Composer: Trevor Bača.
Forces: fl (bass fl), eng hn, cl (bass cl), pf, perc, vn, va, vc.
Duration: 12 minutes.
Page 8 of Fabergé Investigations (2016/19) for eight players.
Program note
The following inscription, written by the composer, appears at the head of the score:
By the start of the revolution in October 1917, workmasters at the House of Fabergé had completed fifty jeweled eggs for the last of the Russian tsars. Forty-three of the eggs survive (auctioned by the Bolsheviks after the revolution) with the others now lost, or the treasure of thieves. Dazzling in ribbons of guilloche, the intricacy of the eggs’ enamelwork gives to these objects their ability to transfix: greens, purples, reds made brilliant in cloisonné. But how to understand the rules of a world that embeds in eggs the wealth of its kings? How slowly must have gone the work at the jewelers’ desks. And how quickly the changes outside.
First performances
World premiere of complete piece given by Jonathan Hepfer and Ensemble Echoi on 13 January 2020 in Zipper Hall as part of Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, California.
World premiere of introduction given by ensemble recherche on 21 May 2016 in Paine Hall on the campus of Harvard University.