Paul Lewis

Threnody For Violin

Threnody: The Most Famous Prince of Blessed Memory
Threnody: a song of lamentation. 'The most famous prince of blessed memory': a quotation from the Mayor of York's address to the citizens in 1485 announcing that King Richard III had been 'hideously slain and murdered' on the battlefield.
Ever since I saw Laurence Olivier's film of Shakespeare's 'Richard III', which made me decide to become a composer at the age of twelve, I have been fascinated by the real Richard III and appalled by the character assassination carried out by the Tudors in order to justify their presence on the English throne. The rediscovery of Richard's bones beneath a car park in Leicester in 2012 inspired my celebratory 'Fanfare for King Richard III', and the resulting analysis of the horrific wounds to the skull received by Richard at the Battle of Bosworth brought forth my 'Lament for a King'.
This work is in eight sections to be played without a break: Lament; Richard the Soldier; Richard the Husband; Richard the Father; Richard the King; Richard the Devout; Richard Betrayed (The exiled Henry Tudor had long plotted to invade England and seize the throne. Richard confronted him at the Battle of Bosworth but was deserted by the notoriously unreliable Earl of Derby. The 9/8 'Furioso' section depicts Richard's heroic final charge and ends as the violin cries out the last words he uttered as he was slain: 'Treason! Treason!'); Epilogue.
'Threnody for Violin: The Most Famous Prince of Blessed Memory' was commissioned by the English Music Festival for a concert in Richard III's honour given by violinist Rupert Marshall-Luck in Middleham Church, Yorkshire, on September 12th 2015, and is dedicated with respect to the founder-members of the team who discovered Richard III's remains. Paul Lewis
Duration 23 minutes