George Enescu (1881 - 1955)
Rhapsody Rumanian Rhapsody Op. 11, No.1
Rumanian Rhapsody Op. 11, No.2
Antonin Dvořák (1841 - 1904)
Slavonic Rhapsody Op. 45, No.3
Franz Liszt (1811 - 1886) Hungarian Rhapsody, No.2 (No.12)
Maurice Ravel (1875 - 1937)
Spanish Rhapsody
In ancient Greece, The source of the word, a rhapsody was part of an
episodic poem, chanted by the rhapsodist, one section stitched, as it were, to
the next. The early nineteenth century found a new use for the word. In Prague
the Bohemian composer Vaclav Tomasek plundered the vocabulary of classical
Greece for his piano Eclogues, Dithyrambs and a series of fifteen Rhapsodies.
The last term, at least, caught on, and the century saw a continuing use of the
word to describe composition in free form, often highly dramatic and equally
often turning to national themes.
Franz Liszt added particularly to the rhapsodic repertoire with his
nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies. Misunderstanding the nature of the music he
imitated and transformed, he considered his Rhapsodies an embodiment of gypsy
music, untrammelled by the trappings of the conventional world. It took the
twentieth century Hungarian composer and enthusiastic folk-music collector Bela
Barlók to draw attention to Liszt's mistake, What passed in Hungary for gypsy
music was largely written by those of a more privileged class, but played by
the gypsies to entertain their betters. So-called Hungarian gypsy music was, in
fact, popular art music, but none the less Hungarian for that. The most popular
of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, No.2
in the orchestral arrangements the composer made with the aid of Franz Doppler,
and No.12 in the set of 19 for piano, was composed in 1853 and dedicated to the
young virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim, who that year had brought Brahms to
visit him. It is based on earlier versions made by Liszt in the 1840s, evidence
of the composer's growing loyalty to a country that he had left in childhood,
and the language of which he had never learned. With the growing success of
Hungarian nationalism within the Habsburg Empire, Liszt was to become something
of a national hero, a position that the popular Rhapsodies did much to justify.
For Liszt and for many of his contemporaries in Paris the words gypsy
and Bohemian were synonymous. Antonín Dvořák was no gypsy, but of sound
Bohemian village stock, the son of a butcher-cum-innkeeper. In spite of early
difficulties, he succeeded in making his way in Prague, where he worked for a
number of years as an orchestral viola-player, before turning primarily to
composition as a means of earning a living. In this latter course he had the
encouragement of Brahms, whose own piano duet Hungarian
Dances led to Dvořák's equally successful Slavonic Dances. The three Slavonic Rhapsodies were written in the
same year as the first series of dances, 1878. The third of the set opens with
a passage for the harp, the prelude to some bardic song, followed by the
woodwind, deployed with the composer's usual skill. The violins enter with a
flourish and the drama intensifies, before the appearance of a winning
dance-tune. There is an interlude, during which solo violin and flute lead back
to the dance once more. After further moments of brief repose, the music whirls
to an end that brings its own surprise.
George Enescu, during his long residence in Paris better known as
Georges Enesco, was among the leading violinists of the twentieth century. His
own interests, nevertheless, centred rather on composition, drawing frequent
inspiration from his native country, Rumania, with which he preserved strong
connections. His two Rumanian Rhapsodies,
Opus 11, completed in 1901, have continued to enjoy wide popularity.
They make relatively few demands on the listener and rely heavily on loosely
connected episodes based on Rumanian folk-songs and folk-dances. The first
Rhapsody uses three well known folk-songs, while the second is based on a Moldavian ballad, an important element in
the folk-music of the country, a form in which events from the heroic past are
imaginatively related.
The French composer Maurice Ravel inherited from his mother, of Basque
origin, a strong interest in Spain, tempered by the precision inherited from
his father, a Swiss-born engineer. Spanish influence appeared in the first of
his two operas, L'heure espagnole,
in the piano piece, published in 1905 as part of Miroirs, Alborada dei gracioso, in the famous Habanera and indeed in the very choice of
title for the enormously popular Pavane pour
une infante defunte. Later in life the ballet tour de force Bolero
provided an opportunity for orchestral virtuosity with a Spanish flavour, and
one of his last compositions was the setting of three Don Quixote songs for a film in which
Shalyapin was to star. The Rapsodie
espagnole was completed in 1908 and consists of four movements, the
evocative Prelude a la nuit, Malagueńa,
Habanera, based on the earlier work for piano, and Feria. It is the first major orchestral
work of the composer, a demonstration of his originality and of his gifts as an
orchestrator. The music moves from the stillness of night to two characteristic
Spanish dances and a final Spanish fiesta.