Type: Programme Notes
Language: Greek
Year of Publication: 1971
Description:
Epitaph, for narrator, mixed choir, children’s choir, and orchestra, written between 1969 and 1971, is dedicated to the memory of Nikos Maragkopoulos, the composer’s nephew, who passed away before reaching the age of eleven.
The disjointed words of the English text come from the child himself, who, in his delirium before the end, recalled images from his stay in England, where he was hospitalised for a period during his brief illness.
The work is divided into two parts, played without interruption, and is based on a combination of texts by the composer himself, and: a) the first three lines of the Western Requiem Mass in Latin, b) a short excerpt from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and c) two Byzantine hymns, in the original text and melody, namely an excerpt from the Lament of the Virgin, heard in the Orthodox service of Holy Week, and a resurrection hymn.
The structure of the work closely follows the progression of the text. In the first part, after a brief symphonic introduction, the following are heard sequentially: the choir, initially a cappella and then with orchestral accompaniment, in the first rendition of the first two lines of the Latin Requiem; the narrator, in the short excerpt from The Little Prince; the interjections of the orchestra and choir in dialogue; the second rendition of the same lines of the Requiem, interspersed once again by the narrator; and finally, the excerpt from the Byzantine lament, performed by the female voices of the choir.
The second part opens with the orchestra and later accompanies the choir in a third rendition of the Latin lines of the Requiem, leading to a climax, after which the Byzantine resurrection hymn is sung by the children’s choir.
The work concludes calmly with a fourth rendition of the Latin lines of the Requiem, this time completed with the words “Et lux perpetua luceat eis” (“And let perpetual light shine upon them”). The work is performed here in its world premiere.
-This is a near-verbatim translation of Sicilianos’s Greek text.
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1 |
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YSC72 |
Epitaph |
for Mixed Choir, Six Women's Vocal Ensemble, Children's Choir, Narrator and Orchestra |
31 |
3233-4331, Timpani, Percussion (3 Performers: Suspended Cymbal, Cymbals, Medium Gong, Large Tam-Tam, Flexatone, Maracas, Claves, Clapper, Metallophone or Glockenspiel, Crotales, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Tubular Bells, Bass Drum), Harp, Piano, Strings, Choir, Children’s Choir, Narrator, 4 Female Voices |