Lamentations

Instrumentation: string quartet
Playing time: 13' 45
Copyright 1993/2010
Lamentations (Opens in a new tab)
Parts for Lamentations

LAMENTATIONS for string quartet was completed in 1993 and revised in 2010. The titles are taken from the Book of Lamentations of the Old Testament of the Bible. “How lonely sits the city” (that was full of people!) is from the first verse. This movement also contains a quotation from Ludwig Senfle; I used one of his favorite tunes, Ach Gott, wem sol ich kagen, or, Ah God, to whom I implore (or cry). Movement 2, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?” (1, 12) is set as a fugue. The last movement, “Let tears stream down like a torrent” (2, 18) is a combined expression of anger and anxiety.  The use of biblical citations has little to do with religion and much to do with my reaction to the terrible happenings in the Serbo-Croatian war.

Lamentations