Rodgers–DE, Bye underscore

The second piece of music is the instrumental underscoring of some critical dialogue between the two lovers. Sir John tries to steer her away from war, declaring it to me a man’s game. While they still declare their love for one another and pray for the day when the war is over, Betsy makes a bold statement set forth in the liner notes and repeated here:

“No, war is women’s business. This wilderness was made livable by women and we’re all going to fight for it, every one of us.”

Mother Courage! I don’t know whether Dorothy Fields influenced her brother, Herb, to the extent that he put this into the libretto, but no matter.

Brava!