notice stating that the Prime Minister is coming to inspect the prison, word having reached him that certain political prisoners have been thrown into it unlawfully. Pizarro knows that this matter concerns Florestan, and so he resolves to finish off this prisoner and conceal his corpse before the head of the government arrives. He orders one of the officers to climb the watchtower with a trumpet, on which to sound the warning signal upon the approach of the First Minister's carriage coming from Seville. On Pizarro's features appear the marks of a devilish glee, whose source is the destruction of Florestan, his old and bitter enemy.
Pizarro leans toward Rocco and hands him a purse stuffed with gold coins, saying to him: "There are others besides it, if you obey orders." And when he asks what these orders are, Pizarro answers that there is a political prisoner whom the interests of the state require to be put out of the way. Rocco proudly refuses to receive any such orders, protesting that he is a jailer, not an executioner. Thereupon Pizarro declares that he will carry out the task himself, asking Rocco at least to dig the grave. There is an empty cistern in the dungeon that holds Florestan; Pizarro orders Rocco to open it, that the prisoner's corpse may be thrown into it after he is killed. He impresses upon him the need for haste, telling him that he will join him in the dungeon in a few minutes.
Leonora hears this whole conversation without the least suspicion crossing the mind of Rocco or Pizarro; she rushes out of her hiding place after they leave and sings her fear and horror in the song: "O monstrous creature, what will you do?" Her one hope is that
her love for Florestan will give her the strength and courage to face whatever the future may spring upon her.
As Leonora goes out into the little garden adjoining the gate of the house, Marcellina and Jaquino enter the prison courtyard, their gaiety transforming the somber atmosphere that has ruled the scene until now. And here is Jaquino, still imploring Marcellina to give up her dreams and her love for the handsome Fidelio and return to his own true love; but she pays no heed to his words.
Leonora returns from the garden in Rocco's company, begging him to allow her to bring the prisoners
out of their cells to enjoy a little of the sunshine and the fresh, reviving open air. Rocco is a kind-hearted man who finds it difficult
to refuse any request from this young man who has won his admiration; and so he permits him and Jaquino to open the doors of the cells and release the prisoners, while he himself goes off to ask the governor whether he may take his young helper along on his dreadful errand. The prisoners come out into the prison courtyard, where the bright rays of the sun dazzle them; they put their hands before their eyes and walk swaying from sheer weakness, then sing a beautiful and moving song that
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Its colors are fast — they do not come off — ever-lustrous