Dramatis Personae
Poseidon, God of the Sea.............................................................Bass-Baritone
Pallas Athena, Goddes of War................................................................Soprano
Hecuba, Queen of Troy...............................................................Mezzo-Soprano
Talthybius, a Greek Soldier..........................................................................Tenor
Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba...........................................................Soprano
Ulysses, King of Ithaca...................................................................................Bass
Polyxena, daughter of Hecuba..............................................................Soprano
Andromache, daughter-in-law of Hecuba...........................................Soprano
Menelaus, King of Sparta...............................................................................Bass
Helen, wife of Menelaus..............................................................Mezzo-Soprano
Synopsis
ACT I
Scene one – The scene is a deserted beach beneath an escarpment before the walls of Troy. A rough-hewn stone path connects the rocky ledges above to the beach below. There are several ramshackle tents and campfires scattered to the left and right. It is early morning, one day after the fall of Troy. A thick fog blankets the ground. Poseidon emerges from the sea. He gazes on the city and bemoans the fate of her people. (“It was I, with the help of Phoebus Apollo…”) Pallas Athena appears. With feigned empathy and humility, she attempts to gain his confidence, but Poseidon will not be moved from his melancholy. She is the cause of all this carnage and he cannot control his anger. (“Woman, pestilence, I abhor you!”) She tries in vain to manipulate him, relating the events of a grave injustice done to her by the Greek soldiers. (“When the Argive entrails from the oaken horse…”) She tells how Cassandra, the high priestess of her temple, was assaulted and the temple destroyed. The reason for her timidity is now clear: she needs Poseidon's help to chastise the Greek army. (“Avenge my shame!”) Poseidon, delighted to see her so distraught, shows her no kindness. She tells him that Zeus, her father and his brother, has promised to help her. The seas, however, are Poseidon’s realm. Only with his help will she be able to smash the Greek fleet. (“Drown one and all that Greece may learn respect for her god!”) Intrigued by the thought of retribution, he agrees to help her. (“Walls of water I will create, mightier than those fallen, crumbled Trojan walls.”) They sing together—she expressing her undying gratitude, he exclaiming that he cares nothing for her and will yet have his revenge. He orders her to Mount Olympus, to wait with Zeus, until the fleet has set sail. (“Then shall we play havoc with the destinies of these ill-fated men.”) She leaves. Left alone, Poseidon launches into a tirade against Athena. (“Impious goddess…Beware!”) Then he turns his attention to the Greek fleet. (“You that trample my cities…Tonight, you will sleep on my breast!”) He gazes fondly on Troy. He raises his golden trident and with a gesture of resignation he returns to the edge of the lagoon and vanishes beneath the black water.
Scene Two – Pallas Athena reappears. She conjures up demons and directs them to the sleeping Hecuba to plague her. .Hecuba attempts to stand but is unable. (“How my body aches…”) She prays. Gone are her husband, her sons, and her home. Only her daughters remain. (“They are my hope…”) “Save my daughters,” she cries. The noise from the harbor intrudes upon her devotions. (“Greek ships… tell me how you found our silent shores?”) Unable to control her emotions, she weeps. (“All the sorrows of the world are mine…”)
Scene Three - Talthybius enters with a group of soldiers. A captain, and herald to Agamemnon, he has come looking for Cassandra, and is shocked to discover Hecuba so changed in a single day. (“A slave’s fate is a hard one….”) Suddenly a tent is ablaze with light. Fearing Cassandra may immolate herself, he rushes to stop her. From within comes the voice of Cassandra chanting. (“Apollo, hear my cry!) She emerges from the tent with a torch. She dances. Distraught, she speaks of preparing a holy place for the god who is approaching. As the sun rises, Cassandra stands transfixed in its radiant light. Hecuba, ashamed, tries to calm her. (“Dancing is for men who would make happy marriages”) But Cassandra sees her marriage to Agamemnon as the beginning of his downfall. She speaks about the things the “sane” people have done: thousands dying for Helen, Agamemnon’s sacrificing a daughter so Helen might sleep with Menelaus once again. (“Where’s the sanity in that?”) Her mind wanders. She speaks of the Greek soldiers who died on foreign soil without their loved ones. (“Is this the glory all-conquering Greece has won?”) Troy, however, did not wage war on Greece. (“We fought to save our city…”) She turns to Hecuba and bids her thank Greece for making heroes out of ordinary men, since this war has made Troy immortal. Talthybius lashes out at her and asks her if she can see only Greek strife. (“What of Polyxena?”)
Scene Four - Ulysses enters. He tells Hecuba Polyxena is to be sacrificed to Achilles. Hecuba begs him for a reprieve, reminding him how she saved his life when he was discovered spying in Troy. He tries to make light of the matter but she is insistent. (“I gave you back your life!”) He turns to leave but she clings to him and calls for justice. (“Beware, politician!”) He is adamant. She prostrates herself in desperation and pleads with him. (“I take your hand as you took mine. Save my daughter; give her back to me.”) But Ulysses is powerless to help her. He describes how Achilles’ ghost rose from its tomb and demanded Polyxena as his fair share of Troy’s spoils. Nothing can be done to save her.
Scene Five - Polyxena enters and her mother tells her what is to be. Polyxena is relieved. (“To die, what better news could I desire?”) She sees death as her salvation. Hecuba orders her to beseech Ulysses to intercede on her behalf. Polyxena, proud and defiant, promises him that she’ll not beg for her life like he begged for his own. (“For I am ready to die!”) To her, death is preferable to life as a slave. (“Free I was born and free I’ll die.”) Hecuba tries to prevent the soldiers from taking Polyxena and they knock her to the ground. Polyxena runs to her and begs her to accept the inevitable. Cassandra joins them. Each sings a plaintive, unaccompanied song. Then their voices entwine, soaring higher and higher, chanting wordless cries. They embrace. Cassandra follows Talthybius to the harbor and Polyxena is led away by Ulysses. Hecuba stands motionless. She buckles beneath the weight of her sorrows, her eyes searching the heavens for a sign of hope.
ACT II
Scene One - The place is the same. It is now afternoon. Hecuba lies motionless on the ground. Andromache and her son arrive in a chariot, on which Hector’s shield is boldly displayed. She steps to the ground and hurries to the tents, searching and calling for Hecuba. Hecuba reaches out to them. Sobbing wildly, she tries to explain what has happened. Andromache, however, has witnessed Polyxena’s ordeal and describes it in detail. (“On yonder plain…”) The Greeks have sent her to find Hecuba, that she may go and shroud the corpse. Hecuba asks Andromache if she will help, but Andromache turns on her, and tells her that she must go to her new lord, the son of her husband’s murderer. She wishes that she could die but she does not have Polyxena’s courage. Hecuba weeps for her but Andromache will not allow it. (“This is my shame, forget me!”) Hecuba tries to console her. (“In death there is nothing; at least life offers us hope.”), but Andromache will not listen. She longs for death to bring an end to her meaningless existence. She speaks of Hector, her husband. Through him she lived, and with him she loved. She is frightened of loving another man. The shame is unbearable to her. (“I’ve been told that one night in another man’s bed makes aversion melt in his arms!”) Resigned to an empty future, she wants only to be forgotten. Hecuba embraces her grandson, and gently reprimands Andromache for her selfishness. Here is her reason for being. (“A son, your son, son of my son!”) Whatever must be done to keep this tiny babe safe and alive must be done. (“Your hope, my hope, Troy’s hope.”) Deeply moved, Andromache is aware of the significance of Hecuba’s words, and takes the child that she offers her. She embraces him, and extends her arms to her mother-in-law. Hecuba embraces her as well. Talthybius enters. He tells them that no Greek desires to raise Andromache’s son….he must die! In a moment, all hope is crushed. Hecuba is frozen, speechless. Andromache, realizing the futility of escape, turns to her child. She asks his forgiveness for being a woman and helpless to save him. She draws him to her, holds him tight and kisses him. (“Take, my love, one last embrace!”) She then pushes him at Talthybius, throws Hector’s shield to the ground, and leaves. Hecuba, unable to scream or weep, falls to the ground in a faint. Talthybius leads the child away.
Scene Two – King Menelaus enters. He stands motionless, pensive, staring out to sea. Hecuba speaks to him as if he were a god and calls for him to punish Helen. (“Kill her, Menelaus!”) At this moment Helen appears, elegantly dressed and escorted by Talthybius. She looks to Menelaus beseechingly for some sign of reassurance. Her beauty stuns him. (“Undiminished by the brutal siege!”) Hecuba bows to her mockingly. (“Murderess of my children!”) Helen wastes no time. She begins to seduce her husband. (“Come, speak to me.”) Talthybius reads an edict, (“Helen of Troy to Menelaus alone shall answer for crimes”) then departs. Helen cannot believe her ears. She is a pawn of the gods, and her beauty is a vile gift that has brought nothing but misery. She relates the story of the judgment of Paris, and how, bewitched by Aphrodite, he was able to possess her. When Paris was killed, she, free from his charms, sought escape, but was always returned to the palace. She demands Menelaus kill her now if he believes her to be anything but his true wife! Hecuba, unable to contain her fury any longer, begins a dramatic aria in which she refutes Helen’s story. She finishes by warning Menelaus to beware lest Helen deceive him again. But it is too late. His desires have clouded his ability to mete out justice. Helen has won. Menelaus orders the soldiers to burn all that remains of Troy. Helen is led away. Menelaus looks long and hard at the burning city, then in the direction that Helen has gone. Finally, he looks into Hecuba’s eyes; embarrassed, he pulls a dagger from its sheath, drops it and leaves.
Scene Three – Evening. Hecuba, now alone, attempts to make some sense out of what has happened. (“War, why must men fight war?”) Unconvinced that any of her children made acceptable choices, she questions herself, and finds her initial answer, a prayer to the gods, likewise unacceptable. (“I believed in you…. I trusted in you”) Who and where are these gods? Do they exist? Are they real? Talthybius enters with a funeral cortege bearing the body of Andromache’s child on Hector’s shield. They leave. This dead child is her only reality. (“Afraid of a child!”) She rocks the corpse in her arms and asks him, “What kind of man might you have become?” She examines the truth about mankind. Hecuba is real, but is she, mankind, evil? And these gods? Are they not a part of her? Sprung from her mind “in a moment of ignorance!” She created them, out of fear, and she can destroy them. (“In the light of reason… you will perish.”) Today she died and was reborn. She has conquered fear, and beholds the divine purpose of man. She picks up the dagger and discards it. (“Useless tool.”) She takes the shield and saddles it on her back. (“Noble past!”) She cradles the lifeless body in her arms. (“Come, aborted future. Let us walk together, for such is the way to the stars.”) She ascends the path. At the top of the escarpment, she stands for a moment. All about her Troy is aflame. There is a great sound as the walls of the city crash before her. She stands silhouetted before the conflagration and then descends over the bluff.
