ScoresOnDemand
Weir, Judith The King of France
Score for sale (North America): http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.action?itemid=14035696 Score for sale (UK, Europe and other territories): http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/00012934/details.html?kbid=1296 Information about the work and materials for hire: http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/2760
Chester Music Limited Part of the Music Sales Group
This work was written for Susan Tomes, who gave the first performance at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 5th January 1994. Duration c. 8 minutes Score on sale Order No. CH61156
COMPOSER’S NOTE In 1991 I made some transcriptions of Spanish/Arabic folk music for a theatre piece about the Crusades. One of the tunes haunted me for a long time afterwards – El Rey de Francia, sung by Sephardic Jews at the time of their exile. (The original song, with innumerable verses, is a Spanish shaggy dog story about three lads who join the King of France’s army.) The King of France is a set of variations on this tune. Although the musical processes are abstract ones, there is perhaps a hint of the tune’s Spanish background in the dry, brittle textures of some of the later variations. J.W.