Ostraka
David Hahn
About this work:
PROGRAM NOTES
Muse, thrust aside wars and sing with me
the marriages of gods, the feasts of men,
and the celebrations of the blest. -Stesichoros
Ostraka were shards of broken pottery which in seventh and sixth-century BC Greece were often used to write on. We derive our modern word "ostracize" from the Greek ostrakon, shell, or potsherd. This ancient practice played out when the citizens gathered and wrote the names of men they deemed dangerous to the state on potsherds or tiles. The man whose name turned up often enough was sent away, out of the city.
Today there seems to be a tendency to ostracize civilization from our lives. The artists, philosophers and intellectuals—those thought most dangerous to the state—are often marginalized, their voices suppressed.
Experiencing poetic fragments of a civilization past creates an experience filled with promise. While we do not have the whole poem, fragments promise something which our minds must fill in. We are shown a glimpse, a picture of what can only be conjecturally completed.
Premiere: Philadelphia Fringe Festival with Sharon Rhinesmith and Thomas Smith, September, 2005
Year composed: 2004
Duration: 00:12:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Solo Voice with One Non-keyboard Instrument
Instrumentation: 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic), 1 Mezzo-Soprano