Dear skyline3,
The words recited by Diana Rigg on the death of Inspector Morse are
the following:
"He was a human being in the words' fullest meaning. Because he shut
himself off from the world, they called him 'hostile.' And, because he
avoided emotion, 'unfeeling'. But, when he fled the world, it was
because in the depths of his loving heart, he found no weapon to
resist it. When he withdrew from people, it occurred after he'd given
them his all and received nothing in return. He remained lonely
because he found no other. But, until his death, he remained a human
heart towards all people. So he was...so he died. And, when he died,
we wept."
Though slightly altered, those words derive from a funeral oration,
originally written by Austrian writer Franz Grillparzer (1791-1872)
for the funeral of the famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827) on 27 March 1827. Here is the full text of the oration in
English translation:
"We who stand here at the grave of the deceased are in a sense the
representatives of an entire nation, the whole German people, come to
mourn the passing of one celebrated half of that which remained to us
from the vanished brilliance of the fatherland. The hero of poetry in
the German language and tongue still lives - and long may he live. But
the last master of resounding song, the gracious mouth by which music
spoke, the man who inherited and increased the immortal fame of Handel
and Bach, of Haydn and Mozart, has ceased to be; and we stand weeping
over the broken strings of an instrument now stilled.
An instrument now stilled. Let me call him that! For he was an artist,
and what he was, he was only through art. The thorns of life had
wounded him deeply, and as the shipwrecked man clutches the saving
shore, he flew to your arms, oh wondrous sister of the good and true,
comforter in affliction, the art that comes from on high! He held fast
to you, and even when the gate through which you had entered was shut,
you spoke through a deafened ear to him who could no longer discern
you; and he carried your image in his heart, and when he died it still
lay on his breast.
He was an artist, and who shall stand beside him? As the behemouth
sweeps through the seas, he swept across the boundaries of his art.
From the cooing of the dove to the thunder's roll, from the subtlest
interweaving of wilful artifices to that awesome point at which the
fabric presses over into the lawlessness of clashing natural forces -
he traversed all, he comprehended everything. He who follows him
cannot continue; he must begin anew, for his predecessor ended where
art ends.
Adelaide and Leonore! Commemorations of the heroes of Vittoria and
humble tones of the Mass! Offspring of three and four-part voices.
Resounding symphony, "Freude, schöner Götterfunken", the swansong.
Muses of song and of strings, gather at his grave and strew it with
laurel!
He was an artist, but also a man, a man in every sense, in the highest
sense. Because he shut himself off from the world, they called him
hostile; and callous, because he shunned feelings. Oh, he who knows he
is hardened does not flee! (It is the more delicate point that is most
easily blunted, that bends or breaks.) Excess of feeling avoids
feelings. He fled the world because he did not find, in the whole
compass of his loving nature, a weapon with which to resist it. He
withdrew from his fellow men after he had given them everything and
had received nothing in return. He remained alone because he found no
second self. But until his death he preserved a human heart for all
men, a father's heart for his own people, the whole world.
Thus he was, thus he died, thus he will live for all time! And you who
have followed his escort to this place, hold your sorrow in sway. You
have not lost him but won him. No living man enters the halls of
immortality. The body must die before the gates are opened. He whom
you mourn is now among the greatest men of all time, unassailable
forever. Return to your homes, then, distressed but composed. And
whenever, during your lives, the power of his works overwhelms you
like a coming storm; when your rapture pours out in the midst of a
generation yet unborn; then remember this hour and think: we were
there when they buried him, and when he died we wept!"
By the way: The final episode of the British "Inspector Morse" series
was called "The Remorseful Day", and the character of Morse was played
by John Thaw, who died on 21 February 2002. The series was produced
from 1987-2000. Read more about that final episode here:
Inspectormorse.co.uk: Inspector Morse - The Remorseful Day
http://www.inspectormorse.co.uk/remorsefulday/
Sources:
Internet Movie Database: Inspector Morse
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092379
Inspectormorse.co.uk: Inspector Morse - The Remorseful Day / Guestbook
http://www.carlton.com/static/morse/remorsefulday/guestbook
Beethoven's Website: Beethoven's Biography - Funeral Oration by Franz
Grillparzer
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyFuneralOration.html
The Avengers Forever: John Thaw
http://theavengers.tv/forever/pnote-thaw.htm
Search terms used:
"diana rigg" morse death
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"The Remorseful Day" rigg
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goethe beethoven "ein mensch"
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grillparzer beethoven
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Hope this answers your question!
Best regards,
Scriptor |
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