Libretto
| Description/Analysis | French Lyrics | English Lyrics |
| CINQUIÈME ACTE SCÈNE 1 |
ACT FIVE SCENE 1 |
|
| (Un bois consacré à Diane sur le ravage de la mer) | (Diana’s grove by the sea) | |
| Thésée monologue [“hybrid” piece, between accompanied recitative and aria, but no da capo] (Opens G minor, but ends V of G. A remorseful Thésée has learned that he has killed an innocent son and is about to end his life by jumping into the sea, but is stopped by Neptune who arrives upon the scene.) | ||
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| Grands Dieux! de quels remords je me sens déchirer! | Great gods! With what remorse I am torn apart! | |
| Que d’horreurs à la fois! J'ai vu Phèdre expirer. | So many horrors all at once! I saw Phèdre die. | |
| Quelle mystère odieux! Quel amour détestable! | What an abominable mystery! What a detestable love! | |
| La perfide, en mourant, vient de me déclarer! | The perfidious one, while dying, just confessed to me! | |
| Mon fils... ô douleur qui m'accable! | My son… O grief that overwhelms me! | |
| Il était innocent. Dieux, que je suis coupable! | He was innocent. Gods, how guilty I am! | |
| Rentrons dans les Enfers! Qui peut me retenir? | I must return to Hell! Who can stop me? | |
| D’un monstre tel que moi délivrons la nature! | From a monster such as me, let us free nature! | |
| De la plus horrible imposture | For the most horrible deceit | |
| Les perfidies auteurs viennent de se punir. | The perfidious authors have just been punished. | |
| Mes parricides vœux ont consommé le crime, | My parricidal vows have consummated the crime, | |
| Et je dois à mon fils sa dernière victime. | And I owe it to my son to be the last victim. | |
| (switch to unaccompanied recitative) | Dieu des mers, aux mortels cache-moi pour jamais! | God of the seas, from the sight of mortals hide me forever! |
| (Thésée veut se précipiter dans la mer.) | (Thésée is about to throw himself into the sea.) |
| Description/Analysis | French Lyrics | English Lyrics |
| CINQUIÈME ACTE SCENE 2 |
ACT FIVE SCENE 2 |
|
| Thésée, Neptune [recitative dialogue] (Action mixes joy and sorrow: Thésée learns from Neptune that Hippolyte has survived, but is also informed that he may never again see his son; harmonies are similarly mixed, opening in G minor and moving more deeply into the flat region until it settles towards the end of the scene in C minor for an air in which Thésée expresses his deep regrets.) | ||
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| Arrête! | Stop! | |
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| Pour un fils quelle pitié vous presse? | For such a son what kind of pity presses you? | |
| Lassez-moi prévenir la foudre vengeresse! | Let me pre-empt the avenging thunderbolt! | |
| Après le plus noir des forfaits, | After the blackest of crimes, | |
| Ouvrez-moi pour tombeau vos demeures profondes! | Open for me as a tomb your deepest abodes! | |
| Que la mort, que je cherche au milieu de vos ondes, | Let death, which I seek amidst your waves, | |
| Soit le dernier de vos bienfaits! | Be the last of your good deeds! | |
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| Ton bras à l’univers est encore nécessaire. | Your presence in the universe is still needed. | |
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| Ciel! ne puis-je attendrir un père? | Heavens! Can I not soften a father’s heart? | |
| Que je venge mon fils! | Let me avenge my son! | |
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| Va! ton fils n’est pas mort. | Go! Your son is not dead. | |
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| Il n’est pas mort! Quels Dieux auraient pris sa défense? | He is not dead! What gods would have undertaken his defense? | |
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| (switch to accompanied recitative) | Diane a pris soin de son sort. | Diane has taken care of his fate. |
| Je servais malgré moi ton aveugle transport, | I served despite myself your blind rage | |
| Quand le Destin dont la puissance | When Destiny, whose power | |
| Fait trembler les Enfers, et la terre et les cieux, | Causes trembling in Hell, and on earth and in the heavens, | |
| A daigné m’affranchir d’un serment odieux | Deigned to release me from an odious oath | |
| Qui faisait périr l’innocence. | Which caused innocence to perish. | |
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| O mon fils, mon cher fils, je puis donc te revoir! | O my son, my dear son, I can thus see you again! | |
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| (back to unaccompanied recitative) | Il faut perdre un si doux espoir. | You must abandon such a sweet hope. |
| Pour te punir d’une injuste vengeance, | To punish you for an unjust vengeance, | |
| Le Destin pour jamais t’interdit sa présence. | Destiny forever denies you his presence. | |
| THÉSÉE | THÉSÉE | |
| (in C minor) | [Air] | [Air] |
| Je ne te verrai plus! Ô juste châtiment! | I shall never see you again! O just punishment! | |
| Au lieu d’un tendre embrassement, | Instead of a tender embrace, | |
| Mon fils, reçois les vœux d’un trop coupable père! | My son, accept the wishes of too guilty a father! | |
| Puisqu’on met entre nous un rempart éternel, | Since between us an eternal barrier is placed, | |
| Puisses-tu dans le sein d’une terre étrangère, | May you in the bosom of a foreign land, | |
| Jouir de cette paix si charmante et si chère | Enjoy this peace that is so charming and cherished | |
| Que tu n’as pu trouver dans le sein paternel! | That you could not find in a paternal embrace! | |
| (C major-G major region, back to recitative) | ||
| NEPTUNE | NEPTUNE | |
| Douter de son bonheur, c’est nous faire un outrage ; | To doubt his happiness, that would be an outrage to us; | |
| Va, laisse aux immortels achever leur ouvrage. | Go, let the immortals finish their work. | |
| (Neptune rentre sous les flots et Thésée se retire.) | (Neptune returns beneath the waves and Thésée withdraws.) |
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