Torquato Tasso: A Play

Leonore.

Yes, my Princess, with pleasure I see
Both of us here so rustically adorned.
We seem like truly happy shepherdesses
And are occupied like those who are happy.
We are winding garlands. This one, colorful with

Swells more and more in my

You have chosen for yourself the delicate slender laurel
With higher meaning and a greater heart.

Princess.

The branches that I braided in my thoughts,
They have at once found a worthy head,
I place them gratefully upon Virgil.

Leonore.

So I press my full, joyful garland
Upon the high brow of Master Ludwig original: "Meister Ludwig" referring to Ludovico Ariosto —