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."
Violinist Josh Henderson and pianist Melinda Faylor perform "Mistress Anne" at New York University, 2011
"The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn" set to "Mistress Anne"