“A mere bag of shells,” was how Ralph Kramden of “The Honeymooners” would dismiss something as insignificant. What he meant to say was “bagatelle,” a French word for “trifle.” (See this blog post by Michael Leddy for earlier uses of “bag of shells.”)
Although the word “bagatelle” was used in connection with music by Couperin as early as 1717, “Beethoven was the first to use the term for detached, short piano pieces.” (Lewis Lockwood, Beethoven, p. 395)
It can’t be counted as one of Beethoven’s greatest innovations, but he was the first composer to package piano bagatelles into collections. The first of his three collections of bagatelles consisted of seven pieces. It was assembled in 1802 and published as Opus 33.
Although some of the Opus 33 bagatelles might date from Beethoven’s early time in Vienna or even the Bonn years, others have stylistic similarities with the Opus 31 piano sonatas, and it’s possible that they originated as sonata movements.
It’s unlikely that Beethoven expected the Opus 33 bagatelles to be played in sequence as a cohesive collection. They are sometimes played that way, but probably more often performed individually.
In their variety, these pieces are truly a “bag of shells.”
#Beethoven250 Day 158
Bagatelles for Piano (Opus 33), 1801–2
These seven bagatelles make great encore pieces, as Estonian pianist Peter Laul demonstrates over the course of three separate concerts.