Guntram

“ Strauss, who was imbued at that time with neo-Christian ideas and the influence of Wagner and Tolstoy, was carried away by the subject, and took Guntram from the Streiter der Liebe, and made him his hero.
The action takes place in the thirteenth century, in Germany. The first act gives us a glade near a little lake. The country people are in revolt against the nobles, and have just been repulsed. Guntram and his master Friedhold distribute alms among them, and the band of defeated men then take flight into the woods. ”

“ He wandered on without meeting a living creature, and came at last to an old dilapidated castle, into the courtyard of which he entered, thankful to have reached a human habitation. He gave his horse to a staring boy, who looked at him as though he were a ghost.
“Where is your master?” queried Guntram.
The boy indicated an ivy-grown tower, to which the knight made his way. The whole place struck him as strangely sombre and weird, a castle of shadows and vague horror. He was shown into a gloomy chamber by an aged attendant, and there awaited the coming of the lord. ”

“ The work has a high-mindedness, a spiritual fervor, an ethos that has never been particularly prominent in Strauss's work as a whole, and that has become more and more infrequent in it as he has grown older. Guntram is a convalescent's work, written in the mood of exalted idealism that convalescence so often brings with it in men of complex nature. But whatever be the physical or psychological explanation of the origin of Guntram, there is no doubt that the music lives in a finer, purer atmosphere than that of Strauss's work as a whole ”

“ The Assessor is an old acquaintance of mine," she added to Kurt and Celia, who looked rather surprised, "and is a constant visitor at the President von Guntram's."
The Assessor's courage returned upon hearing Lucie acknowledge his acquaintance, and he went on with much more confidence than before: "Certainly, Madame--that is, Fräulein Müller, I bring you a message from Fräulein Adèle, and not merely a message. I am not alone; there is a gentleman in the shrubbery who wishes to speak with you. I brought him at Fräulein Adèle's express desire." ”

“ Strauss was too advanced in the composition of his work to escape the neo-Christian renouncement which had to finish the drama; he could only have avoided that by completely remodelling his characters. So Guntram rejects Freihild's love. He sees he has fallen, even as the others, under the curse of sin. He had preached charity to others when he himself was full of egoism; he had killed Robert rather to satisfy his instinctive and animal jealousy than to deliver the people from a tyrant. So he renounces his desires, and expiates the sin of being alive by retirement from the world. ”

“ The second prelude is a brilliant, joyous picture of a Festival of Victory. The form and development are absolutely free. It is interesting to note, on the last page of the first prelude, an essential-turn that comes straight from Götterdämmerung. Strauss employs it with skill as a pregnant motive. While it is too short for concert performance, the prelude of the last act is the embodiment of yearning and rich in harmonic [Pg 32] life. The great duo of Guntram and Freihild and Guntram’s farewell are noble specimens of dramatic writing. Nevertheless the work lacks big wings. ”

“ Den Mäusen pfeifen, heisst den Seelen ein Zeichen geben, um von ihnen abgeholt zu werden; ebenso wie der Rattenfänger zu Hameln die Lockpfeife bläst, auf deren Ton alle Mäuse und Kinder der Stadt mit ihm in den Berg hineinziehen, der sich hinter ihnen zuschliesst. Mäuse sind Seelen. Die Seele des auf der Jagd entschlafenen Königs Guntram kommt schlängleinartig aus seinem Munde hervor, um so in einen nächsten Berg und wieder zurückzulaufen. ”

“ From the canvas there looked out at him a lady of surpassing beauty, and the young knight started back in awe and admiration.
In a short time the attendant returned with a thin, tall old man, the lord of the castle, who welcomed the guest with grave courtesy, and offered the hospitality of his castle. Guntram gratefully accepted his host’s invitation, and when he had supped he conversed with the old man, whom he found well-informed and cultured.
“You appear to be fond of music,” said the knight, indicating a harp which lay in a corner of the room. ”

“ Both Chilperic and his brother Guntram, who reigned at Orleans, were without male heirs. At this juncture, the German chiefs and nobles demanded to have Childebert, the young son of Sigbert and Brunhilde, who had taken refuge among them, recognized as the heir to the Frankish throne. Chilperic consented, on condition that Childebert, with such forces as he could command, would march with him against Guntram, who had despoiled him of a great deal of his territory. ”

“ The latter also summoned Childebert to his capital, and persuaded him to make a truce with Fredegunde and her adherents, in order that both might act against their common rival. Gundobald and his followers were soon destroyed: Guntram died in 593, and Childebert was at once accepted as his successor. His kingdom included that of Charibert, whose capital was Paris, and that of his father, Sigbert, embracing all Frankish Germany. But the nobles and people, accustomed to conspiracy, treachery and crime, could no longer be depended upon, as formerly. ”

“ But the interest of the act does not lie in this anticipated dénouement, which since Parsifal has become rather common; it lies in another scene, which has evidently been inserted at the last moment, and which is uncomfortably out of tune with the action, though in a singularly grand way. This scene gives us a dialogue between Guntram and his former companion, Friedhold. ”

“ The story, it is true—the text, by the way, is Strauss's own—is not drawn from the world of saga; but the general conception of an order of knights, the object of whose brotherhood is to bind all humanity in bonds of love, is obviously a last watering-down [Pg 251] of that doctrine of redemption by love that played so large a part in the intellectual life of Wagner. It is possible that this peculiar mentality of Guntram was the aftermath of a breakdown in Strauss's health in 1892. ”

“ But man proposes, and a charming, smiling little blonde disposes. Indeed she is charming enough to make a man forget even the sacred claims of friendship, and so I confess my fault, and pray your forgiveness. But I can see the frown deepen on your brow, you incorrigible woman-hater, and you are less inclined than ever to forgive upon such a plea. What will you say, then, when you know the worst? Listen, and wonder, Arno. I am betrothed,--the happy lover of the aforesaid lovely little blonde. I beg leave to present to you the betrothed pair, Adèle von Guntram--Karl, Count Styrum. ”

“ Then the Old Duke has him thrown into a dungeon and goes off with the vassals to put down the rebellion again. But Freihild, whose heart is inflamed with love for the bold, noble singer, conspires with the clown to save him and flee with him.
Act III. In the gloomy dungeon in which Guntram is awaiting his punishment, the young hero has plenty of leisure to meditate on his deeds and their motives. The Band of the Good has sent Friedhold to him in order that he may ask of him an account of his sinful deed. For such an act is considered as murder in every case. ”

“ Sigebert was anxious to avenge his sister-in-law, but on the intervention of Guntram, he accepted the compensation offered by Chilperic, namely the cities of Bordeaux, Cahors and Limoges, with Béarn and Bigorre. ”

“ His devotion to Austrasia made him very bitter against, and perhaps unjust to, the sovereigns of Neustria, Chilperic and Fredegond. As an orthodox Christian, he had no good word for the Arians. He excuses the crimes of kings who protected the church, such as Clovis, Clotaire I. and Guntram, but had no mercy for those who violated ecclesiastical privileges. This attitude, no doubt, explains his hatred for Chilperic. But if Gregory’s historical judgments are suspect, he at least concealed nothing and invented nothing ”

“ Authore Johanne Heidfeldio, Ecclesiaste Ebersbachiano. 1621.
The same story is in Matthew of Westminster; it is added that Guntram applied the treasures thus found to pious uses.
For the truth of this theory there is the evidence of a Monkish miracle. When Thurcillus was about to follow St. Julian and visit the world of souls, his guide said to him, “let thy body rest in the bed for thy spirit only is about to depart with me; and lest the body should appear dead, I will send into it a vital breath.” ”

“ He thinks of men's evil doing, of human suffering, and of civil war. He gives thanks to Christ for having led him to this unhappy country, kisses the cross, and decides to go to the court of the tyrant who is the cause of all the trouble, and make known to him the Divine revelation. At that moment Freihild appears. She is the wife of Duke Robert, who is the cruellest of all the nobles, and she is horrified by all that is happening around her; life seems hateful to her, and she wishes to drown herself. But Guntram prevents her ”

“ Peace rules all the land; and fair weather and sunshine have filled the people’s barns, and made their hearts glad. And thus it has been ever since Gunther brought to his dwelling the warrior-maiden Brunhild to be his queen. And this is my errand and the message that I bring: King Gunther, blessed with happiness, intends to hold a grand high-tide of joy and thanksgiving at the time of the harvest-moon. And nothing is wanting to complete the gladness of that time, but the sight of you and the peerless Kriemhild in your old places at the feast. ”

“ Gunther and Hagen, the fierce warriors, went hunting with false intent in the forest, to chase the boar, the bear, and the wild bull, with their sharp spears. What fitter sport for brave men?
Siegfried rode with them in kingly pomp. They took with them good store of meats. By a cool stream he lost his life, as Brunhild, King Gunther’s wife, had devised it.
But or he set out, and when the hunting-gear was laid ready on the sumpters that they were to take across the Rhine, he went to Kriemhild, that was right doleful of her cheer. He kissed his lady on the mouth. ”

“ Through his fair arts he had strength enow to bear King Gunther with him as he sprang. The leap was made, the stone lay on the ground; men saw none other save Gunther, the knight, alone. Siegfried had banished the fear of King Gunther's death. Brunhild, the fair, waxed red with wrath. To her courtiers she spake a deal too loud, when she spied the hero safe and sound at the border of the ring: "Come nearer quickly, ye kinsmen and liegemen of mine, ye must now be subject to Gunther, the king." ”

“ Until the King besought him, and thus did Gunther pray:
He said unto him: “For my love’s sake thitherward shouldst thou ride,
And withal for the sake of Kriemhild, the maiden lovely-eyed,
To the end that the royal maiden with me may requite thy pain.”
When heard was her name of Siegfried, the knight was exceeding fain.
“Lay on me what charge thou pleasest,” he answered, “all shall be done:
With joy shall it be accomplished for the sake of that lovely one
Whom I bear in my heart enshrinèd!—who am I, to deny or defer?
Even all that thou requirest will I perform for her.” ”

“ Then Giselher to meet them, the young Prince, hied him with speed:
Came Gernot beside him, his brother, and in eager haste he cried,
When he marked how no King Gunther was there by Siegfried’s side:
“Now welcome to thee, Lord Siegfried! I beseech thee, tell this thing,
Where left ye in your departing my brother, Gunther the King?
The mighty strength of Brunhild, I fear me, hath reft him from us;
So for us should his princely wooing have issue dolorous.”
“Cast to the winds your foreboding: to you and to all true friends
My noble comrade in emprise his loving service sends. ”

“ And he added thereto a marvel, a deed of magic might,
That he bore in his leap King Gunther, by the power of the Hood of Night.
Lo, now is the great leap taken; behind on the earth lay the stone.
Gunther it was, the war-thane, whom men saw there alone.
Then the face of Brunhild the lovely with helpless anger burned.
—Lo, Siegfried from King Gunther the imminent death hath turned!
Then unto the host of her vassals Queen Brunhild looked, and she cried,
When she saw that hero standing safe on the lists’ far side:
“O ye my friends and liegemen, hitherward come straightway! ”

“ The word gunth has lived on even in Lombardy in the Gonfalon, the war banner, solemnly carried out to battle in a car as the images of the gods had formerly been, in charge of the official known as the gonfaloniere in the republics of northern Italy. Gundahari, warrior, was really an old name among the kings of Burgundy, who were, no doubt, called in honour of Gunther or Gunnar, the eldest brother of Kriemhild, and husband of Brynhild. He seems to have been brave but weak, led first by Sigurd, then by Hagen, but at last fighting with great spirit. ”

“ The rough warriors break into laughter, and in uncouth jollity stamp with their feet and spear-butts. "Great good fortune is indeed abroad on the Rhine when Hagen the grim grows jovial!" Not the faintest smile illumines the bleak face. At sight of Gunther's skiff approaching, he checks the men's laughter. Moving among them, with careful foresight he drops seed toward fruits of trouble: "Be loyal to your sovereign mistress, serve her faithfully; if she should suffer wrong, be swift to avenge her!" ”

“ The king had not once mentioned the queen's name. He had not, as would have been so natural, asked him who had been her physician for many years, what he thought of her appearance. Gunther was just on the point of mentioning her, when the king, contracting his brows, asked:
"Have you ever committed an act which you repented of?"
"Your Majesty--my name is Wilhelm Gunther. My life has been a hard struggle and I have often stumbled. I have been young and have grown old, and have come to see that all men receive their true deserts." ”