Live performance at Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels on 3 June 2012 orchestra: Le Concert d'Anvers conductor: Bart Van Reyn soprano: Ida Falk Winland tenor: Yves Saelens bass: Birger Radde more info: www.octopusensembles.be DUET Lucas (tenor): You town-bred beauties, come and look! Look at these daughters of nature, unadorned by finery or paint. Just look at my Hannah! The bloom of health is on her cheeks; joy sparkles in her eyes, and her heart speaks through her lips when she swears she loves me. Hannah (soprano): You mincing dandies, stay away! Here your airs and graces count for nothing, and smooth talk does no good: no-one will listen to you. No gold, no gorgeousness can blind us, we are moved by an honest heart alone; and all my hopes will be fulfilled if Lucas is true to me. Lucas (tenor): Leaves can fall, fruit can decay, days and years can pass away, my love alone is changeless. Hannah (soprano): A leaf appears more lovely, fruit has a sweeter taste, the day is brighter than before when you speak of your love. Both: What happiness is true love! Our hearts are united, only death can divide us. Dearest Hannah! Peerless Lucas! To love and to be loved is the peak of happiness, the pride and joy of life! RECITATIVE Simon (bass): Now in the denuded fields uninvited guests are seen; they found food in the standing corn and still they forage for it. The labourer does not begrudge such pilfering, which he scarcely notices, but he does not want to show excessive laxity. Any means of protection he regards as beneficial, and happily sets off for the hunt, which pleases his good landlord.