Hungarian Rhapsody No.1

All of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies - there are nineteen altogether, composed over a period of forty years - were written originally for piano. In fact, they are so fundamentally conceived for piano and so brilliantly scored for keyboard that, for all their success with the public and all their commercial potential, the composer himself was not very interested in presenting them in any other form. The fact that six of the most popular of them have become familiar items in the orchestral repertoire is due largely to the efforts of the Hungarian flautist, composer and conductor Franz Doppler, who impressed Liszt with his skill in translating the piano rhapsodies into orchestral terms.

For Liszt, as for Brahms and most of their contemporaries, Hungarian music was gypsy music - which, as Béla Bartók was to demonstrate a generation or so later, it wasn’t. But the point is that he firmly believed it was true Hungarian music and it is that conviction that gives his Hungarian Rhapsodies their nationalistic fervour, their rhythmic swagger and much of their harmonic and instrumental colouring. Their form too derives from a Hungarian-gypsy source, the csárdás with its slow introduction (lassan) and its quick main section (friska) - although Liszt always elaborates on that basic two-part structure, often at some length.

The slow introduction to the Hungarian Rhapsody in F minor (No.1 in the Doppler set, No.14 in the piano series, known also as the Hungarian Fantasy in a version for piano and orchestra) is a sombre funeral march with a dragging tread in the bass and a solemn melody intoned by clarinet and bassoons. That melody, with its strong Hungarian rhythmic accents, is taken up as the first theme of the quick section in a contrastingly heroic treatment in the major. Although it is displaced by a capricious scherzo and a vivacious gypsy dance, it is briefly recalled in reflective solos on flute and clarinet and eventually returns in full force on heavy fortissimo brass supported by swirling strings. That, however, is the last that is heard of such serious material. Harp arpeggios evoking the gypsy cimbalom and fiery cadenzas on violins and violas lead into an increasingly energetic and ever faster closing episode based on a new, irrepressibly lively tune in F major.