Composition and Stylistic Features of Bagatelles for Piano Op. 1-5 by Valentyn Silvestrov

During the last decades, V. Silvestrov’s creative interests have mostly focused on the creation of bagatelle. The artist turned to this genre in the early 2000s, shortly after publishing the collection-cycle Bagatelles for piano op. 1-5, which has not yet been fully explored from a musicological point of view. We reveal certain features of the compositional construction of the Bagatelle cycle: the unification of all the pieces from the microcycles into a single whole with the help of the note attacca, the predominant use of strophic forms based on the development of one musical image. Certain stylistic constants of Bagatelles include the quasi-improvisational presentation of musical material, the predominant use of timbral expressiveness of the piano’s upper register and quiet dynamic nuances, which collectively help to embody the fragile, lyrical and contemplative images of the pieces. The given characteristics make it possible to attribute the bagatelles to the lounge style. It was observed that bagatelles in V. Silvestrov’s creativity can be considered as a stylistic metagenre, which implies the belonging of bagatelle (as a metagenre) to the composer’s style.