The Epic of Gilgamesh , an oratorio for soprano, tenor, baritone and bass soloists, choir and orchestra, was written at Nice and completed in 1955. It is...
The Epic of Gilgamesh, an oratorio for soprano,
tenor, baritone and bass soloists, choir and orchestra, was written at Nice and
completed in 1955. It is dedicated to Maja Sacher, the wife of Paul Sacher to
whom he had been indebted as a patron and then as a generous benefactor during
his final years of illness. Martinů made use at first of the English
translation of the ancient Babylonian epic by Campbell Thompson, a version that
has seriously dated since its original publication in 1928 and 1930. A Czech
translation of the English followed. The poem had its source in ancient
Sumeria, to be expanded later in the Akkadian language of Babylonia. The hero,
Gilgamesh, although the subject of legendary exploits, actually ruled in
Babylonia about 2700 B.C. In the poem he is accompanied by Enkidu, a wild man
tamed by a courtesan and his constant friend and companion in his adventures.
Enkidu rejects the advances of Ishtar, the goddess of love, and when they kill
the bull she sends to punish them, the gods take revenge by killing him.
Gilgamesh, in grief, seeks a means of restoring his friend to life, and finally
learns from his shade about the world of the dead.
The
oratorio is in three parts, the first based on Tablets 1 and 2 of the twelve
tablets preserved from the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria (669-630
B.C.), the second on Tablets 7, 8 and 10 and the third on Tablet 12. The
remarkable setting of the ancient poem by Martinů captures the joy and
grief of the ancient world, where death was sudden and inexorable. It is scored
with considerable delicacy and subtlety to evoke the past in an eclectic use of
modes and telling contrasts of the sung and spoken word that add considerably
to the underlying drama.
The
first part of the oratorio, Gilgamesh,
opens mysteriously (1), the chorus leading to the entry of the bass soloist
praising Gilgamesh, the matter taken up by the chorus again (2). The bass
soloist describes the creation of Enkidu (3) intoning without accompaniment,
except for the addition at one point of a single clarinet note. The chorus goes
on to describe Enkidu's way of life in the desert (4) and the tenor, speaking,
tells how a hunter had met him and been afraid. His father advises him to use a
courtesan to lure Enkidu to the city (5) and the chorus launches into a lively
account of how Enkidu approaches the well where the hunter and courtesan await
him (6). The tenor soloist then urges the girl to reveal her beauty to the wild
man (7) and to an orchestral accompaniment of increasing excitement the chorus
tells how she seduces him. The bass soloist, assisted by the chorus, resumes
the narrative (8), explaining that the cattle now turned away from Enkidu, who
had lost his primitive innocence. The woman addresses him (9), praising his
god-like beauty in rhapsodic terms and leading him to Erech and to Gilgamesh
and to the delights of the city, now with the women's voices of the chorus,
sustaining a wordless accompaniment. The tenor then declaims Enkidu's willing
response (10), and the chorus goes on to describe Enkidu's approach and the
great contest of Enkidu and Gilgamesh.
The
second part, The Death of Enkidu,
opens with muted trumpets in music of spare and mysterious texture (11). The
women's voices of the chorus sing of the power of death. The bass soloist,
speaking, then tells of Enkidu's premonition of death (12), the tenor, as
Enkidu, singing of his ominous dream. He continues to describe his meeting with
the Queen of the Underworld (13), the chorus repeating its warning of the power
of death. Then, without accompaniment, the chorus tells of Enkidu lying on his
death-bed (14). The orchestra adds its own ominous comment (15) and the
baritone soloist, as Gilgamesh, grieves at the approaching death of his friend.
The chorus, again unaccompanied, describes further Enkidu's death-bed (16),
followed by the lament of Gilgamesh. The chorus warns him that there is no
remedy for death (17) and the orchestra adds its own hymn of mourning. The
baritone soloist, Gilgamesh, now tells of his wandering in the desert in
sadness (18), seeking death himself. The chorus urges him to desist (19), since
death is allotted by fate.
The
third part, Invocation, starts with a
hushed orchestral introduction (20), after which the soprano soloist asks
Gilgamesh why he is grieving (21). He replies, bemoaning the death of Enkidu
(22). In speech, accompanied by wordless women's chorus, the sorrowing of
Gilgamesh is described (23), framed by a wordless lament in which the soprano
soloist joins. Now the chorus urges Enkidu to rise from the dead (24).
Gilgamesh goes to the temple of Enlil and begs his intercession (25), but in
vain. He beseeches the Moon God (26), but again in vain. Then he turns to Eia (27),
and all join to beg that Enkidu may rise from the dead. This is urged even more
strongly (28) and the spirit of Enkidu emerges from the earth. Questioned now,
he tells what he has seen in the Land of the Dead (29), Enkidu's spirit
represented by the bass soloist. The work ends in the mood of mysterious and
archaic fatalism in which it has been largely set, Enkidu's final response
echoing through the caverns of the Underworld.
Text
Part
1
Gilgamesh
[1]
Bass solo & chorus
Gilgamesh!
He
who the heart of all matter hath proven,
let
him teach the nation!
He
who all knowledge possesseth shall school all the people.
He
shall his wisdom impart and so shall they share it together
[2]
Gilgamesh!
Leaveth
no son to his father,
leaveth
no maid to her mother,
nor a
spouse to a husband!
He is
our shepherd, masterful, dominant!
He
leaveth no son to his father! No maid to her mother!
Nay!
Nor a spouse to a husband!
O
he's our shepherd, our master!
Dominant!
Masterful Gilgamesh!
[3]
Bass solo
To
the appeal of their wailing Goddess Aruru gave ear,
She
fingered some clay, on the desert, she moulded it:
thus
on the desert Enkidu made she a warrior.
In
the way of a woman he snooded his locks,
sprouted
luxuriant growth of his hair
like
the awns of the barley,
[4]
(Chorus) nor knew the people nor land.
With
gazelles did he pasture on herbage.
Along
with the beast did his heart delight at the water,
with
the cattle.
Speaker
Then
did a hunter come face to face with him,
one,
two, three days, at the place where the beast drank water.
Sooth
his face o'ermantled with terror.
Unto
his steading he went dismayed, affrighted,
and
his face was one of one who hath gone a far journey.
then
his father said to him:
[5]
Bass solo
Go,
my hunter, take with thee a courtesan girl.
When
he the cattle shall gather again
to
the place of their drinking
so
shall she put off her mantle,
the
charm of her beauty revealing.
Then
shall he spy her, will embrace her,
and
his cattle will deny him.
[6]
Chorus
Forth
went the hunter, took with him a courtesan girl.
One
day, two days, they sat by the place.
Then
at last came the cattle and there was Enkidu also.
With
the cattle did he pasture on herbage.
Along
with the beast did his heart delight of the water,
Enkidu!
[7]
Tenor solo
'Tis
he, o girl, 'Tis he! 0 discover thy beauty,
in no
wise be bashful, ravish the soul of him!
O,
loosen thy mantle so that he clasp thee,
and
with the wiles of a woman shalt ply him.
His
animals will deny him, to his breast he has held thee.
Bashful
she was not, ravished the soul of him,
loosing
her mantle. Ah!
[8]
Bass solo & chorus
Then
he turned his face to his cattle,
how
they scampered away! Him! Yes!
Enkidu!
Fled from his presence the beast of the desert ...
Enkidu
losing his innocence, so the cattle fled from him.
He hath
attained his full growth, and hath broadened wisdom!
Sat
he again at the feet of the woman
and
thus unto Enkidu spake she:
[9]
Soprano solo
Yea,
as I see thee, like to a God, Enkidu, shalt be,
like
a God, comely thou art!
Why
with the beast dost thou range over the desert?
Come
with me! I will guide thee!
I'll
lead thee to Erech the high walled,
to
the temple sacred, where highest in power,
Gilgamesh
is! Come, come!
Where
the people array in festal attire,
gorgeous,
each day is a revel!
Dancing
girls, come, o come with me!
Come,
where people array them gorgeous in festival attire,
priests
clashing their cymbals and dancing girls,
flown
with their wantoning gleeful. Come!
[10]
Tenor solo
The
advice of the woman struck home in his bosom.
Up
then, o girl, to the temple, the holy and sacred,
invite
me, where highest in power Gilgamesh is!
I
will summon him, challenging boldly. I too am mighty!
Entered
Enkidu Erech of a truth,
like
to Gilgamesh is he of a truth!
There
doth he block up the passage to Gilgamesh,
with
his foot he barred up the door.
Gilgamesh
rushed to attack him.
They
grappled and roared like a beast! O!
The
door trembled, the wall crumbled. O!
They
grappled and struggled and snorted and strangled,
they
grappled and roared like a beast! The wall crumbled!
Part
II
The
Death of Enkidu
[11]
Chorus
Who,
my friend, is unconquered by death?
The
God liveth in the daylight,
but
mortals, their days are numbered.
Who,
my friend, is not defeated by death?
A God
liveth in the daylight,
but
mortals, their days are numbered, yes!
[12]
Speaker
Gilgamesh
and Enkidu now become devoted friends.
But
Enkidu is sick, Enkidu dreamt,
that
the Gods have taken counsel together
that
Enkidu is to die!
Enkidu
came in the night to discover
his
heaviness unto his friend.
Tenor
solo
A
dream I have seen in my night-time:
the
firmament roaring echoed the earth ...
I by
myself was standing, when I perceived a man;
all
dark was his face, and was likened unto ...
his
face and nails like claws of a lion.
Me
did he lead to the darkness,
from
which he who entereth cometh forth never.
Aye,
by the road on the passage,
whereof
there can be no returning
unto
the dwelling whose tenants
are
ever bereft of the daylight.
Sitting
in the darkness,
never
the light will they see ..dust..dust.
[13]
When I entered in the house of the dust,
the
Queen of the Underworld she saw me,
she
lifted her head, she saw me ...
Chorus
Who,
my friend, is not defeated by death?
A God
liveth in the daylight, but mortals,
their
days are numbered, yes!
[14]
Enkidu lay for a day, yea, a second,
lying
on his bed was a third and fourth day and fifth,
sixth
and seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth,
while
Enkidu lay in his sickness,
eleventh,
aye, till the twelfth on his bed was Enkidu lying.
[15]
Baritone solo
Unto
me hearken, o Elder, to me shall ye listen!
'Tis
that I weep for Enkidu, bitterly crying
like
to a wailing woman.
Enkidu,
who chased the wild ass, the pard of the desert!
He
who chased the wild pard of the desert!
O,
what is this slumber now that hath overcome thee!
For
now art thou dark, nor art able to hear me?
[16]
Chorus
Enkidu
raised not his eyes, his heart made no beat.
Enkidu
lay for a day, yea, a second,
lying
on his bed was a third and fourth day and fifth,
sixth
and seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth,
while
Enkidu lay in his sickness,
eleventh,
aye, till the twelfth, on his bed was lying!
Baritone
solo
He,
who endured all hardships with me,
whom
I loved dearly, who endured all hardships with me,
is
now perished! Gone to the common lot of mankind,
and I
have bewailed him day and night long!
But
my friend cometh not to my call,
he
like a worm hath lain on his face ...
I
too, shall 1 not die like Enkidu also?
Sorrow
hath entered my heart,
I
fear death as 1 range o'er the desert! ...
[17]
Chorus
Gilgamesh
why runnest thou,
the
life which thou seekest, thou canst not find,
the
Gods death allotted to man,
of
death is the day not revealed.
[18]
Baritone solo
The
hap of my friend lay on me heavy.
O,
'tis a long road that I range o'er the desert.
Yea,
of my friend the hap lay heavy upon me!
O,
how to be silent? How to give voice?
Enkidu
I have so loved, like to the dust has become!
Shall
I not also lay me down like him,
through
all eternity never returning?
[19]
Chorus
Gilgamesh,
why runnest thou?
The
life which thou seekest, thou canst not find.
Shall
we for ever build houses,
for
ever set signet to contract?
Brothers
continue to share, or among foes always be hated?
Will
for ever the stream bring a torrent?
Sleeping
and death are alike,
from
death servant and master, they mark no distinction,
when
once they have reached their span allotted.
For
death is the day not revealed, not revealed!
Part
III
Invocation
[20]
Introduction
[21]
Soprano solo
Gilgamesh,
why is thy force so wasted?
Why
is thy face sunken?
Why
hath thy spirit a sorrow, thy cheerfulness surcease?
Like
one who hath gone a far journey, so is thy face.
[22]
Baritone solo
The
hap of my friend lay on me heavy.
Yea,
of my friend the hap lay heavy upon me!
O,
how to be silent, how to give voice?
O,
how shall I act? Where shall I hie me?
A
Demon hath ravished my courage!
And
Death in my bedchamber broodeth.
Death
is wherever I listen!
O,
how shall I act? Where shall I hie me?
[23]
Speaker
Gilgamesh
having failed to learn the secret of eternal life
is
now calling up his dead friend.
Cried
he for Enkidu out of the earth to ascend.
Cried
he: Not the Plague hath seized him, nor fever,
but
only the earth!
Nor
the God hath seized him, but only the earth!
Neither
fell he there where was battle of mortals.
'Twas
only the earth which hath seized him!
Enkidu,
I pray thee, to rise from the earth!
Chorus
Enkidu,
rise from the earth!
[24]
Soprano solo & chorus
The
earth seized him and not the plague.
It
was only the earth which hath seized him,
not
the Plague God, only the earth.
Speaker
Gilgamesh,
he went all alone unto the temple of the God Enlil!
[25]
Baritone solo & chorus
Enlil,
my Father, the Death hath stricken me also
down
to the earth,
the
death to the earth hath stricken me also!
Shall
I not lay me down like him?
Through
all eternity never returning?
Not
the Plague hath seized him, only the earth.
Not a
God hath seized him, only the earth.
It
was only the earth that seized him.
O,
Enkidu, rise from the earth!
No
answer did Enlil, the father, vouchsafe.
[26]
Moon God, my Father, open a hole in the earth,
that
the spirit of Enkidu may from the earth issue forth!
It
was only the earth that hath seized him.
Enkidu,
rise from the earth!
No
answer did Moon God vouchsafe.
Enkidu,
rise from the earth!
[27]
Ea, my Father, open a hole in the earth,
that
the spirit of Enkidu may from the earth issue forth
and I
can talk with my friend.
Enkidu,
Enkidu! Rise from the earth!!
Ea!
Open a door in the earth!
Enkidu,
Enkidu! Rise from the earth!
[28]
'Twas the earth which hath seized him,
only
the earth, o earth.
Enkidu,
rise from the earth! O!
[29]
Baritone & bass soli, with chorus
God
gave ear to his speaking, opened a hole in the earth,
and
the spirit of Enkidu issued forth from the earth
like a
wind. They embraced and...
Tell
me, my friend, I pray thee, o tell me
what
thou hast seen of the laws of the Underworld!
Tell
me, my friend, o tell me!
He
who fell in ... didst thou see him?
Aye,
I saw! I saw!
He
who falleth from a pole, didst thou see him?
Aye I
saw!
He
whom death . . . didst thou see him?
I
saw, I saw.
He is
at rest upon his bed: limpid water cloth he drink.
Then
the hero, slain in fight, didst thou see him?
Aye,
I saw. O'er him his wife in bitter woe.
He
whose corpse in desert lieth, didst thou see him?
Aye,
1 saw, I saw!
Not
in earth doth rest his spirit.
He
whose ghost hath none to tend,
didst
thou see him?
Aye,
I saw, I saw!
EPOS
O GILGAMESOVI