Five Bagatelles, I, II by C. Vine
Munan C.
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Carl Vine’s Five Bagatelles were written in 1994. The fifth bagatelle (not included in this performance), was written when Vine was asked by the Australian National AIDS Trust to play at their 1994 fund-raising dinner. He titled it Threnody (for all the innocent victims), and compiled a set of other short pieces to accompany it; and thus, the Five Bagatelles were born. Though this work originated because of the fifth bagatelle, I find the other ones to be just as interesting and full of possibilities for creativity. In this submission, I included bagatelles one and two, titled Darkly and Leggiero e legato, respectively. While working on Darkly, I had a wonderful time creating an image of ghosts in an abandoned castle to pair with the spooky feeling of the piece. I imagined a dark hallway with an almost foreboding coldness and occasional gusts of wind as ghosts fly by, which pick up in intensity as the piece reaches its climax. In Leggiero e legato, it was especially fun to explore contrasting articulations within the fleeting notes that almost seem to joke with the audience, leaving them with abrupt and clever endings to almost every phrase. It has truly been an honor and a pleasure to work on this amazing set of contemporary pieces, exploring their colors and tones within completely different styles of writing between each Bagatelle. I hope you enjoy!
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Creativity develops my imagination, brings my music to life; it’s even helping me now as I write this response. It brings about change in our lives and progress in the world. Creativity is about growth and taking risks, breaking tradition to explore a vision and to realize a dream.
