quartet on an old song

This piece is a whimsical reinvention on the well known chanson by Josquin DesPres, “Milles Regretz”. The original chanson is beautiful, but very morose, ending with the text, “…I have such great grief and sorrowful anguish, That one will see me shortly end my days.” Well, it begs one to say, “Come on, lighten up!”  And so begins this quartet in an effort to shake off the enormity of those haunting lines. In the end, the listener can decide if, indeed, it has “lightened up.”