Belgian-born French Composer Cesar Franck a modest man who had the wonderful gift of extemporization entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1837 where his teachers were Leborne for composition and Zimmermann for Piano. He was just fifteen years old at that time and had his first brush with the then director Cherubini when he disregarded the strict rules at his first piano examination. He gave a startling account of the set pieces but when it came to the sight-reading test the young student without the slightest error or hesitation transposed the entire test-piece a third lower. Cherubini was furious and refused to award the first prize to Franck, however he was obviously impressed as he awarded him a special �Grand Prix d�Honneur.�

Cesar Franck composed the Panis Angelicus (The Bread of the Angel Host) in the 1860s for Organ, Harp and Cello and since then it has been arranged for a wide variety of Choral and Instrumental ensembles. This arrangement is for Soprano and String Quartet and the full text, derived from St. Thomas Aquina's Corpus Christi hymn Sacris Solemniis, is provided in both Latin and English translation.

This series of arrangements for string quartet is aimed at string quartets� that are building a repertoire of incidental popular classics and �easy listening� music for social functions of every kind. In preparation also at the time of writing is a collection of the most popular hymns taken from the English Hymnal for string quartet with optional chamber organ. From time to time I shall add further pieces thus building the availability of music that is well known to the general public. String quartets should contact me if they have any particular requests, but here I must stress that strict copyright restrictions may apply for certain commissions.