5b GROPIUS’ CONFESSION TO DR. FRAENKEL
>
download Word-Doc
GROPIUS Doctor, I have to confess something to you ...
FRAENKEL I know, I know ... She is such a poor creature .... hungry for love.
GROPIUS Yes, like a soul lost in the desert who suddenly finds fresh water.
FRAENKEL Some people thirst for love, while others don't, but she is so greedy for it. That's why she clings to you. She has an urge for fulfilment and satisfaction.
GROPIUS She has such an immense passion that I am blown to pieces as if in an explosion.
FRAENKEL Hmm, she only consumes you with the same sense of necessity with which she eats and drinks.
GROPIUS How can you say such a thing? She loves me.
FRAENKEL She loves you?! She is a married woman and has a young daughter!
GROPIUS I'll adopt her.
FRAENKEL Beware of doing that! You see, Alma just wants to sit by the hurdy-gurdy, all dressed up, with a red cap, a bowl of money in her hand, and the foolish world of men grinding the organ! Indeed the whole of Vienna will dance to the tune!
GROPIUS But it's not her fault if she ignites the fire of passion! Men are drawn to her the way flies swarm to a honey pot! She was made that way! She was born that way!
FRAENKEL But flies swarm around shit in the street too ....
GROPIUS You're just jealous.
FRAENKEL But it flatters you too, doesn't it, to have a relationship with Gustav Mahler's wife.
GROPIUS I worship him; I'm in love with his music. He is broadening the musical horizon of our century. I wish I could do that with my architecture. You won't believe it, but what makes Alma so erotic for me is Mahler's Adagietto from his Fifth Symphony.
FRAENKEL So you know that Alma was the source of his inspiration?
GROPIUS That's what people say. And I always wondered in what sense ...
FRAENKEL God knows ...
GROPIUS The night before last, I had a strange nightmare, Doctor.
FRAENKEL What about?
GROPIUS I don't know ... We were in the cramped cabin of a ship – on the lower bunk, covered with a cloth, lay a dying man, and it was – Gustav Mahler! – Alma and I were quietly present – Death – and at the same moment a blissful embrace, right beside the deceased! – Life! – The doctor came along – That was you – And we thought: Hopefully he won't notice anything!! – You examined him and said: Go into the cabin next door – it's so cramped and hot here – the body will probably start smelling soon – we went off – and came back later – and the bed was empty!! – It was all so horrific!!! – Over, all strength gone – in me too. -
FRAENKEL You're overwrought.
GROPIUS I can't find peace as long as I know that this person, whether dead or alive, is within her. She is the spiritual slave of this man, obeys his rhythm – a rhythm which is alien to her! And which must be alien!!! – And I sense that each syllable of his work undermines her, spiritually and physically. – I know what I have to do. I will make the decision happen. |
