Heraclitus for string quartet
by Charles Villiers Stanford
String Quartet - Digital Sheet Music

Item Number: 20522087
5 out of 5 Customer Rating
$8.00
Digital Download Instant Download

Taxes/VAT calculated at checkout.

Share Share
String Quartet String Quartet - Level 2 - Digital Download

SKU: A0.579688

Composed by Charles Villiers Stanford. Arranged by David Warin Solomons. 20th Century,Contemporary,Romantic Period. Score and parts. 7 pages. David Warin Solomons #3228235. Published by David Warin Solomons (A0.579688).

Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 310 BC – c. 240 BC) was a Greek poet, critic and bibliographer, of Libyan birth.
He is considered the most influential figure of the Alexandrian school.
He wrote this poem in memory of his friend Heraclitus.

(Note: this is not Heraclitus of Ephesus whose philosophy is well known and who famously said  
"πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει" καὶ "δὶς ἐς τὸν αὐτὸν ποταμὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐμβαίης"
"Everything changes and nothing remains still ... and ... you cannot step twice into the same stream"
and, or course, "πάντα ῥεῖ " ("all things flow"),
but this Heraclitus of Halicarnassos was clearly a poet of great distinction himself, sadly unknown now,
apart from the mention in this poem)

Εἰπέ τις, Ἡράκλειτε, τεὸν μόρον ἐς δέ με δάκρυ
    ἤγαγεν ἐμνήσθην δ᾿ ὁσσάκις ἀμφότεροι
ἠέλιον λέσχῃ κατεδύσαμεν. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν που,
    ξεῖν᾿ Ἁλικαρνησεῦ, τετράπαλαι σποδιή,
αἱ δὲ τεαὶ ζώουσιν ἀηδόνες, ᾗσιν ὁ πάντων
    ἁρπακτὴς Ἀίδης οὐκ ἐπὶ χεῖρα βαλεῖ.

Someone told me of your death, Heraclitus, and it moved me to tears,
when I remembered how often the sun set on our talking.
And you, my Halicarnassian friend, lie somewhere, gone long long ago to dust;
but they live, your Nightingales, on which Hades who seizes all shall not lay his hand.
(translation by W. R. Paton)

2 millennia later, William Johnson Cory, 1823-92 wrote this version of the poem

They told me, Heraclitus, they told me you were dead;
They brought me bitter news to hear and bitter tears to shed;
I wept, as I remembered, how often you and I
Had tired the sun with talking, and sent him down the sky.

And now that thou art lying, my dear old Carian guest,
A handful of grey ashes, long, long ago at rest,
Still are thy pleasant voices, thy nightingales, awake;
For Death, he taketh all away, but them he cannot take.

... and this was set to music by Charles Villiers Stanford.

The sound sample of the instrumental version provided here is an electronic preview.
The pdf file contains score and parts.

Video

This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard’s global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.

About Digital Downloads

Digital Downloads are downloadable sheet music files that can be viewed directly on your computer, tablet or mobile device. Once you download your digital sheet music, you can view and print it at home, school, or anywhere you want to make music, and you don’t have to be connected to the internet. Just purchase, download and play!

PLEASE NOTE: Your Digital Download will have a watermark at the bottom of each page that will include your name, purchase date and number of copies purchased. You are only authorized to print the number of copies that you have purchased. You may not digitally distribute or print more copies than purchased for use (i.e., you may not print or digitally distribute individual copies to friends or students).