DESCRIPTION:
Chamber opera, Music by Derek Williams.
Libretto by Derek Williams, based on the original Greek play by Euripides.

Concert performance August, 2014 at the Edinburgh Jazz Bar, Scotland.

Soprano: Christina Dunwoodie http://www.christinadunwoodie.com
Bass Clarinet: Jean Johnson http://www.jean-johnson.com
Piano (Composer): Derek Williams http://www.derekwilliams.net

In this Act, Medea murders her two children - Pheres and Mermerus, to spite her former husband, Jason of the Argonauts who dumped her as a Barbarian in order to marry the Greek princess, Glauce. Medea by then has already also murdered Glauce and Glauce's father, King Creon.

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LIBRETTO - ACT II

Ah, this life I hate!
What use this life to me in Corinth?
Let me die, let me die!
Hurl your fiery bolt of lightning straight through my heart!
I must go into the house, and prepare the children,
Pheres and Mermerus.

You will leave this city and the home where you would dwell forever,
Forever, and ever and ever, deprived of me, your mother, Medea!
I will do the deed at once, at once!
Stay back, stay back!
Jason, stay back, my husband,
I'll kill our children, then leave your land,
Not to give them over to a hand more hostile,
Because I am Barbarian, not Greek.

Cast away, far away by you, beloved husband,
Jason, for the Greek princess, Glauce.
Yes, I have killed her and her father King Creon!
With a poisoned robe, I killed her, your bride and her father, Creon.
Children? Children, darlings!
Pheres, sweet boy! Mermerus my love!
Children? Darlings!

Helios, god of the Sun, avenge me now!
Take me, Helios, god of Life! Helios, Helios!
They must die, and I who brought them into life will do it.
You horrible children of a mother who hates you!

God damn you with your father,
And the whole house, go to Hell!
God damn you sons of Jason,
God damn you sons of mine!
Aah! And the whole house go to Hell!
Aah I'm so brutally used.

Arm yourself, my heart, my heart! Why hesitate?
Do not be a coward.
Do not think how much you love them,
how you gave them birth.

At midday, I will do it.
Or midnight? I will see.

Mermerus! and Pheres! my boys!
You are my sons of Jason.
Look now at your mother's face,
Still I love you Mermerus, Pheres!
Mermerus and Pheres, you are my joy, my life.
For this one short day, forgive your mother,
Forget your mother, forget Medea!
I shall mourn tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.
Even now, though I suffer,
Still I love you Pheres and Mermerus.

Take this sword, take it!
Come, come unhappy hand, come.
The pain will be brief, the pain will be short,
Then you will live forever, you will live forever, forever, forever.
You will live forever, forever, and ever my darling children,
You will be with me, always!
Forever, with your mother Medea!

Take it, take it!
Aah! Take this sword, take it!
Move it to the dismal turning point of Life.
Pheres, darling Pheres! Don't cry,
Mermerus, Mermerus! Aah! Aah!
Forgive your mother, forgive Medea!

Helios, take me, take me!
Take me, Helios, take me!
Revenge is mine, revenge!
Your children are no more, Jason! Jason! Jason!
The prophesy is fulfilled!

Now you long to kiss them, kiss the sweet lips of your children.
I shall bury them with my own hand across the shore, in my own land.
And now your empty words are thrown into the empty air and gone!
Now you say you loved them, yet before you pushed them aside.
I shall bury them with my own hand across the shore, in my own land.
Go home, Jason, and bury the Princess Glauce, your wife!

Mermerus and Pheres,
Sweet to their mother, not to you,
Jason! You are a coward,
Jason, you will die a coward's death.
I will bury our children in the sanctuary of Hera Akraia.

Why are you shaking the doors?
To find me, the abomination?
The vilest, most depraved, most hateful woman,
The murderess, Medea? Medea!
No, Jason, I will not kill you!
Your suffering is my reward!
Now you have nothing, there is nothing you can do!
My infamy is written in history.
I am Medea! Medea! I am Medea!
Medea! I am Medea!