TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

BEETHOVEN'S LAST NIGHT

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA (2000)

  1. Overture
  2. Midnight
  3. Fate
  4. What Good This Deafness
  5. Mephistopheles
  6. What Is Eternal
  7. The Moment
  8. Vienna
  9. Mozart
10. The Dreams Of Candlelight
11. Requiem (The Fifth)
12. I'll Keep Your Secrets
13. The Dark
14. Für Elise
15. After The Fall
16. A Last Illussion
17. This Is Who You Are
18. Beethoven
19. Mephistopheles' Return
20. Misery
21. Who Is This Child
22. A Final Dream

BEETHOVEN'S LAST NIGHT

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA

CHARACTERS

LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN
The maestro himself on the last night of his life.

FATE
The spirit of Fate. She is a young beautiful woman.

TWIST
Fate's hunchback dwarf son. Mischievous but not malicious.

MEPHISTOPHELES
The devil himself. Evil with a seductive charm and flair.

YOUNG BEETHOVEN
The composer as a young man.

MOZART
Wolfgang Amadeus himself.

THERESA
The legendary, "Immortal Beloved". The great love of his life.

YOUNG GIRL
An orphan, approximately six years old.

THE MUSES
Voices of artistic inspiration.

1. OVERTURE
(Instrumental)

On a late night in the spring of 1827, the city of Vienna is experiencing the largest lightning storm in its long history. Within a large disheveled room, Ludwig Von Beethoven is slumped over his piano and on the piano sits the just completed manuscript for his Tenth Symphony. It is his final, and he is certain, his greatest work.

Since the time when Ra and Isis
raised the sphinx out of the sand
and Apollo dreamed Athena
and men began to understand

That when darkness folds on darkness
in the restless tides of night
and lightning raises shadows
and for moments gives them life

It’s been said by those who ponder
that it surely is a sign
that a life touched by the stars
is now running out of time

And that somewhere in that darkness
in the heart of that great storm
the world returns a soul
that the gods caused to be born

And this was such a storm
the kind one rarely sees in life
for in a room now filled with shadows
the great Beethoven was spending
his last night

From the shadows a beautiful spirit, Fate, and her deformed dwarf son, Twist, emerge to inform Beethoven of what he has already deeply suspected, that this is to be his last night on earth. They are accompanied by numerous spirits and ghosts from his past.

2. MIDNIGHT

(TWIST)

And in the dark he sits alone
to watch his final hours bleeding
while unconcerned upon the wall
the clock it ticks away the time

No need for words for in the dark
all words have long since lost their meaning
still when they whisper in his ear
he tries to read between the lines

What I see in the night
what I feel in your heart
all your dreams all your lies
can you tell them apart

See the hands on the clock
are you watching them turn
for your candle is quite low
we've been watching it burn

Do you lie here awake
as the shadows look on
should they cry for your sake
should you sleep in their arms

For the shadows see all
and they rarely forget
every dream that you've had
every act you regret.

3. FATE

(GHOSTS & SPIRITS)

Faith and belief
and retreat
when you're standing all alone
with your dreams in the dark

Never knowing what is real
in the shadows you meet
never knowing what is true
in the answers you seek
never knowing if

Fate she hears me
fate stand near me
fate state clearly
whether there will be another card

Retrieve us
time deceives us
faith she hears us
but she doesn't listen very hard

As she drifts through our lives
tossing coins into the air
watch them twist
watch them fall
turning hope into despair

Watch them twist
watch them fall
then she suddenly revives
every dream that we've had
and we find ourselves alive

Believe me
fate stands near me
fate state clearly
whether there will be another card

Receive us
time deceives us
the only moment in our lives
that ever really mattered fate is now.

With each successive crack of lightning the spirits move closer
and eventually Beethoven finds their distraction unbearable.

  4. WHAT GOOD THIS DEAFNESS

      (BEETHOVEN)

What good this deafness
that my whole life I have dread
what good this deafness
with these voices in my head

What good this deafness
if this prattle I must hear
if I were blind I'm sure they wouldn't disappear

      (TWIST)

Did you really want to believe what you're saying
did you really want to be here alone
have I interrupted a moment of praying
while your life's decaying
your sins are they weighing
while you've been carving your stone
all on your own

Did you really want to sit here in silence
could it be that brooding is part of your art
is it an extension of artistic license
a moody defiance
of all of life's tyrants
while you've been searching your heart
alone with us in the dark.

Beethoven implores the spirits to leave him alone, but Twist tells him that as shadows they only exist by the light that Beethoven's life has cast and as that light is fading, it is only natural that they should cling to its last moments of illumination. As the clock strikes midnight their conversation is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Mephistopheles. His presence causes all the other spirits to shrink silently back to the corners of the room.

Mephistopheles informs Beethoven that he has come to collect the composer's soul. Faced with eternal damnation, the terrified composer claims that it cannot be his time, that he has yet to complete his Tenth Symphony. Mephistopheles looks at the manuscript and then with seemingly uncharacteristic generosity, offers to give him as much additional time as he needs, but only if he will tell him what parts he plans to add or change. Beethoven is forced to admit that it is his masterpiece and he would not change a single note. His bluff called, Beethoven still can not believe that this is how his life must end. Mephistopheles assures him that not only is it so, but his reaction is the nearly universal response from every man who is about to be condemned to hell. But he then tells Beethoven he is a very fortunate man, for he has decided to offer the maestro something very rarely offered to humans at the end of their time, a second chance, a possible way out of his most unfortunate dilemma.

5. MEPHISTOPHELES

(MEPHISTOPHELES)

All of your life now
you have denied
there'd be a time
when you'd ever die
still it's been rumored this thing must be

Why is it then that you act surprised
when I appear now to be your guide
why do you hesitate to follow me

See it rising
stare and wonder
hear it beckon
you to dance

Feel it hold you
take you under
I'm your God of second chance

And now you claim you are not prepared
so much to do you can not be spared
still your entreaties death will not hear

The graveyard is filled with important men
who could not be spared but were in the end
and so I whisper now in your ear

See it rising
stare and wonder
hear it beckon
you to dance

Feel it hold you
take you under
I'm your god of second chance

Domine
domine
domine
domine
o domine
o domine
o domine
o domine.

The devil then makes the composer an offer. If Beethoven will give him all his music, allowing Mephistopheles to wipe it from the memory of man, he will return his soul to him. Beethoven is overwhelmed by the situation. Fearing an eternity of damnation and torment he is desperate to reclaim his soul, but the thought of losing his music, his life's work, causes him to hesitate.
Mephistopheles, sensing his confusion, offers to leave for one hour before returning for Beethoven's answer. As the devil is turning to go, Beethoven notices that the hands of the clock are now turning faster than is normal. When he points this out to Mephistopheles, the devil replies that the maestro should consider it a final favor because where Beethoven is going, they never turn at all.
As the spirits cautiously re-emerge from the corners of the room, Beethoven agonizes over his decision.

6. WHAT IS ETERNAL

(BEETHOVEN)

And here in the night
as I feel the inferno
I stare in the dark
thinking what is eternal

The man or the moment
the act or the reason
these thoughts fill my head
as I contemplate treason

Of dreams I have had
and dreams I have pondered
when late in the night
my mind it would wander

To things I have done
and then quickly regretted
while denying vices
my life had selected

And I think what I've done
or have yet to begin
and the man I've become
and the man that I've been

Now caught in a waltz
with the eternal dancer
I'm courted by death
but death isn't the answer
I say

All I was
meant to be
could I
suddenly
just decide
not a thought
would survive
could it be
my life's worth
ended there
with my birth

If I could see someone
who's been there before me
and traded his soul
for a moment of glory

His penance or mercy
by spirits debated
while judged on a scale
that's been heavily weighted

And what have I done
could there be such a sin
in this man I've become
in this man that I've been

Now calling to God
from the pit's very bottom
I pray he forgives
every sin I've forgotten
this day

And who would have thought
that my fate it would conjure
this twist in the road
on which I have wandered

Each vision and dream now
completely dismembered
to give one's whole life
and find nothing's
remembered

And what good is a life
that leaves nothing behind
not a thought or a dream
that might echo in time

The years and the hours
the seconds and minutes
and everything that
my life has placed in it
betrayed
betrayed
betrayed

The things I have done
the places I've been
the cost of my dreams
the weight of my sins

And everything that
I've gathered in life
could it be lost
could it be lost in this
could it be lost in this
could it be lost in this
night.

Crushed by the dilemma he finds himself in and unable to reach a decision, Beethoven tries to recall the particular actions in his life that have led to his damnation. In anger, he confronts Fate for having dealt him such a cruel hand in life. Taken aback by his accusations, she offers to review his life with him and to change anything that he wishes to change.

Delighted with this unexpected proposition, Beethoven accepts. When she asks where he would like to start, Beethoven says the first thing he would change is his childhood. Fate takes him back through time where he finds himself as a young child sitting at a piano. He has just been cruelly slapped by a tutor for having failed to receive an appointment to the emperor's court. His tutor is trying to create a new child wonder, similar to Mozart, but unlike Mozart, Beethoven is an awkward and gangly youth. Now, sitting alone at the piano, he is trying to console himself by playing a melody that he finds soothing. Beethoven recognizes the melody as the future Sixth Symphony and sitting down next to the child completes the tune. The child smiles at this kindly adult and after they talk for awhile, asks if they might meet again and finish the song. Beethoven reassures the child that one day that just might possibly happen.

7. THE MOMENT

(BEETHOVEN)

In this world of circumstance
children never fear forever
and this moment that enchants
someday we may both remember

Then
maybe then
if we are still alive
then
maybe then
this moment will survive

There is time in every word
there are words in every reason
and these notes that are unheard
one day they may find their season

Then
maybe then
if we are still alive
then
maybe then
this moment will survive

Then
maybe then
if we are still alive
then
maybe then
this moment will survive
will survive.

Beethoven turns to Fate and tells her, "I did not need this childhood. I did not need my mother to die when I was five. I did not need an alcoholic father or this sadistic teacher. I did not need such pain as a child. This! Remove all of this from my life."

Fate tells him that it will all be as he wishes but before she grants his request he should be aware that when she removes the pains of his childhood he will also lose the inspiration that led to the Sixth Symphony. When faced with this choice, Beethoven realizes that he is not willing to lose the Sixth Symphony and withdraws his request.

Fate then says, "Surely there were happy times, magical moments?"

Beethoven replies, "There were some."

"Like the first time you arrived in Vienna?"

"Like the first time I arrived in Vienna."

Within seconds they are there witnessing a rhapsodizing Beethoven as a young man seeing Vienna for the first time.

8. VIENNA

(YOUNG BEETHOVEN)

Since I was a child
I've seen her in a dream
a captured fairy tale
that echoes cross my life

And though I've courted her
she's always stayed unseen
now all at once she
glitters in the night

But that was yesterday
and that all was before
when she was far away
a silhouette of dreams

But others whispered
that she was so much more
and suddenly I now
know what they mean

Dreams change
years strain
lost illusions
last stands
God's hand
absolution
found

Fairy tale sins
visions by Grimm
all forgiven
lives spent in vain
never reclaimed
take their final bows

Pictures and words
visions absurd
maddened poets
all within sight
failures in life
who'll never know it
Lazarus cries
there in his eyes
hope has risen
depth and facade
all before me now.

Together Fate and Beethoven watch the composer as a young man meeting his greatest idol, Mozart.

9. MOZART
(Instrumental)

Fate then reminds him of Theresa, his first and greatest love. Together they witness the young couple's first night together. Young Beethoven is already being called the greatest piano player who has ever lived and Theresa is a Princess in the Hapsburg Empire. They are both deeply in love.

10. THE DREAMS OF CANDLELIGHT

(THERESA)

Could this night it last forever
every moment held together
as if in a perfect trance
and such a thing could be

No one else would understand it
we would know the Gods had planned it
and for such a night as this
that they gave memory

And we would live inside this night
within the dreams of candlelight
if you would bring this wish to life
and spend this night with me

Could this moment last forever
and this dream our one endeavor
if the stars would just enchant
and time would then agree

Every moment of tomorrow
from this evening we would borrow
if this wish the stars would grant
and gently oversee

And we would live inside this night
within the dreams of candlelight
if you would bring this wish to life
and spend this night with me

And we would live inside this night
within the dreams of candlelight
if you would bring this wish to life
and spend this night with me

and spend this night with me.

Beethoven tells Fate that this was the happiest moment of his life. When she asks why did it have to end he replies, "Because it had to."

Fate again inquires, "Why?"

"No woman wants to spend her life with a deaf musician, let alone a lady of such high station and beauty."

Fate takes them to Beethoven's parlor in 1801. There they see the composer slumped over the piano. He is going deaf and he realizes that it is irreversible. As far as he is concerned, his life is over.

11. REQUIEM (THE FIFTH)

Voca me benedictum!
Sana meam animam!

Voca me benedictum!
Sana meam animam!

Beethoven believes that if Theresa were to have discovered that he was becoming deaf she would most certainly have left him. Before this could happen, he ended their relationship refusing to ever see her again.

Fate takes him outside of his town house where Theresa is watching him through the window. She can see him slumped over the piano. She does not understand why he has driven her out of his life. She knows that something is terribly wrong but has no idea what it is. Nothing that he could tell her would affect her love for him, but Beethoven cannot believe this.

12. I'LL KEEP YOUR SECRETS

(THERESA)

Lost in your dark
I see you there
what do you see beyond your stare
and you believe that no one else can know

What is this thing you keep inside
out of the light and wrapped in pride
always afraid that one day it will show

I'll keep your secrets
I'll hold your ground
and when the darkness starts to fall
I'll be around there waiting
when dreams are fading
and friends are distant and few

Know at that moment I'll be there with you

What are these voices that you hear
are they too far or far too near
what are these things that echo from the past

Who are these ghosts you see at night
there in the shadows of your life
they only live by the light you cast

I'll keep your secrets
I'll hold your ground
and when the darkness starts to fall
I'll be around there waiting
when dreams are fading
and friends are distant and few

Know at that moment I'll be there with you

I'll be around
when there's no reason left to carry on
and every dream you've ever had is gone
and the dark is deep and black without a sound
and every star has been dragged to the ground
know at that moment I will be around
know at that moment I will be around
know at that moment I will be around.

Beethoven says to Fate that it is now clear to him that it was his deafness that was the cause of all his unhappiness. "Remove this infirmity and my whole life will turn out right. If I had not gone deaf I would still have been able to perform live and Theresa and I would have had a life together."

Fate assures him that it can be done but once again feels she must warn him of the consequences. She points out that before his deafness his career was more concentrated on live performance than on composing. The Muses of music had always been speaking to him but it was only after he became deaf that he could clearly hear their voices. "Your live performances were brilliant but they lasted but a moment, while your compositions will echo forever."

She then shows Beethoven himself slipping deeper and deeper into his pit of total silence, but all the while the Muses continue to whisper in his ear.

13. THE DARK

(THE MUSES)

Feel the darkness smiling
every note is dying
silence is refining
every thought in his heart

Still the fates are weaving
every note that's bleeding
as he sits there seething
all alone in the dark
alone in the dark
alone in the...

But in the night
the darkness breathes
if he wills it to be

Before his eyes
the music dies
but he will always hear me

He sits alone
the cards are shown
as he embraces the dark

The only sound
that he will hear
is there in his heart

Someone is whispering softly to me
shadows of things that no one can see
they are there for you if you want them to be
you want them to be
you want them to...

But in the night
the darkness breathes
if he wills it to be

Before his eyes
the music dies
but he will always hear me

He sits alone
the cards are shown
as he embraces the dark

The only sound
that he will hear
is there in his heart.

14. FÜR ELISE
(Instrumental)

Beethoven once more relents when he realizes what he would lose. Fate then takes him to an alley outside a neighborhood tavern. It is years later and both Beethoven and Theresa are considerably older. Neither one of them has ever married. By pure chance Theresa sees Beethoven leaving a bar late at night but she does not make her presence known to him. From a distance she ponders what might have been.

15. AFTER THE FALL

(THERESA)

Time
only time
could never take me away from you

And why
should it try
time never cares just what we do

It just sits on a star
and gazes down
dropping its moments all around
and if I could wish upon that star
I would find what you dream
and then ask god to grant it

I wanted
to say this
long before this dark would fall
at night I
would pray this
then wonder if God heard at all
for the chances I've had are now long gone
and that star is no longer wished upon
for on this night it seems too far away

Try
I have tried
to pretend that I don't care
but then
sleep arrives
and in every dream I find you there

But I don't want the past to be my life
and I don't want to live inside the night
but I don't want to see your shadow fade
so I sleep and I dream
though I don't understand it

I wanted
to say this
long before this dark would fall
at night I
would pray this
then wonder if God heard at all
for the chances I've had are now long gone
and that star is no longer wished upon
for on this night it seems too far away

You can live your life in a thousand ways
but it all comes down to that single day
when you realize what you regret
what you can't reclaim but you can't forget
if I could just fall back into my life
and find you there inside this night
and let eternity just drift away.

Beethoven realizes that Theresa never would have cared about his deafness and is crushed as he realizes what might have been. To ease the pain of his regret, Fate then shows him glimpses of the future and the countless musicians who will be inspired by, and build upon the legacy of his music. She then allows him a final vision; a vision in which he improvises with musicians from the past by whom he was inspired , as well as musicians from the future, who will be inspired by him.

16. A LAST ILLUSSION

(GHOSTS)

Priusquam praesens
damnatus salvens:
hic homo nesciens.
Quae futura est?

Est plane vanum?
Magnificandum?
Error aut sanum?
O fortuna est!
Qua?

Priusquam praesens
damnatus salvens:
hic homo nesciens.
Quae futura est?

Est plane vanum?
Magnificandum?
Error aut sanum?
O fortuna est!
Qua?

The past and present
loss and redemption
a man's intentions
all things yet to be

A last illusion
time's absolution
fact and confusion
fate and destiny bound.

Fate allows him to see some of the countless people who will be touched, consoled and transformed by his music; a woman who has lost her husband and finds peace in listening to the Pastoral Symphony, a child who is crippled forgetting his infirmity while lost in the Ode To Joy.

At the end of this last minute review of his life, he now realizes that the removal of what he considers the most painful moments of his life also removes the inspiration for what he considers his finest work. Change one thing and he changes it all.

17. THIS IS WHO YOU ARE

(BEETHOVEN)

Sometimes
slowly
time brings revelation

Waiting
softly
for someone to believe

That the ghosts we've hidden or left to die
have now arisen and will arrive
to say what has happened
say what has happened
say what has happened
to me

And who would have thought
that you'd be the one
that I would have found here waiting

Lost in this night
until you arrived
and always too blind to see

And who would have thought
that after this time
that I'd be the one you're saving

Now undisguised
the ghosts that survive
now say what was meant to be

I never wanted to give my life away
who ever thought it would matter any way

Wandering inside this night
finding pieces of a life
never sure I'd ever know what it means

It's the strangers in your life
that you'd never thought you'd meet
it's the hand that picked you up
when you're laying in the street

It's the hand that cut you down
it's the dream that someone shared
when you thought that all was lost
it's the friend that wasn't there

You can run from all the memory
but never get that far
for in the end they'll find you
for this is who you are

Change one note
change one line
nothing's going to be the same
change one loss
change one cut
everything is re-arranged

Every act
cruel or kind
lost inside our memory
if you look
there in time

You'll find it in
find it in
find it in
find it in
find it in
you'll find it in me.

18. BEETHOVEN
(Instrumental)

Once more back in 1827 Vienna, he tells Fate that he would not change a thing from his past and risk losing the music. The music is who he is, the reason for his existence. Also, having seen the influence of his music on so many lives, he knows that he could never give the music to Mephistopheles. Still, he does not wish to lose his soul. Desperately he ponders his dilemma.

19. MEPHISTOPHELES RETURN

      (BEETHOVEN)

In every life
it has been said
there comes a time to join the dead
admit there is no second chance
and join death in a final dance

Across the floor eternity
until the final moments bled
and in the dark to take his hand
accept that it is time to wed

I don't know what I'm thinking
because all that I see
is his face grinning
Mephistopheles

I need to find an answer
for this one can not be
within the words of Mephistophel...

      (TOWARDS TWIST)

Tell me what you think
tell me what you know
did you really think
that there would be an ever after

Do you think I'm scared
tell me does it show
when inside this deafness
I can always hear his whispering

      (TOWARDS GHOSTS)

There comes a time you decide
what from your life will be real
what scars you will keep alive
what you are willing to heal

But can I gamble this night
with everything that I am
and can I erase my life
or do I stay here and be damned

      (TOWARDS TWIST)

Tell me what you think
tell me what you know
did you really think
that there would be an ever after

Do you think I'm scared
tell me does it show
when inside this deafness
I can always hear his laughter

I don't know what I'm thinking
because all that I see
is his face grinning
Mephistopheles

I need to find an answer
for this one can not be
within the words of Mephistopheles

      I

Don't need this path before me
don't need forgotten glory
don't need these threats of violence
don't need eternal silence

Don't need these midnight visions
don't need to make decisions
don't need to be uncertain
don't need this final curtain

      II

Somewhere out there
he still gazes
as I wander through his mazes

Death and life here
truth or lies
every thought is well disguised

      III

Now
it is too late
this path to take
don't want to lose my life this way

Medusa dreams
the dead still scream
don't want to see my life betrayed

      IV

All these things are now before me
endless death or timeless glory
on this night of ghosts returning
to the light of bridges burning

Now it is too late
this path to take
don't want to see my life be...(trayed)

      (TOWARDS TWIST)

Tell me what you think
tell me what you know
did you really think
that there would be an ever after

Do you think I'm scared
tell me does it show
when inside this deafness
I can always hear his laughter

I don't know what I'm thinking
because all that I see
is his face grinning
Mephistopheles

I need to find an answer
for this one cannot be
within the words of Mephistopheles

The cost of patience
when there's no time before me
of hesitation
all for this twisted glory

And my salvation
the cost of how it's gotten
the cost of what's gained
all forgotten
all forgotten.

When Mephistopheles returns to find his offer refused, he quickly replaces it with another. If Beethoven will only give him the unreleased Tenth Symphony (which no one else has heard, so he reasons it will never be missed) he will return the maestro's soul. Beethoven agonizes once more. The ghost of Mozart appears and tells him that it is the greatest musical piece ever created; it is the voice of God, and he cannot allow it to be destroyed. As the apparition of Mozart fades, he once again decides that he is unable to destroy this music.

In a final desperate attempt to obtain the Tenth Symphony, Mephistopheles points out through a window to a child sleeping in the gutter. He tells the old man that he owns this child's life and in great detail lists all the horrors and suffering that she will experience in her short existence.

20. MISERY

(MEPHISTOPHELES)

There is a child and she sleeps in the gutter
don't close your eyes and she's easy to see
she is not your child
she's always another's
and those you abandon
they are left to me

And know I will impale her like a knife
leave her twisting
day after day after day
of a very short life
with me

Listen now closely and hear how I've planned it
please let me tell you just how it will be
She'll feel the pain but she won't understand it
she'll think it's her fate
but we'll know it's me

And know I will impale her like a knife
leave her twisting
day after day after day
of a very short life
with me

So let me know
have I been clear
that I will magnify each cut
and every bruise
and every single childhood tear

I'll pick her scabs
cripple a hand
push a finger in each wound I make
now tell me then
do you understand
you understand?
You understand
you understand?
You understand

And know I will impale her like a knife
leave her twisting
day after day after day
of a very short life
with me
with me
with me.

If Beethoven will release to him this final musical creation, then Mephistopheles will give up all claims on the child, irrevocably removing himself and all his evil underlings from the child's life for all eternity.

Beethoven immediately turns away, determined to give a firm and final no. But before the word can leave his lips he finds himself looking back out the window. He tries to convince himself that the child means nothing to him, especially when compared to the Tenth Symphony. But with every word disclaiming her, she digs deeper and deeper into his soul.

21. WHO IS THIS CHILD

      (BEETHOVEN)

Who is this child
that I've never seen before
who is this child
that I've not seen till this day

Who dares to fall asleep
outside my door
if we should wait awhile
I'm sure she'll go away

To be involved with this
would surely not be wise
for in the final word
she means nothing to me

I learned the trick is
that we just avoid her eyes
and the question
what she means to...

What is this life
there will be other lives
soon to arrive
surely some will survive
she is but one
and there are many more
each the same as any other

Who is this child
what does she mean to me
I close my eyes
and still her face I see
she is but one
her kind is everywhere
can't you see there's no way I should care

I need a moment now
I have to clear my mind
there is a limit Lord
just to being kind

There is no way in life
that each child can be saved
should I be looking with regret
at every grave

There are no guarantees
in life she should be warned
I'm not responsible for
this child being born

I'm not responsible
in any kind of way
for every child that life can gather

What is this life
there will be other lives
soon to arrive
surely some will survive

She is but one
and there are many more
could this one life really matter

Who is this child
what does she mean to me
I close my eyes
and still her face I see
she is but one
her kind is everywhere
can't you see there's no way I should care

Can you see it in the night
can you feel that it's out there
it's the arcing of a life
and it's hanging in the air

Though I try to close my eyes
and pretend that I don't know
in my heart
I just can't let it go

There has to be another way for me
a way that leads from this insanity
a way that leads from my destruction in this way

Can you see it in the night
can you feel that it's out there
it's the arcing of a life
and it's hanging in the air

Though I try to close my eyes
and pretend that I don't know
in my heart
I just can't let it go.

Despite his best efforts he cannot bring himself to leave the child to this evil, and collapsing on the piano bench, he tells the devil that he has a deal. Beethoven is now a totally broken man as the fact sinks in that he has lost both his soul and his Tenth Symphony.

Mephistopheles dances with delight as he picks up the manuscript never noticing Twist who sneaks over and whispers in Ludwig's ear, "How do you know that Mephistopheles will keep his word?" Beethoven sits up and repeats the question aloud. Mephistopheles, never looking up from examining his prize, replies that Beethoven can draw up his own wording for a contract that they will write on a page torn from the back of a bible. Beethoven glances questioningly towards Fate who is still watching from the background. She nods her head for even the shadows know that a contract written on such sacred paper is unbreakable, even by the devil himself.
Beethoven, totally exhausted, mutters his consent but is unable to write the words that will bring about the destruction of his beloved Tenth. Fate, sensing his dilemma, offers to write down the agreement for him and he hands the paper to her. As he stares out the window Fate writes.

It is agreed upon this night, March 26, 1827, between the undersigned, that the music of the Tenth Symphony, composed by Ludwig Von Beethoven, first born son of Johann and Maria Von Beethoven, of the city of Bonn, shall henceforth be the property of Mephistopheles, Lord of Darkness and first fallen from the grace of God. It is also understood that it is his intention to remove any signs of this music from the memory of man for all eternity. In exchange for the destruction of the aforementioned music it is also agreed that Mephistopheles and all his minions will remove themselves from the life of the child presently sleeping in the gutter directly across from the window of this room. This removal of influence is to be commenced immediately upon signing and to be enforced for all eternity.

       ------------------------------------------
       LUDWIG VON BEETHOVEN

       ------------------------------------------
       MEPHISTOPHELES

Mephistopheles reads the paper, signs it and pushes it in front of Beethoven. Without even looking at the document the composer signs the paper. Immediately, Mephistopheles reaches over the piano, seizes the Tenth's manuscript and thrusts it over a lit candle. The papers are engulfed in a wall of flames. But when the flames have died down the devil is stunned to find that not only does the manuscript still exist, it is not even singed. Thrusting it back over the candle it is once again engulfed in flames only to emerge unscathed.

Sensing that he has been tricked, he screams for an explanation but Beethoven's expression tells him that he is as shocked at the turn of events as the devil himself. As Mephistopheles is glancing once more at the manuscript he hears the sound of Twist giggling in the darkness.

When he demands to know what the dwarf is laughing at, Twist can hardly conceal his delight as he explains that the composer's parents gave birth to a son prior to the maestro's birth. They had named him Ludwig Von Beethoven but the child died within his first year. They then named their second son Ludwig as well. Twist continues, "The man before you is that Ludwig Von Beethoven, the second born son of Johann & Maria Von Beethoven. You have purchased a Tenth Symphony of Ludwig Von Beethoven, first born of Johann & Maria, if he ever writes one." Mephistopheles glares at Fate, who smiles back at him demurely. Then, throwing the music back at Beethoven, he screams in frustration and disappears in an explosion of smoke and flame.

Beethoven is surprised by Mephistopheles' rapid departure and asks if he is not coming back to collect his soul. To which Fate replies that he never had any claim to his soul.

"But Mephistopheles said..."

"He is the devil," Fate replies, "He lies."

"But, there were times when I was rude and cruel to people," Beethoven stutters.

"True, the frustration of your deafness did cause you at times to lash out unfairly at others, but later you would always regret it and apologize. You often went through great lengths to make amends for any hurts you had caused. Believe me Ludwig, you have done well."

And with those words a warm feeling of peace spreads throughout Beethoven's body and across his soul.

When he asks Fate what is to happen next, she gently tells him that it is time for him to rest, for tonight he will dream a new dream within the gates of paradise. And as the words weave their way into his soul, Beethoven lies down on the couch near his piano and begins a new dream.

22. A FINAL DREAM

(FATE)

Lay your head down
and sleep on my shoulder
lay your head down
and start a new dream
and for tonight
the moment is over
drift in a lullaby
here where the stars reside
and angels are always seen

And lay your head down
the stars they have whispered
hear what they say
and know that it means
the moon is your guide
the stars they have kissed her
as she goes gently by
light as a baby's sigh
safe on a fairy tale stream

And start a new dream.

With the departure of his soul the storm begins to break and a stillness settles over the room as one by one the ghosts and shadows fade away. All seems at peace until the sudden re-appearance of Twist returning through a window. He gazes about the room, a look of mischievous delight spreading across his face. Scampering over to the piano, he takes the manuscript for the Tenth Symphony and then climbing up a bookcase, carefully slips it behind a wall. Here it will remain hidden, the world blissfully unaware of its existence until that one day in the future when it will be discovered and the music will once more live again.

THE END

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