The Death of King Renaud (String Quintet)

The score to John Woolrich’s The Death of King Renaud.

The Death of King Renaud was written for the Allegri String Quartet and Iris Juda in 1991. The 12-minute string quintet – comprised of two violins, two violas and cello – juxtaposes five fragments based on the old Norman folksong of the title; the same tune resembles the Ave Maris Stella of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine, a ghost of which appears in folkloric costume at the end of the piece. Each fragment is signalled by a long unison crescendo and a stuttering refrain, before instrumental solos take over, reflecting the tension in the work between melismatic individual and homophonic collective. A tiny chorale acts as coda.