From the composer:

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"I wrote this piece after finishing Season 2 Showtime's The Tudors, which chronicled Anne Boleyn's rise, fall, and ultimate beheading. I was so shaken by the final episode that I couldn't sleep the following night. I felt compelled to tell her story in my own way.

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"In "Mistress Anne," Anne is represented by the violin, with the various men vying to control her fate - King Henry VIII, her father, Cromwell, and the other men of the court - represented by the piano. I imagine it begins with her grieving in the tower, awaiting her execution, then flashes back to her carefree youth, dangerous flirtation with the king, coronation, birth of her daughter, then a sharp decline into betrayal and chaos, culminating in her execution.

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"The middle section is written in the style of a gavotte, a style of French dancing that was a favorite of Anne's. I also used modal scales popular in the Renaissance period."