The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rhapsodies hongroises, german: Ungarische Rhapsodien, hu, Magyar rapszódiák), is a set of 19

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and later in 1882 and 1885. Liszt also arranged versions for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

, piano duet and

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...

. Some are better known than others, with Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 being particularly famous and

No. 6 ''No. 6'' is a Japanese novel series written by Atsuko Asano and published by Kodansha in nine volumes between October 2003 and June 2011. A manga adaptation drawn by Hinoki Kino was serialized in Kodansha's ''Aria'' magazine from January 201 ...

, No. 10, No. 12 and No. 14 (especially as arranged for piano and orchestra as the Hungarian Fantasy) also being well known. In their original piano form, the ''Hungarian Rhapsodies'' are noted for their difficulty (Liszt was a virtuoso pianist as well as a composer).

Form

Liszt incorporated many themes he had heard in his native western

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and which he believed to be folk music, though many were in fact tunes written by members of the Hungarian upper middle class, or by composers such as József Kossovits, often played by

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(Gypsy) bands. The large scale structure of each was influenced by the verbunkos, a Hungarian dance in several parts, each with a different

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

. Within this structure, Liszt preserved the two main structural elements of typical Gypsy improvisation—the '' lassan'' ("slow") and the ''

friska Friska (from hu, friss, fresh, pronounced ''frish'') is the fast section of the csárdás, a Hungarian folk dance, or of most of (all except for 3, 5 and 17) Liszt's ''Hungarian Rhapsodies The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (french: Rh ...

'' ("fast"). At the same time, Liszt incorporated a number of effects unique to the sound of Gypsy bands, especially the pianistic equivalent of the

cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...

. He also makes much use of the Hungarian gypsy scale.

Extant versions

Nos. 2, 5, 6, 9, 12, and 14 were arranged for

by Franz Doppler, with revisions by Liszt himself. These orchestrations appear as S.359 in the Searle catalogue; however, the numbers given to these versions were different from their original numbers. The orchestral rhapsodies numbered 1–6 correspond to the piano solo versions numbered 14, 2, 6, 12, 5 and 9 respectively. In 1874, Liszt also arranged the same six rhapsodies for piano duet (S.621). In 1882 he made a piano duet arrangement of No. 16 (S.622), and in 1885 a piano duet version of No. 18 (S.623) and No. 19 (S.623a). Liszt also arranged No. 12 (S.379a) and No. 9 (S.379) for piano, violin and cello. No. 14 was also the basis of Liszt's '' Hungarian Fantasia'' for piano and orchestra, S.123.

List of the Hungarian Rhapsodies

The set is as follows: The first two were published in the year 1851, nos. 3–15 in 1853, and the last four were published in 1882 and 1886.

References

Bibliography

* *

Sony Classical Records Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...

, ''Horowitz Plays Rachmaninov and Liszt'' (Sony Music Entertainment (France) Inc., 2003). SMK90447 0904472001

External links

* {{Authority control 1853 compositions 1882 compositions 1885 compositions Compositions set in Hungary