FOUR AGES

‘Four Ages’, for string quartet, explores the forces of time and growth that shape the foundations of both music and human existence. In four, short movements inspired by the four stanzas of Yeats’s poem, the four members of the quartet (in the order of violin, viola, second violin, cello) each respectively assume a central role, embodying the four trials of body, heart, mind, and spirit.

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This performance was recorded at the 2019 Cambridge Female Composers Festival by the Arc Quartet.

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© 2018 Lara Weaver

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Four Ages of Man

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He with body waged a fight,
But body won; it walks upright.

Then he struggled with the heart,
Innocence and Peace depart.

Then he struggled with the mind;
His proud heart he left behind.

Now his wars on God begin,
At stroke of midnight God shall win.

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William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)