'The Crown' is an award winning Netflix series that has won the hearts of many people around the world. Hans Zimmer wrote the theme for the main title with Rupert Gregson-Williams, from Wiltshire, composing music for the first series, joined by Lorne Balfe, a Scottish composer for series two.


I have made an arrangement for String Quartet and hope to make more for different combinations of instruments and piano in the future.

As usual my arrangement can be played by professionals for concerts, weddings and events but also tackled by young people. The key is the original one, D minor, which is easy for strings, and younger players can make use of open strings and take as many bows as they need. I have included some bowing as a guide. Most of the double stopping includes one open string but less experienced players can leave out one of the notes where necessary, especially of it is doubled by one of the other players. I have included some 'commas' in this arrangement and recommend recovering the bow and watching the leader like a hawk!

The long ?piano? sections will need lots of crescendo and decrescendo markings to sound effective. I put down some ideas, but feel free to experiment. The main thing is that they grow and decay again, to keep up the tension. Without that movement, those soft passages might sound boring, albeit the chords are gorgeous.

I have included a crescendo in the penultimate bar before each new dynamic, but ideally a long crescendo is needed between each new dynamic marking. The texture becomes gradually thicker, which will help, but I am looking forward to Capriccio Quartet recording this one as they are so good at building up excitement.

There must be a great deal of drama at letters D and O. After a massive increase in dynamic I am hoping for a ?breath? at the comma, and a very sudden softness for the chords that follow. I also like harmonics for the viola at bars 21-22, giving way to a natural note on the fourth beat of 22. I would like the harmonic in viola to be almost imperceptible as the piece closes out. I haven?t marked it as such, and I couldn?t write a ?simile? on the page without clashes of staves or an extra page. I intended it to be a harmonic to the end though.

Please send me any recordings you make because I love to hear people playing my arrangements, even if it is a phone recording, and especially younger players! I am on facebook and I have a Youtube Channel too. Helen Marple-Horvat Songwriter, Arranger, Composer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA0-Tg4tul8andfeature=youtu.be

?At Last? was composed by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren for the musical ?Sun Valley Serenade? in 1941. It was recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, becoming a chart hit in 1942, and in 1960 by Etta James, who was subsequently inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is a frequent wedding favourite for quartets.

If you would like to watch a video of a professional quartet playing my arrangement on Youtube, look up my channel by typing Skinny Black Dogs-Capriccio Quartet-At Last.

This version of the song is for a professional/advanced quartet, as the opening is tricky for the first violin. However, most of the double stopping includes open strings for at least one of the notes. I have spread the melody across each member of the quartet so that everyone has their place in the sun! As a cellist myself, I know that my part can sometimes be a bit dull, so the cellist gets a lot of the tune! In the solos I have sometimes tried to approximate the feel of jazz by precisely notating the rhythms, but realistically I think it is better for each player to listen to different versions of the song and to play it,to some extent, by ear in order to feel the syncopation. It needs to have a ?rubato? melody, but with the accompaniment as a rock solid 12/8 beat, albeit with an emphasis on the ?off beat? which I have notated with an accent. I also recommend grace notes and glissandi to enhance the bluesy mood.I think Capriccio Quartet does this beautifully!

As well as this version for Quartet, I also have another arrangement of the song in the same key for String Quartet and Female Singer. You can find it uploaded to Sheet Music Press, and is recorded by Capriccio Quartet with my daughter singing.The accompanying parts are almost identical, but each player has more double stopping in the Quartet version. It is in the same key. Have fun and post me any recordings. I can be found on Facebook very easily.