A performance of The Winter’s Tale in Oxford during the fall of 1978 resulted in my falling in love with the dignified and longsuffering Queen, Hermione, and not with her sexy young daughter (I realised that day that I was aging). I took four of her most memorable speeches and set them for womens’ voices and 2 clarinets, being a clarinettist myself.

The set was premiered, and rather poorly recorded, in November 1979 by the Contempra Ensemble in Calgary, directed by Roberta Stephen. The reviewer in the Calgary Herald, David Zack, said: « …the way Hannah blended the voices of eight women to present the uphill struggle of one was certainly fascinating to hear and watch. »