Hecuba's Lament

Composer: David Heuser
Instrumentation: women's chorus (SSAA), piano
Year Composed: 2000
Duration: 3 minutes
Pages (score): 3
Cost: Purchase: $1.60
Catalog number: NSM2

Program Notes:

Child!
Why do I live, my son, when you are dead,
And I so wretched? you who were my pride,
by night and day, wherever I went,
you whom the Trojans called
their pillar, honoring you as if you were
a god. They glory in your might no more,
since Fate and Death have overtaken you.

This text is from the Illiad, by Homer (ca. 780 B.C.), and was adapted by the composer from a translation by William Cullon Bryant. These words are spoken by Queen Hecuba of Troy, the mother of Hector, after he is killed by Achilles.

Copyright © 2000, Non Sequitur Music Publishing
Revised -- April 2003
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