Bagatelle - Definition and Overview

Bagatelle (from French by way of the Italian bagattella, a trifle) is a game, the object of which is to get a number of balls past pins (which act as obstacles) into holes.

In music

The word has also been used as the title for short pieces of music, typically for the piano. 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) and the set of fourteen, opus six, by Béla Bartók. Anton Webern wrote a set of six for string quartet (opus nine).