Verbunkos (), other spellings being ''Verbounko'', ''Verbunko'', ''Verbunkas'', ''Werbunkos'', ''Werbunkosch'', ''Verbunkoche''; sometimes known simply as the hongroise or ungarischer Tanz is an 18th-century Hungarian dance and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

genre. The verbunkos is typically in a pair of sections, slow (''lassú''), with a characteristic dotted rhythm, and fast (''friss''), with virtuosic running-note passages. In some cases, this slow-fast pair alternates at greater length. The name is derived from the German word ''Werbung'', a noun derived from the verb ''werben'' that means, in particular, "to recruit"; verbunkos—recruiter. This music and dance was played during military recruiting before the Habsburg emperors, who were also

kings of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the Monarchy, ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

, introduced

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

in 1849. A group of a dozen

hussar A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

s performed the dance in different parts, with the leading sergeant opening with slow movements, then the lower officers joining for more energetic parts, and the youngest soldiers concluding the dance with jumps and spur-clicking. Despite its name, the melodies originate from Hungarian folk and

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

and have been sometimes attributed to Romani people (Gypsies), because the accompaniment was usually played by Romani musicians in characteristic Romani style. The Romani composer

János Bihari János Bihari (21 October 1764 – 26 April 1827) was an influential Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungarian Romani people, Romani violinist. He is one of the founders of Romani academic music and the musical genre verbunkos. By the m ...

(1764–1827) remains the most well-known composer and interpreter of verbunkos. Eighty-four compositions of his remain. Bihari was a

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist who played in the court in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

during the entire

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

in 1814. Another composer of verbunkos was József Kossovits (d. c. 1819). With the establishment in 1837 of the Hungarian National Theatre in Pest, the verbunkos style began to change under the influence of the first director of the theatre and operatic composer, Ferenc Erkel, whose most successful operas were Hunyadi László (1844) and Bánk bán (1861).

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

incorporated verbunkos into the " Gypsy Rondo" piano trio, composed in 1795.

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

's '' Contrasts'' (1938), a trio for clarinet, piano and violin, is in three movements, the first of which is named Verbunkos. His Violin Concerto No. 2 is also an example of verbunkos style.

Slovácko verbuňk

The ''Slovácko verbuňk'' is also an improvised folk dance in the South Moravia and Zlín districts of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, and was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.

Sources

{{Authority control Hungarian styles of music Hungarian dances Hungarian words and phrases Dance forms in classical music

Slovácko verbuňk

See also

Sources