Die Frau ohne Schatten

Act 2
When Barak leaves the house the next morning, the nurse paints the dyer’s wife a picture of her future in dazzling colours. Meanwhile, the Emperor suspects that the Empress has left the palace. Filled with jealousy, his initial intention is to kill her, but he is emotionally torn. Deeply troubled, he flees. The nurse and the dyer’s wife have given Barak a sleeping draft. Together, they prepare to transfer the shadow to the Empress. They leave the Empress with Barak and she takes pity on him. In a vision, she sees the Emperor turning to stone.

The dyer’s wife reveals to her husband that she has been unfaithful to him and offered her shadow for sale. Beside himself, Barak threatens to beat his wife to death. The Empress, however, hesitates to take the shadow while the dyer’s wife, at the eleventh hour, also decides against giving it away.

Act 3
The two couples have been separated from one another and carried to another world by Keikobad’s messengers. The dyer’s wife is tormented by the voices of the unborn. The Empress speaks with Keikobad. She dissociates herself from the nurse, who is banished. While Barak and his wife search for one another, the Empress is offered the ‘water of life’ with which she could take on the shadow of the dyer’s wife. Once more, she sees an image of the petrified Emperor before her eyes. Nevertheless, the Empress refuses to bring misfortune upon others for the sake of her own happiness. Both couples – now able to conceive – are reunited.