Thomas Bernhard, El imitador de voces

El imitador de voces

El imitador de voces, que ayer por la tarde fue huésped de la Asociación de Cirujanos, se mostró dispuesto, después de su representación en el Palais Pallavicini, al que lo había invitado la Asociación de Cirujanos, a ir con nosotros a Kahlenberg, para allí, donde tenemos una casa siempre abierta a todos los artistas, exhibirnos también su arte, naturalmente a cambio de unos honorarios.

Rogamos al imitador de voces, que procedía de Oxford, Inglaterra, pero había ido al colegio de Landhurst y había sido en otro tiempo armero de Berchtesgaden, que no se repitiera en el Kahlenberg, sino que nos representara algo totalmente distinto de lo de la Asociación de Cirujanos, es decir, que imitase en el Kahlenberg voces totalmente distintas de las del Palais Pallavicini, lo que nos prometió a nosotros, que habíamos estado entusiasmados con el programa que presentó en el Palais Pallavichini. Realmente, el imitador de voces nos imitó en el Hahlenberg voces totalmente distintas, más o menos famosas, de las de la Asociación de Cirujanos. Pudimos formular también deseos, que el imitador de voces satisfizo con la mejor voluntad. Con todo, cuando le propusimos que, para terminar, imitase su propia voz, nos dijo que eso no sabía hacerlo.

 Thomas Bernhard, El imitador de voces.

Thomas Bernhard

The Voice Imitator

The voice imitator, who had been invited as the guest of the surgical society last evening, had declared himself ― after being introduced in the Palais Pallavinci ― willing to come with us to the Kahlenberg, where our house was always open to any artist whatsoever who wished to demonstrate his art there ― not of course without a fee. We had asked the voice imitator, who hailed from Oxford in England but who had attended school in Landshut and had originally been a gunsmith in Berchtesgaden, not to repeat himself on the Kahlenberg but to present us something entirely different from what he had done in the surgical society; that is, to imitate quite different people from those he had imitated in the Palais Pallavinci, and he had promised to do this for us, for we had been enchanted with the program that he had presented in the Palais Pallavinci. In fact, the voice imitator did imitate voices of quite different people ― all more or less well known ― from those he had imitated before the surgical society. We were allowed to express our own wishes, which the voice imitator fulfilled most readily. When, however, at the very end, we suggested that he imitate his own voice, he said he could not do that.

Thomas Bernhard, The Voice Imitator.