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3d 1902 KITCHEN GOSSIP
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Kitchen. RESERL washes blood-soaked bed linen. On the stove,
a diet meal is cooking. BURCKHARD appears. (Later joined by
KLIMT, the ALMANIAC, and ZEMLINSKY.)
BURCKHARD Reserl,
what are you doing there?
RESERL I'm
working. Can't you see?
BURCKHARD You're
washing your blood-soaked linen here, in the kitchen? Are
you crazy?
RESERL It's
not my linen I'm washing.
BURCKHARD Is
it that time of the month, or what?
RESERL Please!
It's my master's linen. Now leave me in peace!
BURCKHARD Your
master? Ahh - has he already… hmm?… screwed her...?
RESERL Be
quiet! You're awful! - It's not what you think.
BURCKHARD A
fine character, your Direktor Mahler! A real gentleman! So
soon before the wedding! Couldn't he have waited?
KLIMT (takes
some of the boiling-hot food:) Max, Max! Come here - Try some
of this ! It's delicious!
BURCKHARD (tastes)
Wahhhh...!!! - What the hell is that?!! Reserl, what's going
on here?
RESERL Don't
ask me. I'm cooking something so disgusting I wouldn't even
dream of tasting it. It's a scandal.
BURCKHARD It
tastes like Matzeball with laxatives. What is it?
KLIMT It's
a stew of whole-wheat bread and pommes-reinettes.
BURCKHARD Whole-wheat
bread and apples? Good gracious! Who could eat a thing like
that?! - Oh! I see! Alma's pregnant, isn't she, hm?! Oioioi!
KLIMT No!
It's the only dish the master of the house will eat.
BURCKHARD Gustav
Mahler? What's the matter with him? Is he sick?
RESERL Would
you put it in your mouth if you were healthy?
KLIMT He's
obsessed with diets, you know? She's not allowed to cook anything
that smells of life, of blood! No rare meat, no beef and kidney
pies, no steak tartar! Anything that risks making your mouth
water is strictly forbidden! Nothing but spongy pommes-reinettes!
RESERL It's
so frustrating!
BURCKHARD But
why is that? Why is he so unsensuous?
RESERL It's
because of his... his »bitter plague»
BURCKHARD His
what?
KLIMT He
calls it his «subterranean pains».
BURCKHARD «Subterranean
pains»? What's that?
RESERL I
can't utter the word.
BURCKHARD For
Christ's sake!? Reserl! What is it?!
RESERL He's
got... He's got ... - No, I can't!
BURCKHARD Say
it, Reserl, say it! Come on!
RESERL You'll
despise me…
BURCKHARD No,
I won't! Come on!! Don't make me angry!
RESERL His
Haemor....Haemor... no, I can't! Leave me alone!
BURCKHARD Reserl!
Your destiny and God himself have put you in a position where
you can enlighten the rest of mankind in regards to the darkest
secrets preoccupying the mind and spirit of one of the greatest
geniuses of the 20th century! You are in a position to enrich
all of humanity with a crucial insight into the psyche of
a genius! Tell us, Reserl, what are those “subterranean
pains” that make our Court opera director eat only tasteless,
steamed apples?
RESERL It's
his .... God forgive me!.... (whispers) haemorrhoids.
BURCKHARD (surprised)
Haemorrhoids?!!
ALMANIAC Well,
nebbich! Haemorrhoids... It's common knowledge all over Vienna!
RESERL What
do you know about it?
ALMANIAC Ha,
ha, ha! (secretly:) »It's a cold winter's night... The
night of February 24th, 1901. Gustav Mahler is directing his
6th Symphony at the concert hall in the morning, and that
same evening “The Magic Flute” at the opera... He
is suffering... He is suffering terribly! (he scratches his
ass, sings as a parody Mozart's “Magic Flute”: »In
diesen heil'gen Hallen kennt man die Rache nicht, kann kein
Verräter lauern, weil man ihm gleich vergibt!«)
Alma, who hasn't yet met him, is sitting in the auditorium…
She is fascinated and deeply impressed by Lucifer's face,
those pale cheeks, those burning eyes! No one can endure such
a blaze very long! It's not possible to create two miracles
in one day, with such intensity, without being destroyed in
the process.« (He dries, produces a small book from
his pocket.) - Wait a moment, wait a moment... just one second,
just one... where is it…? Where's the goddamn ending...?
RESERL What's
that?
ALMANIAC Her
diary!
RESERL You're
a monster! (tries to take the book) Give it to me, you're
the Devil Incarnate!
KLIMT (interfering:)
God and the truth, better known as The Devil, my dear, dwell
in the infamous details, remember this! - Read aloud!
(ZEMLINSKY)
That night Alma's attention is drawn for the first time to
the “spiritually” tortured face of Director Gustav
Mahler. She believes the fire is in his mind, she has no idea
it's in his ass…!!
BURCKHARD Shall
we say that she fell in love with the suppressed or sublimated
side effects of his haemorrhoids?
RESERL I
hate you, I hate you, I hate you all... You are disgusting!!
She fell in love with his spirit!
ALMANIAC His
spirit - my ass!! Hahaha! - Could you fall in love with me,
Reserl?
RESERL Me,
fall in love with you?!
ALMANIAC Look
at me, Reserl! (He “composes” on kitchen equipment)
I am Gustav Mahler. I mean, I am as madly in love with you
as he was that night with Alma. What would you say if I proposed
to you?
RESERL Mr.
Mahler - marry me?! He would never do that!
ALMANIAC Suppose
he did! - Suppose you were Alma.
RESERL Me
- Alma?!…
BURCKHARD Just
imagine!
RESERL I
can't be Alma.
ALMANIAC Of
course you can. Any girl in the world can be Alma. All she
has to do is meet her Gustav.
RESERL “All
she has to do is meet her Gustav”?
ALMANIAC Yes,
my love.
RESERL Did
you say “my love”?!
ALMANIAC Read,
read!!! - (gives her a sheet of paper:) I wrote this for you.
Through all the nights when I lay alone in my room and ...
RESERL You?
But you said you were incapable of writing ...?!
ALMANIAC (impishly,
to Zemlinsky) The Professor taught me ...
RESERL (reads:)
»Das kam so über Nacht!
Hätt' ich's doch nicht gedacht,
Daß Contrapunkt und Formenlehre
mir noch einmal das Herz beschwere!
So über eine Nacht - Gewann es Übermacht!
Und alle Stimmen führen nur
mehr homophon zu einer Spur...«
How charming! How wonderful!!
(ZEMLINSKY) Go on, go on!
RESERL »Das
kam so über Nacht
ich habe sie durchwacht -
Daß ich, wenn's klopft, im Augenblick
die Augen nach der Türe schick'!«
How beautiful! It's a dream…!
ALMANIAC It
is a dream! It is a dream! You are a dream. Oh don't wake
me up -I'll throw away ten dream-Almas for one real Reserl!
(ZEMLINSKY) (secretly) Where did you get that?!
ALMANIAC (secretly)
He gave it to her - the day after they first met. !
RESERL How
touching! How wonderful! It was love at first sight!
(ZEMLINSKY) (whispers): Alma! Ask me whatever you want ! I
will engage you as conductor of the opera orchestra!
RESERL Oh...!
You will engage me…? How moving! How beautiful!!!
ALMANIAC The
whole thing is a sin! Such a beautiful creature, and of pure
Aryan descent! She shouldn't spoil it all by marrying that
arthritic degenerate Jew.
BURCKHARD Terminally
ill, debt-ridden and impotent? Eats nothing but wholegrain
bread and fruit, and that's exactly how he composes, too!
RESERL That's
not true! His Lieder are very beautiful-
ALL His Lieder! What do you know about them ?!
RESERL (points
to the house telephone:) I listened when he played them for
her…
ALMANIAC You
eavesdrop on your master and his mistress?!
RESERL So
what? You do the same often enough!
BURCKHARD Really?
(ZEMLINSKY) You
listen to his diet music?! With the irresistible charm of
apple pie?! It never fails to work - as a laxative! Spare
us!
RESERL Play
me his music.
ALMANIAC conducts
the suitors like an imaginary orchestra, performing the funeral
march from Mahler's 1st Symphony, the »Frère
Jacques«-motive. They use all kinds of kitchen equipment
and make a horrendous noise. Subsequently they move stealthily
out of the room, leaving Reserl with Zemlinsky.
RESERL She
listens to his music, but her senses don't respond. I am afraid
that Alma feels that she belongs, that she will always belong
- to someone else
ZEMLINSKY You
mean… to me?!!
RESERL Yes.
Why torture yourself? I told you - you can give meaning to
her life. You are far superior to all the other men who come
to this house. I know it. - She's in a terrible dilemma. There's
always somebody between Gustav Mahler and her. She mutters
"my love", and immediately she adds… your name.
"Alex". How will she be able to love my master as
much as he deserves? And will she ever understand his music?
- You played her your music. You have listened to hers. You
should know…! You kissed her… - Now if you are her
good friend, I dare you: tell him that he should take his
hands off Alma Schindler, because she needs to be free, you
hear me? She needs to be free, and not be chained to him.
Tell him this, if you really are her friend! - He doesn't
think much of her art, but he thinks a lot of his own. And
she doesn't think much of his art, but she believes very much
in hers. That's how it is.
Reserl is interrupted by Alma (the beginning of "Pantalone
Jokes":)
ALMA Reserl!
Reserl!! I need a drink!! Give me a drink!!!!
RESERL Yes,
madam! I'm coming!!
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