Four Choruses From "The Persians" (2014)
SATB choir and percussion quartet; 4 movements; ca. 13 min.
The composer writes: these four choruses are extracted from The Persians, written by Aeschylus. It is the oldest surviving Greek tragedy – the second part of a trilogy that won first prize at the dramatic competitions in Athens in 472 BC. The historical background for this play is the defeat of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis, during the second Persian invasion of Greece, in 480 BC. (Aeschylus himself took part in the battle.) Remarkably, the play is written from a Persian perspective. The narrative unfolds at King Xerxes’ court on the day the Persians learn of their defeat.
The text for this work is (mostly) derived from English translations by Robert Potter and E.D.A. Morshead.
Score and parts available from:
TEXT
I: The King is a Lord and God
The King is a lord and god! He was born of the golden seed that first upon Danae fell, and dark is the glare of his eyes, as the eyes of a serpent blood-fed! With manifold troops in his train, and with manifold ships he has sped, yea, sped in his Syrian cars. He leads on the lords of the bow to meet the men of the West, the spear-armed force of the foe! Can any make head or resist him when he comes with the roll of a wave? For stern is the onset of Persia, and gallant her children in fight! Gone are they, many a day, the flower and pride of our array. And all the East-land, from whose breast, came forth her bravest and her best, craves longingly with foreboding dread, parents for sons and brides new-wed for absent lords. And day by day, shudder with dread at their delay! Ere now they have passed over the sea, they have gone forth to sack and burn, on the shore of the West-land they spring! They have bridged with rope and cord, they have bridled the neck of the seaway! Land to land they pass at the King’s command! The King is a lord and god!
II: O Horror!
O horror, O horror! O Persians, we learn of ruin! Hither and thither on surges borne, battered and bloody, dead bodies torn! How vainly have they striven, myriad hordes with shaft and bow. They went to the West to conquer Hellas, beloved of Heaven! Xerxes, ill-fated, he led the war, Xerxes, ill-fated, he leads no more! It was Xerxes, mighty Xerxes, it was Xerxes who gave the command! It was Xerxes! It was Xerxes who gave the command! It was Xerxes who unpeopled all the land.
III: Invocation of Darius
O Queen, by the Persian land adored, by you be this libation poured. Passing to those who hold command of dead men in the spirit land. And we will sue, in solemn chant, that gods who do escort the dead in darkened realms our prayer may grant: bring to us King Darius! Darius, Darius, Darius! We greet you, sire of a woeful son.
IV: Solemn Sorrow
At your royal bidding, pour the sorrows of my soul; sufferings of our nations, bid the mournful measures roll. Solemn sorrow, sorrow deep, solemn sorrow, mournful sorrow, mournful we lament, sorrow of the nations, dread and despair, throughout all the land, dread and despair, nations of Persia lament, sorrow, mournfully fall our tears, for all the nations of Persia, solemn sorrow, solemn sorrow. O afflicted monarch, once the lord of marshalled armies, the unpeopled nations mourn the death of Persia’s fallen sons.
The composer writes: these four choruses are extracted from The Persians, written by Aeschylus. It is the oldest surviving Greek tragedy – the second part of a trilogy that won first prize at the dramatic competitions in Athens in 472 BC. The historical background for this play is the defeat of the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis, during the second Persian invasion of Greece, in 480 BC. (Aeschylus himself took part in the battle.) Remarkably, the play is written from a Persian perspective. The narrative unfolds at King Xerxes’ court on the day the Persians learn of their defeat.
The text for this work is (mostly) derived from English translations by Robert Potter and E.D.A. Morshead.
Score and parts available from:
TEXT
I: The King is a Lord and God
The King is a lord and god! He was born of the golden seed that first upon Danae fell, and dark is the glare of his eyes, as the eyes of a serpent blood-fed! With manifold troops in his train, and with manifold ships he has sped, yea, sped in his Syrian cars. He leads on the lords of the bow to meet the men of the West, the spear-armed force of the foe! Can any make head or resist him when he comes with the roll of a wave? For stern is the onset of Persia, and gallant her children in fight! Gone are they, many a day, the flower and pride of our array. And all the East-land, from whose breast, came forth her bravest and her best, craves longingly with foreboding dread, parents for sons and brides new-wed for absent lords. And day by day, shudder with dread at their delay! Ere now they have passed over the sea, they have gone forth to sack and burn, on the shore of the West-land they spring! They have bridged with rope and cord, they have bridled the neck of the seaway! Land to land they pass at the King’s command! The King is a lord and god!
II: O Horror!
O horror, O horror! O Persians, we learn of ruin! Hither and thither on surges borne, battered and bloody, dead bodies torn! How vainly have they striven, myriad hordes with shaft and bow. They went to the West to conquer Hellas, beloved of Heaven! Xerxes, ill-fated, he led the war, Xerxes, ill-fated, he leads no more! It was Xerxes, mighty Xerxes, it was Xerxes who gave the command! It was Xerxes! It was Xerxes who gave the command! It was Xerxes who unpeopled all the land.
III: Invocation of Darius
O Queen, by the Persian land adored, by you be this libation poured. Passing to those who hold command of dead men in the spirit land. And we will sue, in solemn chant, that gods who do escort the dead in darkened realms our prayer may grant: bring to us King Darius! Darius, Darius, Darius! We greet you, sire of a woeful son.
IV: Solemn Sorrow
At your royal bidding, pour the sorrows of my soul; sufferings of our nations, bid the mournful measures roll. Solemn sorrow, sorrow deep, solemn sorrow, mournful sorrow, mournful we lament, sorrow of the nations, dread and despair, throughout all the land, dread and despair, nations of Persia lament, sorrow, mournfully fall our tears, for all the nations of Persia, solemn sorrow, solemn sorrow. O afflicted monarch, once the lord of marshalled armies, the unpeopled nations mourn the death of Persia’s fallen sons.
