The Misrule of Henry VI

The Misrule of Henry VI (2019)

5min
4(pic.alto).3(eh).10(Eb.al.bass.con).4sax(2al.ten.bass).3(con)/4.6.3.1/hp/pn/6perc/db

For David Law and the  Queensland Wind Orchestra 
Premiered 7 December 2019 by the Queensland Wind Orchestra under David Law at the Old Museum Building, Brisbane.

My mantra for this piece was "over before it starts." Such could very easily be said about the reign of Henry VI; in fact, it could very easily be said that Henry's reign never really started. He was not a competent king. Under his rule, the last Plantagenet territory of Gascony was lost to the French and England fell into what history (and George R. R. Martin, quite fondly) remembers as the Wars of the Roses. There were few comforts in Henry's life: God, his wife.  After losing the crown to his rival Edward of York, Henry's supporters returned him to the throne. Not for long, though; Henry was supposedly bludgeoned to death in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471. 

Edward and Richard more or less develops this historic saga further. 