The Climax

Good evening, Doctor.

- Doctor?

- Yes.

Dr. Hohner.

The theater physician.

He lives just around the corner. What's

he doin' around here this time of night?

Uh, somebody sick?

Yes. He is.

Marcellina.

Marcellina.

Oh, yes.

Uh, did the police ever find her?

No.

After 10 years,

they've given up trying.

Marcellina, it has come.

At last, it has come.

What, Luise?

I couldn't wait. I opened it.

The king invites you...

no, commands you to sing for him.

Luise, I'm going to faint.

Not now, my sweet.

After you sing for the king,

you can faint all you like.

Will you find the maestro?

I want him to hear the good news.

This is the biggest

moment of my life.

#Ah, we bid you welcome

to this fete #

#Ah, we're sorry if we made you wait #

#Ah, let violins begin the dance #

#Ah, let there be joy

and gay romancing #

#Ah, tell me why this doubt #

# Should fall to me #

#Whose tragic power

seems to call to me ##

Friedrich, I asked you never

to come here again.

I had to see you.

Well, I don't want to see you.

I thought you understood that.

But I love you, Marcellina.

No, Friedrich. You love your

own private, selfish world.

You want to lock me up

there with you,

give up my career.

That's what you've got to do.

I can't bear the thought that

any man can hear you sing for him,

feast his eyes on you...

just for the price of a ticket.

I worked hard for my success,

Friedrich.

Tonight, there were 11

solo curtain calls.

More than any other singer's

ever had in this theater.

The king commands me

to sing for him.

Why, I'd be a fool to give that

up for you. Darling, listen to me.

No, Friedrich. I've listened to you

for the last time. Now please go.

This isn't really you speaking,

Marcellina.

You've forgotten how happy

we've been and will be again.

Now let me hear you say

once more, just as you used to,

"I love you, Friedrich. "

I can't say it...

because I don't love you.

I hate you.

I don't hate you.

I only hate the thing

that's come between us... your voice.

Yes, I know.

You were out front tonight.

I felt your eyes on me.

Like you're looking at me now.

Go away.

Get out of here!

I'm afraid of you.

You needn't be.

I love you, my darling.

You know that.

I'd give my life for you.

This thing that shuts me out...

I won't let it.

I tell you I won't let it.

It's here,

now, between my fingers.

I've only to close them

to silence it forever.

Friedrich, you're hurting me.

Friedrich, you're...

We'll always be together now.

Your voice will never

come between us again.

Marcellina.

Dr. Hohner,

are you all right?

Yes. Yes.

I'm all right.

Good morning, Count Seebruck.

Good morning.

Good morning, Count

Seebruck. Good morning.

Good morning, Count

Seebruck. Good morning.

Good morning. Good morning, Jean.

Good morning, Count Seebruck.

What a lovely morning.

The air is like wine.

Chestnut trees are in bloom.

All nature is in harmony.

Well, even our friends the critics

have been kind to us this morning.

Oh, it's good to be alive.

Everything is serene, peaceful, quiet.

- I have never been

so insulted in all my life.!

I positively will not stand for it.

I am the prima donna of the Royal Theatre,

not a barmaid in a cheap beer hall.

And I won't be insulted by...

I was not insulting you.

I was merely trying to show you...

You show me.

Why, the insolence.! Now, children,

children. Please. Please. What's wrong?

Stop it! Stop it!

Now, you, Brunn. What

is it? And stop bobbing.

Yes, madame.

Uh, Count Seebruck, if you please.

We were just rehearsing the duet between

MadameJarmila and Signor Roselli...

when for no apparent reason,

MadameJarmila... For no apparent reason?

Why, this... This creature here was

handling me like a pan of unbaked dough.

I was not. I merely

put my arm around your waist.

- Carl, you were in the prompter's box.

You saw it all. - I'm sorry.

You know how it goes,

Count Seebruck.

# I love you

La-la-la-la, la-la-la #

Will you take your hands

off my stomach!

Perhaps you'd rather I didn't touch you

at all. Nothing would please me better.

For 20 years, the baritone embraces the

prima donna at that particular moment.

- Now she's trying to tell...

- I defy anyoneto sing in one of your deathlike grips.

My dear, if you are unable to sing,

I refuse to take the blame.

Unable to sing? Just what

do you mean by that insult?

Oh, stop it. Stop it.

Roselli, you're as temperamental

as a prima donna.

And as for you, Jarmila, I'm getting a

little bit tired of your constant bickering.

So am I, Count Seebruck.

And if you, as the impresario of this theater,

don't do something about it, I shall.

All right.

Is madame's understudy ready?

Yes, Count Seebruck.

Miss Metzger, please.

Miss Metzger.

Yes, Count Seebruck.

Come in, my dear.

- Do you know the soprano role?

- Oh, yes, sir.

You shall sing it tonight

in MadameJarmila's stead.

Tonight? Oh!

Oh.

If some composer would only write me an operetta

without any women, I'd make him immortal.

Count Seebruck.! Count Seebruck.!

Count Seebruck.! Well, what is it?

There's a... There's a... Well?

There's a dead man

in one of the dressing rooms.

A dead man?

In which room?

T- Twenty-two.

But, Jarmila, darling.

Oh, it's you, Dr. Hohner.

I must have fallen asleep.

Thank you. Brunn, continue

with the rehearsal.

I'll be there as soon as I can.

Yes, sir.

On stage, please.

Are you all right now? That was silly of

me to fall asleep in the dressing room.

Oh, I understand.

Carl, get some black coffee

and bring it to my office.

And as a doctor, you must realize that this

constant brooding over Marcellina is bad for you.

You've had a brilliant career.

Your clientele is most distinguished.

But you must put this tragedy

out of your mind.

- #Ah, tell me why this doubt #

- Who is that singing?

- You hear it too?

- #Should fall to me #

# Whose tragic power #

# Seems to call to me ##

Who are you?

Who are you? She's Angela Klatt, a

music student. We are both students.

Do you know what you were singing?

Of course. It's from The Magic Voice.

That music is sacred.

Sacred?

Sacred to the memory of Marcellina.

No one must ever sing it again.

Do you hear?

No one.

Hohner.

And now may I ask what you're doing

in my music library?

Count Seebruck, forgive me, please.

I am altogether to blame.

You know these young people?

My nephew, Franz Munzer.

And this is Angela Klatt.

I've been smuggling them in here

to study these old scores.

I shouldn't have done it

without your permission.

It's quite all right, Carl.

There's no harm been done.

But Dr. Hohner.

I met him in the corridor.

Yes. Why was he so angry with me?

He was in love with Marcellina.

Ten years ago, she disappeared.

But I still don't see why.

You know,

it's a strange thing, my dear,

but as I came down the corridor, I

thought I heard Marcellina singing in here.

The doctor was convinced of it.

You mean my voice

is anything like hers?

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