and heard playing her koto, as yet not

quite perfectly.

 

For a moment GENJI stands watching her.

 

GENJI to himself, as she plays

I long to pluck the flower that bears her name -

Never has lavender smelled so sweet.

She is - she will be - perfect.

aloud as he steps forward:

Do you miss me while I am away?

 

(As soon as she hears his voice she abruptly stops

playing. Pretending to be annoyed, but smiling,

she turns away and holds her sleeve in front of

her mouth. GENJI smiles too.)

 

MURASAKI Do you know how I sigh

While you are away?

Your absence is the measure of my sorrow.

(She picks up her "Genji" doll.)

 

GENJI Already you learn to complain!

Are you so tired of me

You still play with your dolls?

 

MURASAKI He is all I have of you,

 

BOTH - while you are/I am away.

 

(He gently removes the doll from her and pushes

the koto back to her. She begins to play as he

kneels behind her. After a few bars [of what

will become the theme of the trio which follows]:)

 

GENJI stopping her

You must be more careful - we must not break the

second string.

 

(For a moment he retunes the koto, moving a

bridge. She plays again, more surely this time.

She plays the melody while he plays chords beneath

it. He is almost embracing her from behind -

indeed this is his intention.

 

As they play, the orchestra steals in and AOI is

seen in her own house. [Her aria is accompanied

by both koto and orchestra.] She is in great

pain and distress, both physical and spiritual.)

 

AOI Oh Genji, Genji, my shining one!

You loved me once

But for so short a time.

You loved and even treasured me

Until you tired of my garden here

And flew away to feed on other flowers.

Your coldness is the measure of my sorrow.

Too proud to show my pain,

I let you think me cold.

We live in different worlds

And every day I miss you

Is another dagger in my heart.

But I am a princess, and my pride

Forbids that I should ever show my grief.

And so you find me cold.

 

Oh Genji, Genji, shining one!

I feel my life is ebbing with the tide:

Your boat is lost upon some distant shore.

 

(An unexpected and mistaken sour chord from the

koto coincides with the appearance of the shade of

Lady Rokujo - still a shadow which remains a dark

and dangerous presence behind the following trio

[which borrows its musical material from Aoi's

aria above.])

 

TRIO with Koto: Genji, Murasaki, Aoi:

 

ALL THREE While you are/I am away

My heart is rocking on the shores of love,

Never knowing where our drifting boat

Shall land -

On rocks, on shore,

In deepest woe, or Paradise.

While you are/I am away

The day is night;

When you are here,

The night is day.

 

(AOI and ROKUJO temporarily fade from view.

GENJI turns MURASAKI's face towards him. She falls

into his arms and clings to him.)

 

MURASAKI Promise you will never leave me.

 

GENJI That promise is impossible to keep,

But I promise

You will always have my heart

 

MURASAKI Whatever happens while you are away -

 

GENJI While I am away -

 

MURASAKI Remember me -

 

GENJI Whatever happens

I shall remember you -

 

BOTH And you will always have my heart.

 

(The music grows passionate as GENJI can no longer

resist plucking the flower and it seems the action

is inevitable. But their rising passion is

rudely interrupted as KOREMITSU appears at the

screen.)

 

KOREMITSU My lord - the lady Aoi -

 

GENJI angry The lady Aoi?

 

KOREMITSU The child is born, sir,

And the lady near to death.

 

(MURASAKI utters a cry of woe and falls to the

ground, covering her ears and sobbing. PRIESTS are

heard chanting a sutra for the dying. For a

moment GENJI cannot move but KOREMITSU brings him

his outer garment and helps him to pull himself together.

 

As GENJI rises, the scene fades instantly to AOI's

bedroom where she lies, tossing in a fever. She

is surrounded by waiting women. TO-NO-CHUJO is nearby.

 

It seems as if AOI is being pushed and shaken and

savagely beaten by unseen hands.

 

As GENJI appears, TO-NO-CHUJO rises, guides him

to AOI's bedside and dismisses the various attendants.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO whispering to Genji:

I cannot understand this fever:

She seems to be possessed

By some malignant spirit.

 

(GENJI draws near to the bedside and gently takes

AOI's hand. TO-NO-CHUJO withdraws from sight.)

 

GENJI Aoi - vine of my heart -

Where are you now?

Come back to me.

 

(For a moment AOI seems to be still.)

 

AOI Genji, my Genji, prince of my heart -

Where are you now?

Come back to me.

 

GENJI Aoi, I am here.

Look into my eyes.

 

(As she turns her face to him, the Spirit of

ROKUJO is seen to be hovering over the bed. AOI

answers GENJI in ROKUJO's voice. ROKUJO sings but

AOI moves her lips at the same time.)

 

ROKUJO's voice as Aoi, a caricature of Aoi's last utterance:

Genji, oh Genji!

Where is my Genji?

 

(GENJI starts back in horror as he thinks he

recognizes the voice.)

 

ROKUJO's voice, sobbing and in pain

This grieving soul has wandered through the skies:

In pain I stagger down the ways of love

And drown myself in burning tears.

"The fate of woman is inconstant man!"

 

GENJI Spirit, leave her I command you!

Leave Aoi and show yourself!

 

AOI in her own voice

The pain! I cannot bear the pain!

 

GENJI Aoi, I am here! Come back to me!

 

ROKUJO This woman can never know

What I have suffered all these years.

Nor shall I release her spirit

Until my spirit is appeased.

Somehow I must find rest,

Or you shall know eternal pain.

 

GENJI rising Spirit, I see you now.

Evil one, I challenge you!

 

(A macabre DUEL follows: GENJI draws his sword and

slashes blindly about at the SPIRIT who avoids

every stroke, laughing like a demon. The duel is

finally interrupted by a cry from AOI (in her own

voice). She sits up with a violent motion. GENJI

freezes in horror at the sound of her cry.)

 

AOI wailing in terror

The night is dark!

The night is dark!

I cannot see the shore!

Genji, I cannot see the shore!

 

(Seized by the Spirit of ROKUJO, AOI is strangled

with a gasping shortness of breath. Then she

falls back. As she does so, the Spirit

disappears, GENJI falls to his knees beside AOI

and TO-NO-CHUJO, summoned by AOI's last cry,

appears behind him.

The music calms down as AOI's spirit leaves this

earth and, in spite of the Spirit's curse, seems

to find peace.)

 

GENJI I see the morning clouds as mist

That rises from the pyre.

 

GENJI and TO-NO-CHUJO

The sorrow in my heart

Is too deep for any words.

 

TO-NO-CHUJO calmly

Why did she have to die in Autumn?

Autumn grieves for those who mourn.

 

(TO-NO-CHUJO closes his eyes in prayer,

"a handsomer man in sorrow than in happiness."

[Lady Murasaki]

 

GENJI moves slowly away from AOI's bedside and is

seen alone at the beginning of the next scene.

 

---

8 : Rokujo and Genji

---

 

GENJI Is she the rain?

Is she the clouds?

Where can I find her

In this time of storms?

Poor Aoi!

A wasted life - a wasted love -

The anguished soul tormenting you

She knew too well

To kill you was the same as killing me.

What agony of mind

Could drive her to this revenge?

 

(Lady ROKUJO is seen in great distress in another

part of the stage. She is waking from her

terrible dream.)

 

ROKUJO How can my spirit wander

Against my will?

Have I destroyed the woman of my dream?

I never wished her harm,

Nor harm to anyone -

But no!

In the darkest moments of my thoughts

I have wished to tear at Genji's soul -

In some dark truth

My vengeful soul finds satisfaction.

My dream was just a dream -

I never wished her harm -

I never wished her harm.....

 

(She weeps.

 

As GENJI comes to her house, "insects hum in the

wintry tangles. A wind whistling through the

pines brings snatches of music to most wonderful

effect. The evening moon bursts through the

clouds: the figure ROKUJO sees in its light is

handsome beyond describing."

 

GENJI I pity you -

 

ROKUJO Oh, how I pity you.

 

BOTH Are both our souls so dark

That they can wander

On such cruel paths?

 

ROKUJO Then she has died?

 

(Fermata: silence. No answer from GENJI.)

 

ROKUJO My darkest dreams are true.

How can one tell the truth from dreams?

 

GENJI I pity you -

 

ROKUJO Oh, how I pity you!

But these are shallow words.

 

GENJI Shallow, shallow words -

To share my grief.

The bitter grief I cause you -

 

GENJI And I cause you.

 

BOTH There are no words,

To share my grief

With you.

 

A new day breaks -

May it bring peace to both our souls.

 

ROKUJO I have never seen so sad a sky.

 

(A cold wind blows and a bell cricket seems to

recognize the occasion. It is a serenade to which

a lover would not have been deaf, but their

feelings are in such tumult, more words elude

them. Only the music can speak for them.

 

A pause. then:

 

ROKUJO Promise me one thing

And keep this warning in your heart:

Be constant to the one you love.

Or sorrow will be yours

For all eternity.

 

(For a moment, neither moves.

 

The sun comes up as GENJI rises and MURASAKI is

seen. GENJI and MURASAKI as his bride walk slowly

towards each other across the front of the stage

as the lights fade first on ROKUJO and then on the

whole scene as the orchestra thunders out Rokujo's

warning.

 

---

 

Act Two

 

 

---

9 : Banishment and Farewells

---

 

After the PRELUDE:

 

The Act begins as the First Act ended: MURASAKI

and GENJI move slowly towards each other across

the front of the stage. When they meet in the

center, they kneel, facing each other and join

hands. Then they are seen only in silhouette

against the appearance of KOKIDEN and SUZAKU

behind them.

 

KOKIDEN Now your father is no more,

And you are Emperor, my son,

You must be strong.

The time has come

To take certain matters in hand.

No one will respect you

Unless you do as I say.

Genji must go!

 

SUZAKU You know quite well

It was my father's dearest wish

I should consult my brother in all things:

"No office is unworthy of him,

No task beyond his power."

 

KOKIDEN And no vile deed!

His wife is left to die alone;

Betrayed, Rokujo vanishes from sight;

And now this secret marriage to a child!

He is a nobody - a nothing -

A harlot's son!

 

SUZAKU Not one of these things can justify his exile.

 

KOKIDEN Not one? Not one?

Are you so blind you cannot see

The worst of all?

He is the father of your father's son,

And Fujitsubo no better than a whore!

His treason must be punished

And into exile he shall go!

 

(Light is restored to GENJI and MURASAKI as a

letter from SUZAKU is brought to GENJI by

KOREMITSU.

 

The box is untied, the letter read. Slowly GENJI

pushes the letter towards MURASAKI who takes one

look at it and falls sobbing in GENJI's arms.)

 

GENJI The troubles I have brought upon myself

Are nothing new.

No punishment is worse than exile -

 

SUZAKU And he will never endure it.

 

KOKIDEN A fate he well deserves!

 

GENJI But I deserve the sentence

And I must choose to go.

 

SUZAKU I shall let my brother choose his way.

 

GENJI There is no other way. {CH: No other way..}

But exile. {CH: Ah....}

 

(SUZAKU and KOKIDEN remain in frozen silhouette.

 

MURASAKI Whichever way you choose

I shall be with you.

 

BOTH We vowed that nothing in this world

Would part us -

{CH: Nothing...Would part us.}

GENJI But no, my love, to have you share my exile

Would bring the madness of the world

To cause you still more grief.

Forgive me, but where I go

I cannot take you with me.

 

MURASAKI An unknown future clouds my heart.

{CH: My heart...}

GENJI The clouds will clear,

The moon will shine

Upon our love once more.

 

MURASAKI [Then must we part at dawn

As lovers do in all the tales they tell?

( Must it be so? {CH: Must we part at dawn?}

together )

 

GENJI ( It must be so.

 

MURASAKI How sad to think we vowed

Never to part.

And now, so soon? ]

Where will you go?

Where will you take my heart?

 

GENJI To the far-off shore of Suma -

Alien, distant, cold -

Where nothing lives but sorrow.

 

MURASAKI So far away

You suffer in your guilt,

And here I'll die alone of grief.

The winds and waves that freeze your heart

Shall find their way to kill me too.

 

GENJI My dearest heart,

Only the thought of you

Can hold me back from death.

taking a mirror:

I only see in my reflection

The palest shadow of my life;

Though I may go into exile,

This shall be always with you.

 

MURASAKI If, when we part,

Your reflection

Still appears beside me,

I will find comfort in my sorrow.

 

BOTH If, when we part,

Your/my reflection still appears

I/you will find comfort in my/your sorrow.

We must have shared some fate in other lives

That now we have to share such pain -

 

MURASAKI Such pain!

{CH: Such pain...}

BOTH Such pain!

When may we hope to meet again?

 

(As he leads her away, and proceeds himself to

Fujitsubo's apartment, the lights are restored on

KOKIDEN and SUZAKU.

 

 

---

(Scene 10) There is no break between Scenes 9 and 10

---

 

SUZAKU No fate is worse than exile from the city,

Where all that is fine and good,

All beauty dwells.

Genji will never survive it!

 

KOKIDEN So much the better!

All that is beautiful, fine and good,

Can do quite well

Without the presence

Of a harlot's son!

Genji is Genji! Nobody! Nothing!

No better than his mother!

He brings disgrace upon himself,

The Court, upon us all -

And into exile he must go!

 

SUZAKU sharply Mother, enough!

I will not be ruled,

The Emperor will not be ruled

By vengeance, nor by rumor's deadly tongue.

My brother shall be allowed to choose his path.

(Forestalling another outburst from KOKIDEN:)

Mother, enough!

 

(He leaves, with KOKIDEN grumbling behind him, as

the scene changes to FUJITSUBO's APARTMENT. She

is invisible throughout the scene behind her

screen, and GENJI remains outside it.)

 

{Womens' chorus continues as before. See above.}

 

GENJI Fujitsubo -

For one last time the branch

Comes beating at your door.

 

(Nothing but silence answers him.)

 

FUJITSUBO unseen:

Both you and I must leave this world.

You on your way, I on mine.

There is nothing in this world

To hold me here,

But forbidden memories of you

 

(Fujitsubo) And my love for our child.

Suzaku has adopted him as his heir.

I have no wish to suffer

His mother's anger and contempt,

So I exchange my title

For the habit of a nun.

 

GENJI Must you desert this world?

 

FUJITSUBO Desert this world, or you?

Though I leave a life I cannot endure

Some echo in my heart

Will always sing of you.

 

BOTH Some echo in my heart

Will always sing of you.

 

GENJI You know I leave behind another heart

Filled with more sorrow

Than I could ever bear:

I leave behind a love

As constant as the moon.

FUJITSUBO My spirit will protect her,

That I promise you.

And now - farewell.

 

BOTH Farewell to the world

Is no farewell to sorrow.

An echo in my heart

Will always sing of you,

And so we shall not say - farewell.

 

(The scene fades from view as the Suma Interlude

begins.)

 

 

INTERLUDE : Farewell and the Journey to Suma

 

(The melancholy sounds of sad chords plucked occasionally from a

koto sometimes cut through the low whining of an autumn wind at

sea.)

 

 

---

11 : Exile on Suma, and the Storm

---

 

It is Winter. At Suma, melancholy winds are

blowing over the barriers and seem to bring the

surf to the very door of Genji's little house.

 

GENJI sits gazing out to sea over a long low vista

of the cold horizon, absently plucking the strings

of the kin (miniature koto) he has brought with him.

 

TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU sit huddled round a

stove, drinking sake and playing absently at some

game of cards or checkers. KOREMITSU looks up

for a moment at GENJI.

 

KOREMITSU "When shall we see the Spring again?

with TO-NO-CHUJO When shall I see my home?"

 

TO-NO-CHUJO "Sad is the cry of the crane

with KOREMITSU As he seeks his long-lost love."

 

BOTH "The winds are messengers from those who grieve;

The waves on the shore are moans of love."

TO-NO-CHUJO I envy the ebb and flow of the waves

Returning home to those who mourn.

 

(The voices of fishermen are heard down on the

beach as they haul in their nets in the face of

the approaching storm. They sound like the cries

of geese.)

 

CHORUS MEN off The wind -

A storm -

The wind -

A storm -

Ohi-ho! Ohi-ho!

 

(Their cries turn to a restless humming, like the

wind, during the following.)

 

KOREMITSU The cries of the geese are sad:

As if they were my friends,

Lost without their companion?

 

TO-NO-CHUJO No friends of mine, these wandering geese,

Who bring me sad thoughts of home.

 

KOREMITSU "When shall we see the Spring again?"

 

TO-NO-CHUJO "When shall I see my home?"

 

BOTH "The winds are messengers from those who grieve -

The waves on the shore -

The waves........... "

 

(Suddenly there is a silence - the wind has

dropped for a moment and there is no sound from

the sea.)

 

GENJI Winter is hushed

And lonely as a place of exile.

O Murasaki -

Days without you

Are days of sorrow -

Days of loneliness,

Not peace.

 

(But, as he speaks, the moaning winds rise again

and there are signs of a distant storm. At the

same time MURASAKI appears to one side, in her

room at home. She will remain in this spot on the

stage until Genji's return home.

She is writing a letter to GENJI. [MURASAKI's

ARIA] As her voice is heard, GENJI turns away

from the kin to read his copy of the letter to

himself.)

 

[MURASAKI's aria]

 

MURASAKI The rains have come.

I catch the drops upon my sleeve

As I lie and look at the moon.

 

GENJI "As I lie and look at the moon - "

 

MURASAKI The moon who weeps with tears of her own....

I wonder if you see her too,

I wonder if your sleeves

Are wet with her tears?

 

GENJI "As I lie and look at the moon...."

 

MURASAKI I seem to suffer every emotion,

Then suffer them again.

How often have I wished to end it all!

But your reflection is always with me,

Although the glass is dazzled with my tears.

 

(TO-NO-CHUJO rises to look at the weather, then,

later, over GENJI's shoulder as another letter is read.

 

During the next letter, the "wind" continues to

hum. The wind is increasing, but the storm and the

thunder are still distant.)

 

MURASAKI What are they crying,

The winds of Suma?

The city is drowned in a deluge -

Day after day -

It rains, and it rains, it rains.

 

My sleeves are soaked by wave after wave.

The wind howls on,

Howls on and on -

The city is closed

And I ask

"Is this the end of the world?"

Shall I never see you again?

 

(The storm is rising now and it will soon drown

out Murasaki's voice.)

 

MURASAKI Where is the moon?

Where are the clouds?

Dark is the world,

with GENJI: And darker still my heart!

 

with KOREMITSU:

Is this the end of the world?

 

ALL (with TO-NO-CHUJO)

Is this the end of the world?

 

(There is an enormous thunder crash and the storm

begins to rage.

 

At the same moment, TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU

disappear, and MURASAKI becomes only a distant

shadow. GENJI is left in a nightmare. The sounds

of the storm and the flashes of lightning

punctuate his phrases.)

 

GENJI I came unwilling to a distant shore,

Hoping, in this calm, sad place,

To find atonement for my sins.

But all I find are storms

Within my heart.

 

I call upon you now,

Eight hundred myriad Gods!

I call upon you now

To take my life -

To take my soul,

Or tell me why

There is no answer to my prayer!

 

(The thunder and lightning seem to announce the

end of the world. A dazzling lightning bolt flings GENJI to the

ground as THE OLD EMPEROR's spirit appears to GENJI.)

 

OLD EMPEROR irritated:

What are you doing in this wretched place?

The King of the Sea has commanded you

To put out to sea at once!

I advise you

Not to turn your back on his command!

 

GENJI Father - I have so longed to see you -

Would you have me throw myself into the sea?

Is this to be the end of everything?

 

OLD EMPEROR No, no!

You only suffer punishment for your misdeeds,

And so do I.

I seem to remember that I warned you once!

I have no time to tarry in this world,

But your troubles echoed their way to me

And I could not choose but come.

 

I fought my way up through the sea

And I am quite exhausted!

Now I am here,

I have to see to other matters in the city......

 

(As he utters these last words he turns away and

fades from view.

 

Immediately, GENJI finds himself aboard ship in

mid-storm with TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU, as if in

answer to the King of the Sea's command.

 

{As Spirits of the Sea, the Male Chorus echo the

prayer which follows.} )

 

TO-NO-CHUJO, KOREMITSU, and GENJI {with male chorus}

O Sumiyoshi,

King of the Sea!

What crimes call up

the howling waves?

What punishment

must we endure?

Without your power,

O King of the Sea,

Eight hundred waves

Shall drown us all.

Have we not suffered

long enough?

Oh, calm the waves

and clear our path -

Oh, clear the sky -

Give judgement, Gods,

And prove us innocent!

 

(Almost immediately the storm abates, the boat

disappear from view and GENJI finds himself upon

the shore of Akashi. An OLD MAN (The Recluse of

Akashi = the singer of the Old Emperor) is bending

over him. As the music finds peace, the OLD

RECLUSE stretches out his hand to GENJI who,

looking up, thankfully accepts it.

 

The scene fades to darkness. Like a sad wind, but

a calm one, a pipa sounds plaintively in the

darkness, eventually answered by the sound of a

flute. After a few moments, giving GENJI time

to adjust his costume, the lights come up on the

next scene.)

 

 

---

12 : The dwelling of Akashi

---

 

As the interlude continues, in the dilapidated

house of the Old Recluse of Akashi, GENJI sits

playing his flute by moonlight. The OLD RECLUSE

endeavors to console him by improvising on the

pipa with occasional chords. "There is sadness

in the sound of temple bells borne in on pine

breezes. All manner of insects sing in the garden."

 

After a moment, GENJI stops playing and gazes out

to sea.

 

GENJI "Awaji - oh, island of Awaji ! -

Your name echoes the sorrow in my heart.

How clear you shine in the moonlight,

Across the ribbon of the sea."

 

Oh, Murasaki!

Do you shine in this same moon tonight?

 

OLD RECLUSE stops playing

In the sadness of the night,

Our thoughts are our only companions.

 

GENJI I am not so sad:

I feel as if a world

That I had thrown away,

A world for which I long,

Is still awaiting me.

 

OLD RECLUSE Imagine how far away that world has been,

And for so long,

For us who wait upon this shore.

 

(GENJI turns with interest to the old man.)

 

[OLD RECLUSE] Now you are here,

In this strange and unexpected way -

Now you are here,

You could be the answer to my prayer.

 

Not, not for me,

But for my daughter.

What hope has she,

Marooned upon this distant shore?

 

GENJI echoing Now I am here,

You make me feel there is a bond between us.

But why has so much time gone by

And I have never seen your daughter?

 

OLD RECLUSE I have told her if I die

Before my prayers are answered,

She must throw herself into the sea.

She is a passionate child

And fears my dreams may lead

To disillusion.

 

(At this moment, "a curtain string brushes against

a koto" and the screen suddenly opens as THE LADY

OF AKASHI appears. "Her dignity and her reserve

mask the passionate hunger of her being".)

 

A dramatic moment of stillness as AKASHI sees

GENJI for the first time, and GENJI sees the

amazing resemblance in her to ROKUJO. For a

moment no one moves.

 

Then she breaks the spell as she bows slightly to

GENJI and moves towards the koto at a sign from

her father.)

 

GENJI Will you not play for me?

How pleasant it would be

To hear you play

To the singing of the waves.

And so dispel some part of our sad dreams.

 

AKASHI How can one tell the truth from dreams?

 

(GENJI is taken aback as he recognizes this last

remark as an echo of ROKUJO at their farewell.

 

AKASHI begins to play, at first tentatively but,

as their emotion grows during the following scene,

her playing becomes more and more passionate and,

finally, wild. "She gave vent to her feelings in

a somewhat wild improvisation...With the music was

blended the sighing of the great pine-woods that

lay behind the house."

 

As she begins to play, the OLD RECLUSE tactfully

leaves the room, unnoticed by the others.)

 

[DUET - double soliloquy]

 

GENJI/AKASHI What dignity! What beauty!

GENJI She might be the sister of Rokujo!

AKASHI He might be everything I long for -

GENJI/AKASHI What beauty! and what dignity!

AKASHI And everything I fear.

 

AKASHI Is he too handsome for a man?

GENJI Is she too perfect for a woman?

Why should I find her here?

 

AKASHI Can such perfection -

GENJI - Such reserve -

BOTH Ever feel emotion?

GENJI I am at sea -

AKASHI I am at sea -

BOTH On some uncharted ocean.

 

BOTH Strange meeting -

Strange encounter -

AKASHI Strange feelings -

GENJI Fill my heart.

 

BOTH breaking the spell: Crescendo:

What am I doing here?

I swore

I'd die

Before

I gave myself

To such unwanted fire.

 

(They calm down again.)

 

BOTH What dignity! what beauty!

 

GENJI Oh, Murasaki!

Far, so far away!

 

AKASHI Such men are fickle as the day:

 

They dazzle all who cross their path,

Then, lost in clouds, they fade away,

Leaving us to suffer in the dark.

 

GENJI thinking of Murasaki:

I long to hold you once again:

Your absence is too hard to bear.

I know we swore we'd never part,

But now.....

 

(He turns slowly to AKASHI. She is aware of

his gaze but does not yet turn to him.)

 

BOTH Strange meeting -

Strange encounter -

GENJI Strange feelings -

AKASHI Fill my heart.

 

AKASHI I feel his eyes

GENJI I feel her hands

AKASHI Like coals of fire

GENJI On every string

AKASHI I freeze

GENJI I burn

AKASHI I cannot bear

GENJI This new desire

BOTH Is she/he a demon

Come to steal my soul?

 

(He touches her hand - she stops playing.

They look into each other's eyes for the

first time.)

 

More sensually:

 

BOTH I swore

I'd die

Before

I gave myself

To such unwanted fire.

 

(She tears her eyes away and, like a wild thing,

plays a furious improvisation. After a moment of

this, this he muses while she plays:)

 

GENJI

Oh, Murasaki!

Why are you so far away?

The very sight of her

Only makes me long for you.

There is a tiger in her soul

And I must possess her!

 

(He puts an arm around her waist - )

A silence. He dislodges her robe from her

shoulder. At once she tears herself away from him,

leaving the robe in his hands. She cowers in a

corner, a wild animal at bay. He throws down

the obi and moves towards her. At once she

springs at him with open claws. He seizes the

tiger in his embrace as the lights fade and

Rokujo's warning roars out in the orchestra.)

 

Immediately, the lights come up on SUZAKU and

KOKIDEN.

 

---

13 : The Emperor's decision

---

 

The Emperor SUZAKU is much disturbed: he has

summoned KOKIDEN to him in the middle of the night.

 

SUZAKU On the third month, on the thirteenth day,

As the wind and thunder raged,

A lightning flash revealed

The spirit of my father,

Standing beside my bed.

He stared at me. He raised his hand

And slowly pointed towards Akashi.

 

KOKIDEN We all can dream

Of things upon our minds.

It's nothing - nothing -

Forget it all - go back to bed.

 

SUZAKU I cannot forget his eyes -

They still burn into mine.

As long as Genji suffers in the wilderness

I know these endless storms,

These omens that disturb the court,

Will darken all our lives.

No, Genji shall be pardoned -

He must return.

 

KOKIDEN infuriated

Pardoned!?

You send a man to exile -

A traitor, an adulterer -

And pardon him before three years are cold?

The world will cry:

"How weak and shallow is the Emperor!"

 

SUZAKU weary The Emperor is ill,

And you are ill -

All of us, we wither

Beneath the eyes of angry Gods,

And both of us know why.

Genji shall return

And I shall abdicate

In favor of Reizen -

My father's - (he pauses a moment) - other son.

 

KOKIDEN almost a shriek

The bastard child of Genji and Fujitsubo?

Have you gone mad, my son?

 

SUZAKU strengthened by her outburst

The son of my father and Fujitsubo!

And Genji shall be Regent, as he deserves.

 

KOKIDEN falling to her knees

You wish to see your mother die of shame?

Let me die at the hands of the Gods,

But not of shame!

 

SUZAKU My mother: always a fury in revenge,

Now a giant in despair!

Come, rise -

And let the world think what it will!

 

(As SUZAKU leaves, followed by a broken KOKIDEN,

the scene changes immediately to the island of

Akashi.)

 

 

---

14 : Departure from Akashi

---

 

GENJI has received the Emperor's letter. He stands

with it in his hand. KOREMITSU and TO-NO-CHUJO

kneel nearby, while the OLD RECLUSE comforts the

LADY OF AKASHI in a corner of the room.

 

TO-NO-CHUJO You are commanded home.

 

KOREMITSU Returned to favor -

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Returned to love -

 

KOREMITSU To rank and fortune -

 

TO-NO-CHUJO with a glance at Akashi:

And to love.....

 

(GENJI looks irritably at TO-NO-CHUJO - who only

bows - then crosses to AKASHI and her father.)

 

GENJI My lady - sir,

The pain of parting

Mixed with joy

Is too much for us all to bear -

 

(The OLD RECLUSE takes the hint and withdraws to a

distance with TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU.

 

GENJI kneels beside AKASHI.)

 

GENJI quietly New life calls me to my Emperor -

And though I hate to leave you,

Both of us knew this day must come.

 

AKASHI bitter "The pain of parting mixed with joy"!

The joy for you, the pain for me.

 

GENJI Be glad for me and I will carry all your pain.

 

AKASHI Better you should go before there's time

To doubt your tears.

 

BOTH I swore

I'd die

Before.....

 

(They are still for a moment while the music wells

up with their unspoken emotions.

 

Then GENJI rises and leaves with the others.

 

AKASHI is alone. The broken phrases of her aria

represent her efforts to restrain her weeping.)

 

[ARIA]

 

AKASHI Sad as a wave that leaves the shore

He goes.

Sad he may be, and yet

He knows

This lonely shore is left

As dry

As stones upon the sand -

And I

Have only salty tears

To weep......

While sleep

Shall never close these eyes

Again.

Though rain

May beat upon my head

And batter at my door,

This empty house

Shall only know an empty heart -

My bitterness,

His joy at parting,

And my pain.

 

[AKASHI continues:]

 

Oh, foolish women!

I envy those who never cross his path,

Who never offer him their love,

Their pain,

Who never are defiled.

My child

And I shall wait upon the shore

In vain.

 

(The lights fade on Akashi as the Interlude

begins.)

 

---

15 : Interlude : Panorama

---

 

GENJI is seen returning home. In slow motion his

whole life passes by him, like ships at sea going

in the opposite direction:

 

Himself as a child

Fujitsubo

Rokujo

Aoi

Kokiden

Suzaku

The Old Emperor

Koremitsu

To-no-Chujo

Murasaki

 

As GENJI and MURASAKI meet the other characters

fade from view and they are left alone together.

 

 

 

---

16 : Death and farewell

---

 

MURASAKI is more beautiful than ever.

 

GENJI Are you Fujitsubo?

Are you Murasaki?

 

BOTH So long I've/you've waited for this day -

MURASAKI So long I've stored away my dreams,

Can I believe the shadows part

To let me see the sun once more?

 

BOTH For you and I are here.

 

MURASAKI [ Yesterday I looked for your reflection:

There, lying on my shoulder,

I found one hair of grief.

I give it to you now

So you may know I'll never weep again.

 

GENJI This one white hair

Fills me with guilty wonder: ]

How could I have lived so long

Without my Murasaki?

 

BOTH And now the Spring has come again

To wake me with your love.

 

MURASAKI Your eyes are clouded -

 

GENJI With guilty tears and memories

Of that so distant shore.

 

MURASAKI If there were no one on that shore

To fill your eyes with tears -

 

GENJI Forgive! (as much to Akashi as to Murasaki)

 

MURASAKI - Then could I forgive your sighs.

 

GENJI Today, tomorrow and forever

I am yours.

Forget our yesterdays,

 

MURASAKI quiet Forget our yesterdays -

 

BOTH Forget our sighs, our tears.

Today, tomorrow and forever

I am yours.

 

(They embrace. But TO-NO-CHUJO enters with a

letter.)

 

TO-NO-CHUJO I bring you double news of sorrow:

The soul of Lady Rokujo has flown this world -

And Fujitsubo...

She is very sick - [Small pause]

And near to death.

 

(GENJI gives MURASAKI a tender look and turns away

to read the letter. MURASAKI sits, a little

apart, with her back to the audience.)

 

GENJI "For some time now..."

 

FUJITSUBO's VOICE (MURASAKI singing)

For some time now

I have been sure this year

Would see the end of my life.

Maybe on earth

You'll keep our secret,

But in the clouds above

 

BOTH We cannot hide our shame -

 

FUJITSUBO I know our sins

Have robbed me of salvation

And so I leave you -

 

GENJI " - leave you..."

 

FUJITSUBO With all our memories

And all my love.

 

(GENJI Lifts empty eyes, empty heart from the

letter.

 

KOREMITSU rushes in, kneels, head bowed,

speechless.)

 

GENJI Darkness closes up my heart.

 

(Then, suddenly, he crushes the letter with

violent movement.)

 

GENJI If I could only thread my way

Along the sunless rivers

Of the world below

I'd follow you!

 

(MURASAKI lets out a cry of grief and pain as she

falls unconscious on the ground. TO-NO-CHUJO

rushes to her. GENJI is transfixed: he cannot distinguish

in his mind between MURASAKi and FUJITSUBO

- both are dying in his heart.)

 

GENJI She will never know me again -

Never know how much I loved her -

Never forgive me for my sins -

If I could die with her!

 

TO-NO-CHUJO Red leaves fall again:

It was this month Aoi died...

 

(Slowly MURASAKI stretches out her hand towards

GENJI. TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU move away into

the shadows where they will remain until the end

of the opera.

 

A voice that GENJI believes to be MURASAKI's

speaks, but it is the voice of ROKUJO whose SPIRIT

slowly materializes behind MURASAKI.)

 

MURASAKI Genji - my Genji...

Where is my Genji?

 

GENJI as he kneels to her:

Oh Murasaki -

 

ROKUJO as MURASAKI

You speak to one who knows no end to night -

How can she tell the truth from dreams?

 

GENJI Murasaki -

 

ROKUJO No, not Murasaki, not Fujitsubo!

You know me well,

And I remember you -

Heartless, dishonest, treacherous!

You cheated your own heart

When you betrayed your vows!

 

(Rokujo) (Her voice, for a moment, is choked with sobs.)

 

Do not think, among the realms of night,

I have not seen your wandering path.

Nothing has brought me to the realms of death

But all the passions that destroyed my life:

 

(GENJI seizes MURASAKI in his arms.)

 

GENJI Rokujo -

Forgiveness is all I ask,

So that love may not die in my arms.

 

ROKUJO Listen to me!

I would not harm your love -

If it were kind and true -

But nothing,

No, not death itself

Can change the path of evil

That this agony of passion

Has set upon its course.

 

(As she vanishes, MURASAKI stirs in GENJI's arms.)

 

MURASAKI herself

Shall one fragile drop of dew

Escape the shining sun?

Oh Genji......

 

(She dies.)

 

GENJI She did not wait

To see the dawn.

 

[GENJI'S LAST ARIA]

 

The sun has risen once again

To smile upon the Shining One,

But the eyes of my soul have opened

To feel the agony I've brought

To those I love:

Fujitsubo, Aoi, Rokujo,

Akashi, Murasaki -

Each one I loved

But loved them for my pleasure

Each one I left,

And left them in despair.

 

(Genji) The Shining One!

Most wretched man of all!

Since you was born

You have hunted a dream.

A thousand times I ask the gods,

Why do I walk upon this earth?

 

[The Shining One!

What use is beauty,

What use is power,

If all they bring

Is loneliness and sorrow? ]

 

Why do we live this wretched life,

Chasing only selfish dreams?

 

[ Are we the playthings of the Gods,

Moved upon the board of life

To satisfy some cruel game?

Why do you give us love?

Why do you let us hope to find

Happiness, or peace of mind?

 

And I, most wretched man of all,

No longer do I ask forgiveness,

No longer do I seek

To live another day

In this dark world.

All I ask, Amida,

All I ask you is to grant

Oblivion. ]

 

Oblivion is all I ask

For I am weary of this world's decay.

The sun is smiling on the Shining One

But in my heart I weep

Until a veil of tears

Shall hide me from the world.

 

(During the above, the OLD EMPEROR has appeared

near GENJI.

 

Now there is a splendid transformation as the

screens to the Palace open and the whole Court is

seen assembled to welcome GENJI as Regent to

RYOZEN, the young emperor who is in fact his own

son.

 

As GENJI turns slowly upstage to be arrayed in his

glory, The OLD EMPEROR comes forward.

 

Gagaku music plays quietly during the OLD

EMPEROR's last solo.

 

He addresses us with the same gentle irony as at

the beginning of the opera.

 

OLD EMPEROR But Amida was not to grant his prayer,

No, not for many years.

His private tears must fall unseen,

For Genji, my beloved son,

Who could never reign as Emperor himself,

Was destined to found a line of emperors -

And still the sun shines down

Upon his silent, aching, aging

Heart.

 

As GENJI takes his place in the Court, the OLD EMPEROR, after

a moment of pride, slowly leaves the stage.

 

CHORUS + TO-NO-CHUJO and KOREMITSU

Glory! Glory!

Glory to the Shining One!

The sun shines down in majesty!

The sun blesses us with his power!

May he shine on us for ever

And bless us as he shines in glory!

Glory! Glory! Glory! Glory!

 

A SLOW FADE - OUT IN SILENCE

 

 

---

 

Summary of musical numbers

 

Act One

 

1: The Old Emperor Prelude

Chorus

Prologue: Old Emperor

 

2: Fujitsubo and Rokujo Scene: Fujitsubo, Genji Duet

Aria: Rokujo (with Genji)

 

3: Genji and To-no-Chujo Arioso: Genji

Scene: Genji, To-no-Chujo

Scherzo: To-no-Chujo

Scene: Genji, To-no-Chujo

Aria: Genji (with To-no-Chujo)

 

4: Murasaki Scene & Trio: Shonagon, Genji, Murasaki

 

5: The Warning Dream Genji, Rokujo, Aoi, Old Emperor, To-no-Chujo

 

6: The Autumn Festival Entrance Music

Chorus

"Waves of the Azure Sea" and Scene: Old Emperor, Kokiden, Suzaku, Chorus

"Waves" 2nd movement: Kokiden, Old Emperor, Ensemble

Proclamation: Old Emperor, Kokiden

["Autumn Winds": Fujitsubo, Genji, Aoi]

Departure: Old Emperor, Koremitsu, Genji, Aoi

Scene/duet: Fujitsubo and Genji

 

Interlude: Passage of time

 

7: Heartvine and Lavender Scene/Trio: Murasaki, Genji, Aoi (Aoi aria)

Death Scene: Koremitsu, Aoi, To-no-Chujo, Genji

Chorus men, Rokujo

 

8: Rokujo and Genji Aria: Genji

Aria: Rokujo

Duet: Rokujo, Genji

 

Act Two

 

9: Banishment and Farewells

Scene: Kokiden, Suzaku

Duet: Murasaki, Genji,

Chorus women

 

10: Scene: Suzaku, Kokiden

Duet: Genji, Fujitsubo

 

Interlude: Farewell and the Journey to Suma (koto concerto)

 

11: Exile on Suma and the Storm

Trio: Genji, To-no-Chujo, Koremitsu

Duet: Murasaki, Genji

Storm: Genji, Sumiyoshi/ Old Emperor/Recluse, Koremitsu, To-no-Chujo, Chorus

 

Interlude (pipa concerto etc)

 

12: The dwelling on Akashi Scene: Genji, Old Recluse

Duet: Akashi, Genji

 

13: The Emperor's Decision Scene: Suzaku, Kokiden

 

14: Departure from Akashi Scene: Genji, To-no-Chujo, Koremitsu, Akashi

Old Recluse

Aria: Akashi

 

15: Interlude : Panorama

 

16: Death and Farewell Duet: Murasaki, Genji

Death scene: To-no-Chujo, Genji, Koremitsu, Rokujo, Murasaki/Fujitsubo

Aria: Genji

Coda: Chorus, Old Emperor, To-no-Chujo, Koremitsu

 

---

Libretto courtesy Opera Theatre of Saint Louis © Colin Graham, 2000. All rights reserved.

 

See also the Interview with Minoru Miki

 

Opera japonica 24/6/2000