The Ruins of Athens

The Ruins of Athens (Die Ruinen von Athen), Opus 113, is a set of incidental music pieces written in 1811 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The music was written to accompany the play of the same name by August von Kotzebue, for the dedication of a new theatre at Pest.

A second overture was written in 1822 for the same play. It was composed specifically for the reopening of Vienna's Theater in der Josefstadt in 1822. The second overture is now known as The Consecration of the House.

Perhaps the best-known music from The Ruins of Athens is the Turkish March, a theme that even many who are not avid classical music listeners are familiar with. The overture and the Turkish March are often performed separately, and the other pieces of this set are not often heard. Another of Beethoven's compositions, Six variations on an original theme, Op. 76, uses the Turkish March as its theme.

The music for The Ruins of Athens was reworked in 1924 by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Ouvertüre

Overture

2. Chor
Tochter des mächtigen Zeus! erwache!
Sein Ruf ertönt!
Geschwunden sind die Jahre der Rache!
Er ist versöhnt!

Daughter of Mighty Zeus! Awake!
Her name resounds!
The years of wrath are past!
We are reconciled!

3. Duett
Ohne Verschulden Knechtschaft dulden, harte Noth!
Alle Tage neue Plage um das bischen liebe Brot!
Von den Zweigen winkt der Feigen süsse Frucht,
Nicht dem Knechte der sie pflegte,
Nur dem Herren, dem er flucht!
Hingegeben wilden Horden,
Tiefgebeugt in ihre Hand,
ach! ach! ach! ach!
Was ist aus dir geworden,
Armes, armes Vaterland!

To suffer slavery, though guiltless, is misery!
Every day new sorrow to get our scrap of bread!
On its branch shines the fig tree’s sweet fruit,
not for the slave that tended it
but for the cursed master!
The people oppressed,
bent low by his hand,
ah! ah! ah! ah!
what has befallen you,
my poor fatherland!

4. Chor der Derwische
Du hast in deines Ärmels Falten
Den Mond getragen, ihn gespalten.
Kaaba! Mahomet!
Du hast den strahlenden Borak bestiegen
Zum siebenten Himmel aufzufliegen,
Großer Prophet! Kaaba!

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Wikipedia