I. Preciso
II. Capriccioso
III. Quasi rubato
IV. A piacere, libero
IIIa. Bagatella rivelata (I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger)

I wrote these Quattro bagatelle between 2009 and 2010 during my early years of studying composition with Paolo Coggiola; they represent my first “reasoned” work and are therefore dedicated to him.

Although they do not explicitly refer to Beethoven’s Op. 126, they recall in some way its “spirit”: they are in fact very short, free pieces, almost musical streams of consciousness, released from a precise or well-defined form. Their writing is based on the elaboration of some spirituals and work songs, employed as a kind of cantus firmus and treated through some elementary contrapuntal techniques. They are, after all, four small “choral preludes”.

The third of these bagatelle also exists in a revealed version, with the theme played by a second instrument (flute or violin) an octave higher.