Monk’s Aria
Home Higher Level Page Monk’s Aria Two Madrigals Choral Christmas Carols Cantata “Blaues Gras”

 

Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice is one of P. D. Q. Bach’s most incomprehensible operas, and the character of the Monk is one of the most incomprehensible characters in it, and the aria sung by the Monk is incomprehensible in several different languages.  According to The Definitive Biography of P. D. Q. Bach, “Pope Pius VI listed the Monk’s infamous aria Et expecto as one of the main reasons for his excommunication of P. D. Q. in 1787.”  For a clue to why this may be, check the record album The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach, where this aria can be heard.  For another clue, check the lyrics printed below, where this aria can be read, even if not comprehended.

Monk’s Aria from Hansel and Gretel and Ted and Alice
 
 
Et expecto resurrecreation;
Et in unum Dominos and checkers;
Qui tollis peccata mundi morning.

Mea culpa kyrie elei-
Sonny Tufts et Allah in Pompeii;
Donna nobis pacem cum what mei;
Agnus and her sister Doris Dei;
Lord, have mercy on my solo.

Et in terra chicken pox romana;
Sic sic transit gloria mañana;
Sanctus estes Kefauviridiana
In flagrante delicto Svetlana;
Lord, have mercy on my solo.

Credo in, at most, unum deum;
Caveat nabisco mausoleum;
Coitus interruptus bonus meum;
Kimo sabe watchum what you sayum;
Lord, have mercy on my soul so low		  

 

 

Lyrics copyright © 1972 Theodore Presser Company and are used with the permission of Theodore Presser Company.  Any other copying by other parties for other uses is not authorized.

 

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