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THE OVAL PORTRAIT
libretto adapted by Edward Lambert from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe
NARRATOR
The chateau into which I had ventured
was a pile of commingled gloom and grandeur
which to all appearance had been lately abandoned.
I found myself in a remote turret of the building,
whose decorations were rich, yet tattered and antique.
Its walls were bedecked with a great number
of modern paintings in rich golden frames,
to the contemplation of which
the light of a tall candelabrum
allowed me to resign myself.
Long and devoutly I gazed
until I suddenly glanced in vivid light
a portrait of a young girl just ripening into womanhood.
I closed my eyes to make sure
this vision had not deceived me.
In a few moments I again looked up.
That I now saw aright I could not and would not doubt:
as a thing of art, adorned in a richly gilded oval frame,
nothing could be more wonderful than the painting itself. But it was neither the execution of the work,
nor the immortal beauty of the countenance
which had so vehemently moved me.
I had found the spell of the picture
in an absolute life-likeness of expression,
which, at first startling,
finally confounded, subdued and appalled me.
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With deep and reverent awe,
I perused a small volume placed nearby
which discussed the painting and its history.
These were the words I read:
BOOK
She was a maiden of rarest beauty,
not more lovely than full of joy.
Evil was the hour when she saw,
and loved, and wedded the painter.
He, passionate, wild and moody,
and having already a bride in his Art;
she, all light and smiles, loving and cherishing all things.
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The artist soon spole
04:35
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The artist soon spoke of his desire to portray his young bride;
she was humble and obedient, and sat meekly
for many weeks in the dark turret-chamber while he would not see that the light in that lone turret withered the health and spirits of his bride
who pined visibly to all but him.
Yet she smiled on and still on,
because she saw that her husband
took a fervid and burning pleasure in his task,
and wrought day and night to depict her who so loved him,
yet who grew daily more dispirited and weak.
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And he would not see
that the tints that he spread upon the canvas
were drawn from the cheeks of her who sat beside him.
Those who beheld the portrait
spoke of its likeness as a mighty marvel
and proof of the artist’s deep love for her
whom he depicted so surpassingly well.
And when but little remained to do,
save one brush upon the mouth and one tint upon the eye,
the spirit of the lady flickered up as a flame within the lamp.
The brush was given, the tint was placed;
and for one moment the painter stood
entranced before the work which he had wrought; crying with a loud voice
‘This is indeed Life itself!’
he turned to his beloved:
she was dead!
NARRATOR
And, as I read how the last brush stroke and the last tint had taken away the life of the lady of the oval portrait...
BOOK
So let it be now
that you who have read these words
and have gazed on the portrait of the lady shall also die!
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And when but little remained to do,
save one brush upon the mouth and one tint upon the eye,
the spirit of the lady flickered up as a flame within the lamp.
The brush was given, the tint was placed;
and for one moment the painter stood
entranced before the work which he had wrought; crying with a loud voice
‘This is indeed Life itself!’
he turned to his beloved:
she was dead!
NARRATOR
And, as I read how the last brush stroke and the last tint had taken away the life of the lady of the oval portrait...
BOOK
So let it be now
that you who have read these words
and have gazed on the portrait of the lady shall also die!
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