I've chosen excerpts which help to best portray the story, excluding some sections here and there since the general gist of the plot can be gathered from what I've chosen. There are some parts I've left about- actually, there's a lot that I've left out- but the frame of the story is there. We get the setting, a bit of detail about the two main characters, the plot and the inevitable arrival of the British who make everything go crazy, and then Evangeline's search for Gabriel which emcompasses the vast majority of the poem...So I've narrowed that down quite a bit. I've also separated it into sections, so that I can have a tone for each of them represented in the music. Again, these are flexible and will change/have already changed as I've worked on them.
The text I've chosen is as follows:
PROLOGUE
This
is the forest primeval.
The
murmuring pines and hemlocks,
Bearded
with moss, stand like druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic.
Loud
from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced ocean speaks,
And
in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.
Waste are those peasant farms, and the farmer forever departed!
Scattered
like dust and leaves, when mighty blasts of October seize them,
And
whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them far over the ocean.
Naught
but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.
Yet ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient,
Ye
who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion,
List
to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest;
List
to a tale of love in Acadie, home of the happy.
PART I
In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the
little village of Grand-Pre lay in the fruitful valley.
Somewhat apart from the
village, Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of Grand-Pre
dwelt on his goodly acres;
and with him, directing his
household, gentle Evangeline lived,
His child, and the pride of
the village.
Fair was she to behold, that maid of seventeen summers.
Many a youth fixed his eyes
upon her, as the saint of his deepest devotion.
Many a suitor came to her
door, by the darkness befriended,
and knew not which beat
louder, his heart or the knocker of iron,
But among all who came, young Gabriel was only welcome;
Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of
Basil the Blacksmith.
He was a valiant youth, and
his face, like the face of morning,
Gladdened the earth with its
light.
Evangeline was a woman now,
with the heart and hopes of a woman.
Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the orchard,
Bending with golden fruit, was
spread the feast of betrothal.
There in the shade of the
porch were the priest and notary seated;
there good Benedict sat, and
sturdy Basil the blacksmith.
Fairest of all the maids was
Evangeline, Benedict's daughter!
Noblest of all the youths was
Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!
PART
II
And Lo! With a summons sonorous sounded the bell from its tower,
and over the meadows a drum
beat.
Then came the guard from the
ships, and marching proudly among them
entered the sacred portal.
Then uprose their commander,
and spake from the altar,
holding aloft in his hands,
with its seals, the royal commission.
“You are convened this day by his majesty's orders.
All your lands, and dwellings,
and cattle of all kinds
forfeited be to the crown; and
that you yourselves from this province
be transported to other lands.
God grant you dwell there ever
as faithful as subjects,
a happy and peaceable people.
Prisoners I now declare you;
for such is his Majesty's pleasure!”
There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir of embarking,
Busy piled the freighted
boats,
and in the confusion wives
were torn from husbands,
and mothers, too late, saw
their children left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest
entreaties.
So unto separate ships were
Basil and Gabriel carried,
while in despair on the shore
Evangeline stood.
Lo! With a mournful sound, like the voice of a vast congregation,
Solemnly answered the sea, and
mingled its roar with the dirges.
And with the ebb of that tide
the ships sailed our of the harbour,
Leaving behind them the dead
on the shore, and the village in ruins.
PART III
Many a weary year had passed since the burning of Grand-Pre
when on the falling tide the
freighted vessels departed,
bearing a nation into exile,
exile without an end.
Scattered were they, like
flakes of snow.
From the cold lakes of the
North to the sultry Southern savannas.
Long among them was seen a maiden who waited and wandered,
lowly and meek in spirit and
patiently suffering all things.
Sometimes she lingered in
towns, sometimes in churchyards strayed,
and gazed upon the crosses and
tombstones,
sat by some nameless grave,
and thought perhaps in its bosom
he was already at rest, and
she longed to slumber beside him.
And the soul of the maiden wandered along, and she cried
“O Gabriel, O my beloved,
art thou so near unto me, yet
I cannot behold thee?
Art thou so near unto me, and
yet thy voice does not reach me?
When shall these eyes behold,
these arms be folded about thee?”
Day after day the maiden followed his flying steps,
sometime she saw, or thought
she saw, the smoke of his campfire,
but at nightfall she found
only embers and ashes.
PART IV
Slowly, slowly, slowly, the day succeeded each other,
days and weeks and months,
so came the autumn and passed,
and the winter yet Gabriel came not.
Blossomed the opening spring,
yet Gabriel came not.
Thus did the long, sad years
glide on,
Each year stole something away
from her beauty,
But Gabriel was not forgotten.
Within her heart was his image
into her thoughts of him time
had not entered.
Thus, on a sabbath morn she entered the door of the almshouse.
Noiselessly she moved about
the assiduous, careful attendants,
moistening the feverish lip,
the aching brow, ad in silence,
closing the sightless eyes of
the dead.
Many a languid head, upraised
as Evangeline entered,
turned on its pillow of pain
to gaze while she passed,
For her presence fell on their
hearts like a ray of sun on the walls of a prison.
Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of wonder,
Still she stood.
On the pallet before her was
stretched the form of an old man.
Long and thin, and gray were
his locks that shaded his temples,
But as he lay in the morning
light, his face for a moment
seemed to assume once more the
form of its earlier manhood.
As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his vision
years came into his eyes; and
slowly he lifted his eyelids.
Vainly he strove to whisper
her name, for the accents unuttered
died on his lips.
Vainly he strove to rise, and
Evangeline, kneeling beside him,
kissed his dying lips and laid
her head on his bosom.
All was ended now, the hope, the fear, and the sorrow.
All the aching heart, the
restless, unsatisfied longing.
All the dull, deep pain, and
constant anguish of patience.
And, as she pressed once more
the lifeless head to her bosom,
Meekly she bowed her own and
muttered “Father, I thank thee.”
EPILOGUE
Still stands the forest primeval; but far away from its shadow
side by side, in their
nameless graves, the lovers are sleeping.
Under the humble walls of the
little churchyard
In the heart of the city they
lie, unknown and unnoticed.
Still stands the forest primeval, but under the shade of its branches
dwells another race, with
other customs and languages.
Only along the shore of the
mournful and misty Atlantic
Linger a few Acadian peasants.
In the fisherman's cot the
wheel and loom are still busy;
Maidens by the evening fire
repeat Evangeline's story
While from its rocky caverns
the deep-voiced ocean
speaks, and in accents
disconsolate, answers the wail of the forest.
...So there's still lots there to work with. Honestly, I've already got music written for a few parts of this- I'm behind on my blogging, obviously, and I've got a lot of catching up to do, especially with reference to the instrumentation, score order, seating plan, leitmotivs, influential composers/pieces, etc. etc. etc. But that'll all come soon!
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