The Iliad (Sketches)
A collection of sketches inspired by The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
4.5 min • Composed 2023/24 • Purchase: score & partsComposer’s notes
These sketches were inspired by The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.
In this cycle, the prologue is narrated by Homer and aims to foreshadow the role of Fate in the narrative. The cycle progresses to a solo piano piece that transitions into a heart-wrenching funeral march. Each piece can be performed stand-alone but work ideally as a cycle.
The Iliad
Text by Lauren Biggs
I.
Sing, Muse, sing of the souls hailing west of the Sea of Aegeus
Tell, Muse, not of wrath, nor of fate
But of truth, Muse, truth
Two, Muse; it’s always the two of them!
Old Fate, hard to the very end
O sweet Muse, I offer my heart to be
Your living reliquary of forgotten things found
So take me back in time
To seek what the heroes hide
Grant me a love to write;
of music and poetry—the tick of humanity.
II. (no text)
III.
My dear divinely born,
The jaws of dreadful Fate
Have yet your life to claim.
Give me your hand,
Walk us through the river of Death;
Let all of mind flicker away,
Until our soul can aimlessly graze.
My dear divinely born,
Lay not our bones apart,
But let them nest in a golden urn
Together.
Perusal score
