In Praise of the Poet: for Adam Zagajewski

17 Apr 2024

• By Dominique le Gendre
• For solo violin

This work for solo violin was commissioned by American Violinist Wendy Case for her CD of works for solo violin by living composers titled The Tiger and The Clover released in February 2022 by the label Blue Griffin.

Just as Wendy proposed this new work, I heard the news that the Polish poet Adam Zagajewski who I had met through mutual friends, had died. I had long admired his essays that thoughtfully and with grace and ease, merged the past with the present in the way that only a poet can, lifting the reader onto a plain of images, thoughts and words that conjure seamless journeys through time, space and the imagination. His essays often refer to the music of Bach and I found myself writing this piece inhabited by the physical pleasure of playing Bach’s suites for Lute transposed for the guitar.

The piece revolves around a simple repetitive semiquaver motif playing with the Aeolian mode starting on G. The motif ascends and descends playing with and against the low G string to extend itself away from the home mode, then returning and gradually extending into quavers to reach the key of E major while hinting at A minor.

The repetitive nature of the piece invites the player to explore variations in sound quality and dynamics and to enjoy the effect of the notes playing against each other as they rise and fall away but always maintain a constant tempo and rhythm.