The Lonely Way-Intermezzo-Countess Mizzie Part 48

CECILIA ADAMS-ORTENBURG } His wife, an opera singer

PETER } Their child, five years old

ALBERT RHON

MARIE } His wife

SIGISMUND, PRINCE MARADAS-LOHSENSTEIN

COUNTESS FREDERIQUE MOOSHEIM } An opera singer

GOVERNESS } } At the Adamses COUNT ARPAD PAZMANDY }

_The scene is laid in Vienna at the present day._

INTERMEZZO

THE FIRST ACT

_The study of Amadeus. The walls are painted in dark gray, with a very simple frieze. A door in the background leads to a veranda. On either side of this door is a window. Through the door one sees the garden, to which three steps lead down from the veranda. A cabinet stands between the door and the window at the right; a music-stand holds a corresponding position to the left of the door. Antique bas-reliefs are hung above the cabinet as well as the stand. The main entrance is on the right side in the foreground. Farther back at the right is a door leading to Cecilia's room. A door finished like the rest of the wall leads to the room of Amadeus at the left. A tall book case, with a bust of Verrochio on top of it, stands against the right wall. In the corner back of it are several columns with tall vases full of flowers. A fireplace occupies the foreground at the left. Above it is a large mirror. On the mantelshelf stands a French clock of simple design. A table surrounded by chairs is placed in front of the fireplace. Farther back along the same wall are shelves piled with sheet music, and above them engravings of Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, and other composers. A bust of Beethoven occupies the farthermost corner at the left. Halfway down the stage, nearer the left wall, stands a piano with a piano stool in front of it. An armchair has been moved up close to the piano on the side toward the public. A writing desk holds a similar position at the right. Back of it are an easy-chair and a couch, the latter having been moved close to the table._

AMADEUS (_thirty years old, slender, with dark, smooth hair; his movements are quick, with a suggestion of restlessness; he wears a gray business suit of elegant cut, but not well cared for; he has a trick of taking hold of the lapel of his sack coat with his left hand and turning it back; he is seated at the piano, accompanying Frederique_)

FREDERIQUE (_twenty-eight, is dressed in a bright gray tailor-made suit and a red satin waist; wears a broad-brimmed straw hat, very fas.h.i.+onable; her hair is blonde, of a reddish tint; her whole appearance is very dainty; she is singing an aria from the opera "Mignon"_) "Ha-ha-ha! Is 't true, really true?" (_While singing she is all the time making a motion as if she were beating the dust out of her riding suit with a crop_)

AMADEUS (_accompanying himself as he gives her the cue_) "Yes, you may laugh. I am a fool to ruin my horse ..."

FREDERIQUE

"Maybe you would like ..."

AMADEUS (_nervously_)

Oh, wait!... You don't know yet why I have ruined my horse.... "To ruin my horse for a quicker sight of you ..."

FREDERIQUE (_with the same gesture as before_)

"Maybe you would like me to weep?"

AMADEUS

"Oh, I regret already that I came."

FREDERIQUE (_as before_)

"Well, why...."

AMADEUS

G sharp!

FREDERIQUE (_as before_)

"Well, why don't you go back? Soon enough I shall see you again."

AMADEUS

You should say that ironically, not tenderly. "Soon enough I shall see you again...."

FREDERIQUE (_as before_)

"Soon enough I shall see you again...."

AMADEUS

Not angrily, Countess, but ironically.

FREDERIQUE

Call me Frederique, and not Countess, when you are working with me.

AMADEUS

Now, that's the tone Philine should use. Hold on to it.... And that's the right look, too.... If you could do that on the stage, you might almost be an artist.

FREDERIQUE

Oh, mercy, I have sung Philine more than twenty times already.

AMADEUS

But not here, Freder ... Countess. And not when Mrs. Adams-Ortenburg was singing the part of Mignon. (_He leans forward so that he can look out into the garden_)

FREDERIQUE

No, she isn't coming yet. (_With a smile_) Perhaps the rehearsal isn't over.

AMADEUS (_rising_)

Perhaps not.

FREDERIQUE