Those Achs come at the end of this sadly timeless set of lyrics:
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!
(Ah! is English for Ach!)
Just listening to the music, it's futile trying to guess what's going on in the play. Zeus is summoned, Mohammed is mentioned, Ka' abah is sung. Going by the title, I'm going to say the Greeks are invaded by heathen Turks, they plead to Gods, the Gods respond favourably, the heathens are vanquished. But to say that guess isn't educated would be spot on.
I was following along with the lyrics on wikipedia and giggling at the gaudy (and god-y) grandness of it all. I wasn't really listening properly. My ears perked up when the music got all faux -Eastern in the fourth movement, but again in response to the goofiness, not the beauty.
Here's the wikipedia with lyrics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ruins_of_Athens
Then all of a sudden, Movement 5 - a greatest hit. I was surprised to hear what I always assumed was Tchaikovsky for all the triangle tinging: the famous Turkish March. Give it a listen on its own. At 1:20, you can catch the percussionist at the back just punishing that triangle.
Also interesting is the playwright of The Ruin of Athens, August Von Kotzebue. He was a Rubix cube of contradictions: shit-disturber, politician, subversive, bureaucrat, father of 18, and wildly prolific creator. In addition to his over 200 plays, he wrote stories, autobiography, sketches, novels, history, polemic, journalism, and satire. Does anyone live like that anymore? Can anyone live like that anymore?
Here is the Ruin of Athens (video complete with lots of Greek images in case you forgot: ATHENS)
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