Ancestor Suite

As the pure but weakened Madeline enters, the Ancestors shrink against the walls in terror, as vampires from a crucifix. She curtsies to Roderick and gives Poe a flower. Madeline dances with Roderick as the Ancestors clap soundlessly. Then Madeline dances with Poe while the Ancestors join in the dance. Madeline pauses, confused. Poe and the Ancestors stop but Madeline begins again. Only she hears the music, and she alone dances to it, becoming a whirling dervish. Suddenly the music stops, and the Ancestors retreat to watch Madeline who seems dazed. The Ancestors take a step towards Madeline, then another step, and another. Madeline collapses. Doctor Primus indicates that she is dead, and Roderick collapses in grief while a stunned Poe comforts him.

Ancestor Suite is loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Eddie Poe has arrived at Usher House to visit his old schoolchum Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline. A ball has been organized in his honor. The dancers are the spectral ancestors of the Usher line, led by the founder of the Covenant that has given them immortality, Lord Primus Usher. Poe and Roderick watch. Madeline enters in her nightclothes. She is mad, but pure, like Ophelia; she has refused to sign the Covenant. The ancestors, apart from Primus, shrink back in terror. Madeline gives Poe a flower, and dances with Roderick (Madeline). The ancestors clap soundlessly. She then dances with Poe (Ewig Du), but begins hearing a wilder tune, and dances to it alone. She falls at a climax, and Primus indicates that she is dead.