Program Note:

Commissioned by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Sweet Briar, Virginia for the March 2017 Creative Arts Salon and dedicated to Craig and Sheila Pleasants, stalwart staff members beloved of generations of artist residents, the Dante Fragments were first presented by the Dante Alleghieri Society of Virginia and Lynchburg Friends of VCCA together present soprano Adelaide Muir Trombetta and Domenico Luca Trombetta, violin in the world premiere of Hagen's Dante settings as part of a wine, dinner and tribute to Italian music.

The October Sky Ensemble (John Irrera, Alan Weinstein, Annie Stevens, and Brian Thorsett) commissioned, premiered, and recorded (for MSR records) a new version of Dante Fragments in 2021 with an expanded instrumentation of voice, violin, cello, and vibraphone. Both versions consists of three movements, all of which set words drawn from the master's Divine Comedy. The first sets the words "Remember tonight, for it is the start of everything." The second sets "There is no greater sorrow / Than to be mindful of the happy time / In misery." The final song treats the words, "Love insists that the loved love back."