Homage to Anonymous Ancient Fiddlers (2015)
2 violins - one tuned slightly (a one sixth tone) lower than the other
5 minutes
premiered by Yun Ui Lee & Jieun Hwang
10/12/2015, Ilshin Hall, Seoul, South Korea
Entertainment has been one of the most significant functions of music and virtuosity is one of the keys to that. One may recall some representative examples such as Paganini and Liszt, but I believe that there have been many more unknown heroes in music history. This piece, as the title attempts to show, is about the anonymous ancient fiddlers – their impressive skills and their endeavor to acquire them. This piece has numerous virtuosic variations of a simple imaginary ancient melody. In order to add some more ‘ancient flavor’ and to make the piece more virtuosic, I incorporated several techniques such as hockets (distributed melody between two players), triple and quadruple stops, and detuning effect, all of which are from pre-Baroque era.
Note: before playing the piece, violin 2 needs to be tuned slightly lower (about a quarter tone) than violin 1. It should be done on the stage so that the audience can understand the out-of-tune effect is intended. To do so, violin 1 should tune first and then play a note between G# and A – roughly a sixth tone below A would work the best.
5 minutes
premiered by Yun Ui Lee & Jieun Hwang
10/12/2015, Ilshin Hall, Seoul, South Korea
Entertainment has been one of the most significant functions of music and virtuosity is one of the keys to that. One may recall some representative examples such as Paganini and Liszt, but I believe that there have been many more unknown heroes in music history. This piece, as the title attempts to show, is about the anonymous ancient fiddlers – their impressive skills and their endeavor to acquire them. This piece has numerous virtuosic variations of a simple imaginary ancient melody. In order to add some more ‘ancient flavor’ and to make the piece more virtuosic, I incorporated several techniques such as hockets (distributed melody between two players), triple and quadruple stops, and detuning effect, all of which are from pre-Baroque era.
Note: before playing the piece, violin 2 needs to be tuned slightly lower (about a quarter tone) than violin 1. It should be done on the stage so that the audience can understand the out-of-tune effect is intended. To do so, violin 1 should tune first and then play a note between G# and A – roughly a sixth tone below A would work the best.