Composer: Trevor Bača.
Forces: accordion.
Duration: 11 minutes.
Page 4 of L'imaginaire (2010) for accordion.
Program note
The following inscription, written by the composer, appears at the head of the score:
The bright line of the imaginary’s coming into being remains unseen, unheard, unfelt beyond the silent spaces of the thought. Glowing lights, falling snow, curved corners of the gently closing hand appear before us as objects replete with the moment of their coming but absent the record of any history in our world. The imaginary are the strange host that rush to smooth the hummocks of our thoughts. The imaginary are the white traces of a cloudless, dreaming mind.
L’imaginaire was written after the reflections of Jairo Moreno and Alex Rehding on the music of Rameau.
Further notes
Layout of the score. Each system of the score comprises two staves in the form of a manuals staff above and a bellow staff below. Read the manuals staff in the normal way. The staff is written in two voices throughout. The pitches of the upper voice are written within the range of the right hand side of most concert accordions; the pitches of the lower voice are likewise written within the range of the left hand side of most concert accordions. But note that the pitches may be allocated between the two manuals as desired by the interpreter. The bellows staff comprises eight lines. The eight lines of the bellows staff indicate eight dynamics. From the bottom to top these eight dynamics are ppp - pp - p - mp - mf - f - ff - fff ; that is, the lowest staff line indicates ppp and the highest staff line indicates fff . The whitespace that appears in the middle of the bellows staff separates the quieter dynamics from the louder dynamics and helps to make the bellows staff easier to read. The bellows staff contains further information about sustained dynamics, sudden accents, and individually notated shakes of the bellows. These are explained below.
Sustained dynamics. The bellows staff contains information about sustained dynamics in the form of thick black lines. Flat black lines indicate unchanging dynamics; for example, a flat black line sitting on the lowest line of the bellows staff indicates ppp sempre; likewise, a flat black line sitting on highest line of the staff indicates fff sempre. One flat black line followed immediately by another flat black line indicates a subito change of dynamics; in measure 5, for example, the notation indicates pp sempre followed by a subito change to p sempre, followed at the end of the measure by a subito return to pp. Black lines slanting upward indicate crescendi; black lines slanting downward indicate decrescendi.
Sudden accents. The bellows staff contains information about sudden accents in the form of upward-pointing marcati. These upward-pointing marcati are combined with one, two or three staccati. A marcato combined with a single staccato indicates a sudden accent played as quickly as possible; a marcato combined with two staccati indicates two sudden accents played as quickly as possible at the same dynamic level; a marcato combined with three staccati indicates three sudden accents played as quickly as possible at the same dynamic level. Note that reverse accents occur; in measure 31, for example, the sustained dynamic of the measure is mp sempre but there are five marcati that indicate reverse accents to be played more quietly than the sustained mp: specifically there are three piano marcati and 2 ppp marcati in measure 31. The interpretation of these reverse accents may be facilitated by the insertion of extremely short rests prior to the accents’ starts; in any case, reverse accents should function as sudden breaks in the otherwise smooth continuity of sound.
Individuated bellows shakes. The bellows staff contains information about single, double and triple bellows shakes in the form of tenuti. These tenuti are combined with one, two, or three staccati. A tenuto combined with a single staccato indicates one very brief shake of the bellows; a tenuto combined with two staccati indicates two very brief shakes of the bellows; a tenuto combined with three staccati indicates three very brief shakes of the bellows. Play all bellows shakes as quickly as possible. Note that the vertical position of the tenuti indicates the degree of force with which to shake the bellows. A tenuto on the bottom line of the bellows staff indicates a very soft shake of the bellows; on the other hand, a tenuto on the top line of the bellows staff indicates a violent and noticeable shake of the bellows. All bellows shakes should be audible to the listener; bellows shakes written at louder dynamics of the bellows staff should be especially visible to the audience.
First performances
World premiere given by Corrado Rojac on 23 April 2011 in Paine Hall on the campus of Harvard University.
European premiere given by Corrado Rojac on 16 May 2011 in Lubljana, Slovenia.