MELIA WATRAS: SELVAGGIO
for violin solo (2018)
World Premiere: Mark Fewer, violin; July 5, 2023, Blonay, Switzerland
Duration: 2:23
Program Notes:
Selvaggio was written for violinist extraordinaire Mark Fewer. Mr. Fewer was commissioning new solo caprices for violin, written by, as he described it, recognized virtuosi on different instruments, and I was honored when he asked me to contribute. I was taken with this idea of looking at the violin caprice from different angles, and being a part of a diverse collection of composer/performers, united in the same goal.
With Paganini as my spiritual guide, I set about writing my caprice, incorporating some material from my cycle Firefly Songs (2015-2018), a collection of works for various voices and instruments. During the process, I found (coincidentally, and rather fittingly) that the retrograde inversion of a theme from my piece (one) resulted in something that bore a resemblance to the opening of Paganini’s 20th Caprice.
—Melia Watras