DELLE STELLE: Is the story of Semereth and his wife a metaphor for our role as the unloved conquerors in this splendid African province? Still, the desire to be loved, to seduce – if I am to employ your librettist’s language – is a poison that you have succumbed to. This has nothing to do with us. After all, being loved by people we already control is superfluous. We are powerful men who stare into the mirror of glory, lingering as motionless as portraits, almost immortal. We’re not lovers chasing shadows on the road to perdition – the shadow being the dream of bending another’s will to our own by offering them the gift of our hearts, freedom, and strength, which would in turn guarantee their safety. Seducing what we already own, as you put it – that’s the role allocated to Philip II, who
