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Joshua Shank
Graphite Publishing
Twilight of the Goddess
A dramatic musical portrait of the goddess Athena and all of her awesome complexities.
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Twilight of the Goddess
SATB, piano
“Twilight of the Goddess” is inspired by a poem that imagines the Greek goddess Athena standing quietly beneath the evening sky as Apollo’s sun descends. Rather than seeking glory or spectacle, she waits with patience and purpose, embodying the quiet strength of wisdom, discernment, and courage. As twilight deepens, the music traces her transformation from thoughtful observer to resolute warrior, celebrating a leader whose greatest power comes not from the brightness of the sun, but from the clarity of her own inner light.
Composer’s Notes
As a kid, Athena was always my favorite in the Greek pantheon, and I think this was largely because she combined extraordinary strength with keen judgement about when to use it. Because she is the goddess of battle tactics and purposeful war (unlike her half-brother, Ares, who represents the chaos and brutality of war), she is often depicted carrying a spear. However, her gifts are also deeply intellectual — she is the goddess of wisdom.
In Grantham’s poem, she is contrasted by her half-brother, Apollo, pulling focus as he rides through the sky in his golden chariot of the sun. Athena needs none of that flash herself but, rather, is content to wait quietly for when her enlightened warrior goddess nature might be needed. That combination of her regal bearing, her profound sense of justice, and her capacity for ferocity is something I tried to capture in my setting (with a bit of the sun god’s galloping coursers thrown in for good measure).
– Joshua Shank, 2025
Text
Athena turned ’round her head
like a night owl on the sly
and looked up behind her
as gold Apollo crossed the sky,
riding with his four coursers’
flying gilded manes and hooves.
Their silver flanks and quarters
thunder across the earth’s blue roof.
The rhythm of their beat
stamps a lyric all their own,
blood coursing with the heat
of the sun-disk they all towed.
The she-god of the wise
observes this cloud-streaked scene,
the man-god shining out,
casting shadows ’round Athene.
Apollo’s path is sinking low
as the winter months advance.
The frost now blurs his glow
and bare forests fall into trance.
It’s in this creeping night
that Athena finds her time.
She draws her wisdom in twilight,
no need for blinding light up high.
For she shines not with a sun.
Instead she lights her own pathway.
By her craft and wits she’ll run
her own trail she blazed today.
– John L. Grantham (b. 1971), “In Shadows, Wisdom”
$2.15 per licensed PDF
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