Csárdás

Vittorio Monti has no claim on Czech nationality and no affiliation with any East-European country. He was actually an Italian who spent most of his life in Paris as leader of the Lamoureux Orchestra and as the composer of several once popular but now forgotten operettas. And yet his Csárdás, which exists in arrangements for everything from xylophone to tuba, is one of the most popular of all pieces written in the gypsy-violin style - a style almost as familiar in Czechoslovakia as across the border in Hungary where it originated. Like most of its kind, Monti’s Csárdás combines soul-searching, hand-wringing, heart-rending slow music, which allows the violinist plenty of expressive and decorative freedom, and very fast music marked by zestful rhythmic syncopations and breathtaking virtuoso activity for the soloist.

Vittorio Monti has no claim on Hungarian nationality and no affiliation with any East-European country. He was actually an Italian who spent most of his life in Paris as leader of the Lamoureux Orchestra and as the composer of several once popular but now forgotten operettas. And yet his Csárdás, which exists in arrangements for everything from xylophone to tuba, is one of the most popular of all pieces written in the gypsy-violin style – a style almost as familiar in Vienna as across the border in Hungary where it originated. Like most of its kind, Monti’s Csárdás combines soul-searching, hand-wringing, heart-rending slow music, which allows the violinist plenty of expressive and decorative freedom, and very fast music marked by zestful rhythmic syncopations and breathtaking virtuoso activity for the soloist.