Under their commander Agamemnon they won a military victory, but at the price of the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. Victory will come to the Greeks, but the price in human life angers the goddess Artemis. Either choice would bring great sorrow. Military ambition proved stronger than personal love. Agamemnon chose to kill Iphigenia, and lead the army to war.
Sorrow is inevitable, and retribution.
The choral odes of Greek tragedies were performed antiphonally with music, dance, and a blend of poetic recitation and intonation. They were constructed strictly on a rhythmic pattern known as antistrophic. Their basis was musical. These Tragic Interludes take the rhythmical patterns of the six strophes and antistrophes that form the first ode. In these Interludes the pace constantly varies, and the melodic line of the oboe approaches the freedom of speech-rhythm.