This quartet is in five movements. I wrote the penultimate movement first. It is a personal reflection on William Byrd’s setting of the fifth century hymn ‘Christe, qui lux es et dies’. That ancient melody is a prayer for Light within the darkness of the night. The falling and rising contours within it became integral to my work on the quartet as a whole, as did the mental image of the setting and rising of the sun. String Quartet No.1 ‘Aloysius’ was co-commissioned by Alois Lageder and Aldeburgh Festival, and is dedicated to the Lageder family. © Edmund Finnis