Circles of Grief is written for récitant, voice, clarinette solo, percussion, and string orchestra. First performance by the L'école de Musique de Laon, L'Orchestra Symphonique du Conservatoire de Laon, dir. Michel Pozmanter, chorus dir. Eric Munch.

Circles of Grief
Music by Pierre Thilloy, text by Allen J. Frantzen.
The work was given its official premiere November 11, 2005, in Craonne, France, the site of some of the most devastating fighting during the Great War. For some of the texts click the program image to the left.

Craonne is located on the Chemin des dames, an east-west line south of Laon that formed one of Germany's strongest lines of defense once the war was underway (Laon was the German regional headquarters for much of the war). See below for greater detail.

Maps courtesy of
Conseil Gènèrale l'Aisne, 2004