The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (, , ), are a set of 19

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

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: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

, 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 European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

. Some are better known than others, with Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 being particularly famous and No. 6, No. 10, No. 12, No. 14 (especially as arranged for piano and orchestra as the Hungarian Fantasy), and No.15 also being well known. In their original piano form, the ''Hungarian Rhapsodies'' are noted for their difficulty (Liszt was a

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

pianist as well as a composer).

Form

Liszt incorporated many themes he had heard in his native western

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

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

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

(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 for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

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

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

Arranged 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 ...

, ''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