Lucretia was inspired by the story of Lucretia Romana found primarily in Livy's "The History of Rome" and Ovid's "Fasti." The story is introduced with Roman forces besieging the town of Ardea as Sextus Tarquin, the son of the King of Rome, argues with his men about the merits of their wives. Collatinus suggests that they return to their homes secretly and see for themselves how their wives are behaving. They first visit the house of Sextus and find that the women have forbiddingly opened the wine cellar and are celebrating with their servants amidst dancing and flower garlands. A visit to the house of Collatinus shows his wife Lucretia sitting with her maidservants spinning wool and lamenting the absence of her husband. This portrait of domestic innocence inspires Sextus with lust, and upon his return to the camp cannot stop thinking of Collatinus' wife. He returns to her chambers in the middle of the night and rapes her, threatening to kill her and leave her alone with a naked dead slave to ensure her reputation of adultery. She later confesses the crime to her husband and her father and they assure her that she is innocent. Although her family reassures her that this crime will be avenged, she cannot endure the guilt and dishonor she feels and kills herself. After her suicide her naked body is marched through Rome and the public outrage it creates banishes the entire Tarquin family and so begins the establishment of the Roman republic.

I imagined this work in the spirit of an opera where the stage is set through an instrumental introduction. From this starting point, the first movement, The Jewel of Rome focuses on Lucretia introducing herself somberly to the audience as a woman known for her virtue. The second movement, Perfidious Beauty, captures Lucretia in her angst at what has befallen her, an unfortunate and painful rape. Her ranting paints the sinister rape scene which has already occurred and blames her beauty as the culprit. The cello then emerges expressing her depression at her corrupted integrity through a rich and solemn musical soliloquy. The third movement, Headlong to Death, follows Lucretia's journey into madness and ultimately suicide. The movement begins with dark and bitter emotions expressed in the strings with heavy use of double stops and glissandi. From here Lucretia bursts into sorrow expressing the pain in her heart. From the lamentation of her heavy heart Lucretia relives her nightmare until she begins to lose her sanity and "falls," symbolically illustrating her fall from stature, from love, and from life. As her insanity continues to mount, Lucretia becomes delirious and fantasizes about being a child once more and running away from her torment. A play on words is created with the text "yes let me run" which pertains to her childhood memories of happiness and her desire to run away from death. But once the sentence completes "yes let me run headlong to death" we realize Lucretia accepts her fate and wishes to find death. We then witness Lucretia stabbing herself at "slash" which is emphasized through string punctuations and heavy articulations. Once the slashing has completed, Lucretia's madness for death increases and is characterized through an altering of states both harsh and sweet. But as death approaches "by approaching death," Lucretia's outcome is determined and death is only moments away. After her final outburst of pain she sings one final lament. Here again the play on words "let me run" return, this time deepening the triple meaning. She now wishes to run from her painful heart and towards death which will end her misery. It is not until the very end though that the third meaning emerges in the piano as three notes on the playful childhood motive "let me run." Lucretia received its premier on April 1, 2008 by Angelique Zuluaga in Auer Concert Hall, Bloomington, Indiana.