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About the Composer
Timothy C. Takach
Timothy C. Takach Publications
Epitaph
An ancient Roman tomb inscription is still a valuable outlook for life today.
SATB, viola
A meditative setting of an ancient tomb inscription, the lines are as honest and straightforward today as they were then. The viola runs nonstop, a busy life filled with eighth notes, while the singers ask us to stop and listen a moment. Rhythmically buoyant and harmonically honest, the vocal lines are almost always in pairs, playing off each other. This moving piece is a wonderful addition to any set of music about loss, mortality, or generational legacy.
Text
Stranger, my message is short.
Stand by and read it through.
Here is the unlovely tomb of a lovely woman.
Her parents called her Claudia by name.
She was charming in converse, yet gentle in bearing.
She loved her husband with all her heart.
She bore two sons;
of these she leaves one on earth;
the other she has placed under the earth.
She kept house, she made wool.
That’s my last word.
Go your way.
– Ancient Roman Tomb Inscription, (c. 130 BC)
$1.60 per licensed PDF
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