A Romantic Opera in Three Acts


Act 1
Scene: The Grey Havens
    The Sindarin sea captain Círdalan (bass) has sought refuge from the storm in the Havens. He is in a bad mood because the storm has driven him far off course. He goes down to the galley and tells the Mate, Hildifons Took (countertenor) to take over the watch. Tired, he falls asleep. A mysterious, black-painted hot air balloon comes down from the sky. It lands, and out of it steps a Balrog with a pale white face and wearing a cape.
    The Balrog is under a curse. Puffed up with self-importance and vanity, he once claimed he had wings. Eru punished him for his lie by condemning him to fly forever under the sky, held up by all the hot air he is full of. Every seventh year he may land and seek a woman who is willing to wed him; that is the only way the curse can be broken. Now it is once more time for him to go a-wooing.  After having sung the recitative "Die Frist is um" he laments his sad fate in the famous aria:

     I'm in the muck;
    Alas for all my rotten luck!
    Tempestuous winds have toss'd me far
    Ha! Louring sky!
    Soon I will traverse thee again!
    My search will once more be in vain...

    Círdalan comes up on deck and beholds the stranger. He learns that the stranger is of a noble kind that one should not dare to raise one's hand against, and that he has travelled far without finding the way back to his own home. Círdalan invites him to his residence, and in return, the stranger gives him a chest filled with gold and diamonds. Círdalan relates that he has a daughter, and the stranger asks for her hand in marriage. Círdalan is overjoyed at the thought of getting such a rich son-in-law and accepts the offer. The two skippers go to his house.

Act 2
Scene:  Círdalan's great hall.
    A number of Elven women are spinning cloth in the great hall. One of them is Ortrud (bass), who has been the nanny of Círdalan's daughter Harras (soprano). Harras is beset by thoughts of the unhappy Balrog who is said to haunt the skies, driven by puffs of hot air. There is an old painting of the Balrog above the door. While the other women work, Harras sits in contemplation of the painting. Ortrud is asked to sing the song about the Balrog, but she refuses. In her stead, Harras sings the ballad about the unhappy Balrog who can only be saved if a woman promises him her faithful love:

    Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo! Yoo-hoo!
    A big balloon flies in the high,
    All painted black under the sky!
    A Balrog pale directs its course,
    His conscience writhing in remorse.
    Hooee! How wild the tempest blows!:/:  
    Hoo-hoo-ee!:/:
    Hooee! The cloud-sea swiftly flows!:/:
    Hoo-hoo-ee!:/:
    Hooee! An arrow like he travels on,
    And is gone - is gone!
   
    Harras is deeply moved by the legend of the Balrog and reveals that her innermost wish is to be the woman who saves him.
    Harras' friend, the hunter Erion (tenor) enters and is taken aback by what Harras tells him. When he informs the women that Círdalan is on his way home, they go to meet him. Only Harras and Erion stay behind, and Erion pleads with Harras not to marry the Balrog. He tells her that Balrogs are here one day, gone the next, and sings to her:

    Il Balrog è mobile,
    propulsio von vento...

    Harras interrupts him and begs him not to destroy a German opera by singing in Italian, and execrable Italian at that.
    The door opens, and Círdalan and the Balrog come in. Círdalan tells them about his meeting with the stranger, that the stranger is rich and that he has asked for Harras' hand in marriage.
    Harras readily agrees. The Balrog is overjoyed, and so is Círdalan, who immediately begins to arrange the betrothal party.

Act 3
Scene: The Grey Havens
    Círdalan's ship is at anchor in the harbour and the Balrog's hot-air balloon anchored to the ground, ready to go aloft. The Elven women bring food and drink, and Círdalan's sailors gladly accept the fare. However, all is silent and dark aboard the strange air balloon. When the Elves try to get the Balrog's crew to join the party, they respond by singing a ghastly and horrifying song:

    Die Frage, ob die Welt einen Anfang und irgendeine Grenze
    ihrer Ausdehnung im Raume habe;
    ob es irgendwo und vielleicht in meinem denkendem Selbst
    eine unteilbare und unzerstörliche Einheit oder nichts
    als das Teilbare und Vergängliche gebe;
    ob ich in meinen Handlungen frei oder wie andere Wesen
    an dem Faden der Natur und des Schicksals geleitet sei;
    ob es endlich eine oberste Weltursache gebe
    oder die Naturdinge und deren Ordnung den letzten
    Gegenstand ausmachen, bei dem wir
    in allen unseren Betrachtungen stehenbleiben müssen,
    das sind Fragen, um deren Auflösung der Mathematiker
    gern seine ganze Wissenschaft dahingäbe;
    denn diese kann ihm doch in Ansehung der höchsten
    und angelegsten Zwecke der Menschheit
    keine Befriedigung verschaffen.

    After their song, silence and gloom reign undisturbed all over the Havens.
    Erion comes out of Círdalan's house and accuses Harras of having betrayed his love. Harras defends herself, saying that she never promised him anything definite, adding that anyway, his suffering is insignificant compared to that of the stranger.
    The Balrog, witnessing this, thinks that Harras has broken her promise to marry him. But since she has not yet made that promise before Eru, she will be spared from the curse that usually is the lot of those who have failed him. He reveals his true identity and orders his crew to cast loose the balloon.
    Harras cries to him that she has known all along who he is. She runs up to the top of a mountain and tries to jump aboard the gondola of the balloon, but misses and falls to a grisly death far below. The Balrog jumps after her and (being wingless) is also killed by his fall, breaking the mountain-side where he smites it in his ruin. His corpse lies like mash beside that of Harras. But then, from the dead bodies two grey mists gather and rise slowly from the ground. They are the ghosts of Harras and the Balrog, and they are two happy ghosts. Together they travel upwards and dissolve like puffs of smoke.

The End

Öjevind Lång