IN MEMORIAM GUSTAVI ADOLPHI - MMXX

 Die Schlacht von sterblichen Helden

(The Battle of Mortal Heroes)

Landkreis Weißenfels, Kurfürstentum Sachsen
Früh-November 1632
(Weissenfels Rural District, Electorate of Saxony
Early November 1632)

(The eve of battle, at Schloss Weissenfels. The last farewell.)
QUEEN MARY ELEANOR:
The black-eyed deathbringer who reaches for the stars...
You can't fight against him!
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
For which reason? Eleanor...
MARY ELEANOR:
For nights I have dreamt of this engagement. You have got no chance of returning alive!
To die like a hero and be remembered... Is that what you're fighting for?
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Pardon me, Eleanor, but my duty is to go.
Those who deserve death are awaiting me.
MARY ELEANOR:
Please don't go away! Please! You may know that your enemy...
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
My dear!
MARY ELEANOR (desperate): Gustav... Gustavus!!!

(The battle proper begins the next day on the plains of Lützen)

WALLENSTEIN:
Follow Albrecht von Wallenstein, Duke of Friedland!!!

Legendens krönika fortlöper lika snabbt som blinkningar med ögonen.
(The chronicles of legend are as rapid as the blinking of an eye)

SWEDES: If this fog keeps on for the whole day, we'll be in trouble!
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Even if these cowards form in tercios like at Breitenfeld, don't be overconfident!
STÅLHANDSKE:
If we're lucky, they will use tercios once more.
Now that Tilly is dead, the Kaiser's folk don't stand a chance!
AIDE-DE-CAMP:
Your Grace! The leader of the Imperial host seems to be stark raving mad!

WALLENSTEIN:
Pappenheim! Hope you get here as soon as possible... Terzky! Piccolomini! You will start attacking until Count Pappenheim arrives. Today Sweden will fall!

GOTT MIT UNS!
(GOD WITH US!)

Scarlet waves are clashing against lilywhite shores,
for dying, for dying, for slaying today...
Now they have ceased to breathe and won't speak anymore,
yet they will soon be noticed by history as well.
Their most humble hopes (their hopes), faint glimmers of light (for the future),
won't be spared by chance (destiny)...
There is no mercy at all!

They have changed completely throughout the fray,
and those who will this eve kiss their lips
won't be loved ones with hearts full of cheer,
but ravens thirsty for blood!

Schwert des Urteils, Wallenstein, er hat keine Angst vorm sterben!
Der einsame Wallenstein führt die Schweden ins Verderben!
(Sword of Judgement, Wallenstein, he is not afraid of dying!
Lonely Wallenstein leads the Swedes towards their downfall!)

GOTTFRIED ZU PAPPENHEIM (on his way from Halle to Lützen, galloping forth at the head of his cavalry):
It's been a long time since I last saw Halle!
I bet the townsfolk had forgotten me!
But you may know who stormed Magdeburg to dread my name throughout Saxony!
Here I come!
Jesus and Mary!

(Wallenstein has the village of Lützen burned to the ground, as the fog returns. Both armies are fighting even fiercer than before)

HOFKIRCHEN:
Your Majesty!
They're burning Lützen to the ground!
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS: What?
HOFKIRCHEN:
The Duke of Friedland's forces...
on his own command and decree!
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Curses! Let's hope for the tide of battle to turn...
HOFKIRCHEN:
Well, Wallenstein's right hand, the bold Count of Pappenheim, is riding hither at full speed!
We should strike ere the Pappenheimers arrive! This is our chance!

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Nils Brahe shall lead the center, storm the trenches!
(Yes, sir!)
Hofkirchen shall lead the left wing north of Lützen!
(Yes, sir!)
I myself will lead the right wing, like I have always done!
SWEDISH LEADERS:
We are all of the Midnight Sun!
To those who will survive now say "Auf Wiedersehen!"
You may think that Lady Fortune is cruel,
yet, even if she is, never fear her at all!
You may know that she does not always smile
to those who have never fought for life,
to those who have never fought for life!

WALLENSTEIN:
Thus we Austrians won't
be subjects ever more,
bereft of power, to our liege lord!
We'll fight the King of Sweden, and the Kaiser, and the Lord,
and even Lady Fortune, to claim back our fates!

Slutligen har två vidunders vägar korsats...
(At last, the paths of two legendary beasts have crossed...)

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Wallenstein... you are the scoundrel who defeated me at the Old Holdfast!
I am the King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus. And I am still your enemy!

WALLENSTEIN:
You thought you would win?

These times are glorious eras of struggle, melody that lasts forever...
As religions change, lives vanish like shooting stars, disappear as faint twinkles of light.
It's an era of legends, lore, and conviction, through which ran great mortal heroes...
Those who have been defeated, slain, crippled, wounded, have all been abandoned by destiny...

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Wallenstein!
Have you forgotten the pact we made last winter?
Why are you supporting the Kaiser's struggle?

Wallenstein!

WALLENSTEIN:
The Crown did nothing for me! If I were its ruler, the Realm would be in far better hands!
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS:
Don't make me laugh!
Gott mit uns!

(Gustavus rides into the fog to his regiment's aid and gets lost among the Croats, he is shot in the left arm, then in the upper back.)

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS (falling off his steed):
Eleanor!
CROATS (rifling him and riddling his chest with bullets):
Take that!
(The Croatian officer gives Gustavus the mercy shot in the nape of the neck).

(After the battle, in the church of Weissenfels)

MARY ELEANOR:
Ah ah ah ah ah Ah ah ah ah ah 
Ah ah ah ah Ah ah aaaah ah...
Gustavus...
I couldn't...
SPIRIT OF GUSTAVUS:
Eleanor... my love!
MARY ELEANOR (desperate):
I will never let you leave me alone!!!
Wait for me!
Gustavus!!!

Vorhang zu...
(Down with the curtain...)

To the memory of Gustavus Adolphus Karlsson of Vasa

*Nyköping, Sweden, 9th of December 1594 
 + Lützen, Saxony, 6th of November 1632

His spouse Mary Eleanor (next to the throne), their daughter Christina Augusta 
(in his arms), his right-hand man Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna (next to the throne),
 his courtiers and his people, his officers and soldiers, will always
 keep his memory alive, as long as Sweden and freedom exist.

Beloved ruler of nations and leader of armies,

consort, father, friend, and lover

Inspired by thirst

for glory, on the field of battle quaffed

instead death's bitter draught.

The last word was missing in his epic song:

the word that crowns every achievement.

The mourners have done their duty, right or wrong:

they wrote it in blood and bereavement.

He left us when we (and he) expected it the least, 
in the prime of his life and at the climax of his career,
before he could be tarnished by the failing vigour of an older age
or by the corruption brought upon him by success. 
A single bullet, just like any other, 
suddenly struck his back and entered his noble chest, 
to quench a flame that never could or should have burned brighter.

HERO KING 

(Mithrandir)

Coda of the Lützen musical - threnody

Let the night never cease to call you Let the day nevermore be the same Though you've gone where we cannot find you in each heart you have set your name

Hero King, far you wander and long may your name be sung Through kingdoms of starlight and realms of the sun

Hero King, though you're hidden we're still guided by your light You're walking beside us a friend in the night

We were lost when the dark descended and the light gathered into a storm You appeared like a sunlit morning at the winds of a world at war

Hero King, far you wander and long may your name be sung Through kingdoms of starlight and realms of the sun

Hero King, though you're hidden we're still guided by your light You're walking beside us a friend in the night

Hero King rising through the shadows like a star shining deep in its home You will dwell in our hearts forever Nevermore will we stand alone!!