The Four Maries - dedicated to Maurice Murphy

A suite of four works for solo Bb. Trumpet 

On the 7th August 1548 the six year old Mary Queen of Scots sailed from Scotland to France. With her were four little girls of noble birth known to prosperity as the ‘Four Maries’, Mary Fleming, Mary Seton, Mary Beaton and Mary Livingston. The word Marie has its etymological derivation in the Icelandic word ‘maer’ a designation given to a virgin or maid. It was used in Scotland for the maids of honour who attendant on the queen. After the death of her husband, the sickly Francis II of France, Mary just eighteen years old returned to Scotland in 1560 with the Four Maries. Just before ten o’clock  on Wednesday 8th February 1587 at Fotheringhay Castle in England Mary Queen of Scots then aged forty-four , and in the nineteenth year of her English captivity was executed. Mary’s French personal motto, ‘En ma fin est mon commencement’, ‘In my end is my beginning’ has proved so true. Few lives have been held up to such detailed scrutiny and the Four Maries are part of this fascination that continues to exercise succeeding generations. The Four Maries even have a pub named after them.

 

I dedicated the piece to the late great Maurice Murphy and an extract from a letter he wrote to me shows how humble this great man was.

 

"Dear Mike

Thank you so much for the dedication of your composition to myself, I’am very honoured to think that I warrant such recognition. It was great to see you in Glasgow and to work again with my old pal John (Gracie). It is rather weird, I don’t know if you are aware of the fact, that the 7th August, the day Mary Queen of Scots sailed is actually my birthday."
 

Maurice. London 18th November 2007