A bagatelle is a short piece of music, typically for the piano, and usually of a light, mellow character. The name bagatelle literally means a "trifle", as a reference to the innocent character of the piece. A grand piano, with the lid up. ...

Earliest known bagatelle

The earliest bagatelle with that name was by François Couperin, in his tenth harpsichord ordre, in which a rondeau was entitled Les bagatelles. François Couperin (born Paris November 10, 1668 – September 12, 1733 in Paris) was an esteemed French composer in the Baroque style. ... Harpsichord in Flemish style; for more info, click the image. ...

Best known bagatelles

The best known bagatelles are probably those by Ludwig van Beethoven, who wrote three sets, Opus 33, opus 119, Opus 126 and the "Bagatelle in A minor", better known as Für Elise. Other notable examples are Franz Liszt's Bagatelle sans tonalité (an early exploration into atonality), the set by Antonín Dvořák for two violins, cello and harmonium (opus 47), and sets by Bedřich Smetana, Tcheripin's Bagatelles, Saint-Saëns, and Jean Sibelius. In the 20th century, several composers have written sets, including Béla Bartók, who wrote a set of fourteen (opus 6); Anton Webern, wrote a set of six for string quartet (opus 9); and Gerald Finzi, who wrote Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano. Antonio Diabellialso wrote a Bagatelle in a short, happy form. 1820 portrait by Karl Stieler Ludwig van Beethoven (pronounced ) (baptized December 17, 1770[1] – March 26, 1827) was a German composer and pianist. ... Beethovens last work for his own instrument, the piano, is a set of six bagatelles. ... Für Elise (German: For Elise) is the popular name of the Bagatelle in A minor, WoO 59, a famous piece of music for solo piano by Ludwig van Beethoven, written in about 1810. ... Portrait of Franz Liszt, painted in 1839 by Henri Lehmann. ... Bagatelle sans tonalité (Bagatelle without tonality) is a piece for solo piano written by Franz Liszt in 1885. ... Atonality describes music that does not conform to the system of tonal hierarchies, which characterizes the sound of classical European music between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. ... Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer of Romantic music, who successfully employed the idioms and melodies of the folk-music of his native Bohemia in symphonic and chamber music. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... This article is on the musical instrument; for information on other kinds of harmonia, see harmonium (disambiguation). ... Bedrich Smetanas statue in Plzen Smetana monument in LitomyÅ¡l BedÅ™ich Smetana listen â–¶(?) (March 2, 1824 LitomyÅ¡l, Bohemia,Czech Republic, (then Austria-Hungary) - May 12, 1884 Prague) was a Czech composer, whose best-known composition is the symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau), second of a cycle of... Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (IPA: ) (9 October 1835–16 December 1921) was a French composer and performer, best known for his orchestral work The Carnival of the Animals. ... Sibelius redirects to this article. ... Béla Bartók in 1927 Bartok redirects here. ... Anton Webern (December 3, 1883 – September 15, 1945) was an Austrian composer. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Gerald Raphael Finzi (July 14, 1901 – September 27, 1956) was a British composer, whose popularity has increased considerably in the years since his death. ...