Music and Texts of GARY BACHLUND
Vocal Music | Piano | Organ | Chamber Music | Orchestral | Articles and Commentary | Poems and Stories | Miscellany | FAQs
Chacones for Alto Flute and Harp - (2023)
for Roberto Soviero
Roberto, an amateur harpist and flutist who has done work for me from time to time and spoken with the amateur's loving enthusiasm for such instruments as for music itself, was cause enough to pen some small chacones for these instruments. Chacone -- alternatively chaconne -- is the repetition of a bass line, which by extension becomes the repetition of an accompaniment figuration of some measures' length over which melodic invention may occur. These small works for amateurs -- the hallmark of the amateur being the individual who 'loves' -- are of varying structural elements. The five are not intended as a suite of short pieces, but merely offered as a collection of short works.
As the range of the alto flute is like unto the violin, these pieces can be played with other instrumentation. Piano as an accompaniment? But of course they are conceived with the amateur flautist and harpist.
The allegretto is of a five measures' gesture, repeated as the melodic invention above of varying lengths is sung out. (The score is in C, while the flute part below is transposed.)
The second is a four-measure long accompaniment, while the melody above is longer, and repeated with some variation at different beginning notes.
The third has a ten-measure accompaniment in the natural minor, as the melody above begins at different positions relative to the bass beneath.
The fourth features a twenty-bar accompaniment with melodic variations above.
The final allegro in 5/8 features a 12 bar form for the repeated accompaniment, with the melody above being displaced rhythmically for the simple fun of it.
16 pages, circa 12' 45" - an MP3 demo is here:
The score is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this score.
Chacones for Alto Flute and Harp
