MacGuffin

Graham Fitkin

Commission made possible by Elizabeth Tuffnell

Level:

Piece length: 5'
Scored for: Piano, Violin, Viola (or Violin 2), Cello, Double Bass

An idea which fascinates me is how something which appears to be of the utmost importance can eventually turn out to be trivial. Something which initially seems to be the whole reason for another activity can be subsumed by that subsequent activity and almost forgotten. The initial something is a MacGuffin.

I first came across the term while reading Truffaut’s interviews with Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock used MacGuffins throughout his work. Secret documents, elements of narratives, or pretexts for plots seem vital at certain times but in the larger context, become virtually a bi-product of the film’s own momentum and therefore largely irrelevant.

This piece uses the idea of a MacGuffin.

It is sectional. Each section is self-contained yet alters the course of all subsequent sections. Initially I wanted to eschew what I saw as unnecessary frippery and focus each section on its own vital characteristics. These characteristics might then bleed over from one section to another only to be lost in the evolving music and that which appeared vital at one stage becomes just another element of the whole

Of course the MacGuffin occurs at different levels over the piece and perhaps the biggest is that what seems important to me in the music is quite possibly very different to what is important to you.

The piece was commissioned by The Schubert Ensemble in 1999 with financial assistance from South West Arts, the David Cohen Charitable Trust, the Schubert Ensemble Trust. Elizabeth Tufnell made possible sections 2 & 4 for Chamber Music 2000. It received its first performance at the Hall for Cornwall, Truro on 7th November 1999.

Graham Fitkin