Chorale lyrics

[ENSEMBLE]
The gods bless and so they curse
For better or for worse
Sire children with their human slaves
They demand blind loyalty
From beggars to royalty
From the cradle to the grave

An age of wisdom, madness and glory
An age of war and brooding peace
One chapter from an ageless story
Known as Ancient Greece

[HOMER, spoken]
Achilles of Thessaly

[ENSEMBLE]
Cursed with flawed immortality

[HOMER, spoken]
Agamemnon of Mycenae

[ENSEMBLE]
In turn with ambition

[HOMER, spoken]
Ulysses of Ithaca
[ENSEMBLE]
Longs for peace and security
Long be his road to achieve them

[HOMER, spoken]
Menelaus of Sparta

[ENSEMBLE]
Is granted the hand of Helen
To share his throne
He worships her beauty
And thereby is damned
For the gods have fashioned
Her image on one of their own

They give with one hand
Take with the other
Mystic schemes
For mortals to discover
Inside both human and divine

Half truths
Believable lies
A glimpse of glory
To covetous eyes
Fashioned scenes where their end
Justify their means
An age of wisdom
Madness and glory
A time for atonement
Sorrow or joy
The gods watch as the tale unfolds
Behind the walls of Troy

[HOMER, spoken]
Priam and Hecuba

[ENSEMBLE]
As regents of the nation
Seek only for peace and prosperity

[HOMER, spoken]
Hector of Troy

[ENSEMBLE]
Their son, a soldier, a hero
Who proudly caught his destiny

[APHRODITE]
Paris

[ENSEMBLE]
In love with life and his beauty
Hears a goddess call his name
Will he follows his head or his heart to her
Or turn away in vain
[APHRODITE]
Oh Paris, come wander from your fold
And grant me your apple cast from gold
Answer my call
I can offer it all
Take me as your reward
Be mine Paris
For ever and ever

[ENSEMBLE]
A princess of Troy
Watches over the boy
And prays
Her senses deceive her
Only Cassandra can see what future hold
And only her priest will believe her

[CASSANDRA]
Oh Paris
I saw from the start
One goddess
One human counterpart

[GREEKS, TROJANS]
The gods give and so they take
So with reason on a razor's edge
They praise and humiliate
The King of Troy makes a pledge
Exploit the pleasure and the pain
To send his son in search of peace, understanding and goodwill
They destroy then compensate
Will this nation ever be the same?
Lavish love, extol the hate
Or will insanity reign?
Now a young man heeds the call, bewitched by a goddess
Paris will you see the hidden truth?
So the debt is called
Or will you hide behind the mask of youth?

[ALL]
You should have known better