1974

Heabakes: Five Sapphic Lyrics

for mixed chorus, two solo sopranos, solo alto, and percussion

Premiere

19 November 1974

Master Singers | Catherine Roma, conductor

Mills Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI

Work Details

Duration:

ca. 5 minutes

Publisher:

Biscardi Music Press
No. B48-74-3
(Available on Request)

Text:

By Sappho

Commissioner:

Commissioned by the Master Singers of the Choral Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Text

I. I am not one of the spiteful in spirit,
but I have the heart of one who is gentle.

II. So, like a child after its mother, I go about on wings.

III. I begin with words of air which are yet dreams.

IV. But, with my two arms, I do not aspire to touch the sky.

V. The stars about the fair moon lose their bright beauty
when she, almost full, illumines all earth with silver.

Transliterations from the Ancient Greek by Paul C. Ortloff, Department of Classics, Yale University. Translations from the Ancient Greek compiled from information from The Poems of Sappho, by Edwin Marion Cox (London: William & Morgate, Ltd., 1925).