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Elements of Style Hongrois within Fantaisie Hongroise, Op.65, No. 1 by J.K. Mertz Andrew Stroud
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THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC
ELEMENTS OF STYLE HONGROIS WITHIN FANTAISIE HONGROISE, OP. 65, NO.1 BY J.K. MERTZ
By ANDREW STROUD
A doctoral treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of theof requirements for the degree Doctor of Music
Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2012
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Andrew Stroud defended this treatise on June 26 , 2012.
The members of the supervisory committee were:
Bruce Holzman Professor Directing Treatise
James Mathes Outside Committee Member
Melanie Punter Committee Member
The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the treatise has been approved in accordance with university requirements.
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To my wife, mother and father. Without whom, I would fail in life and laughter.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank a few individuals for their support. Firstly, Bruce Holzman, for listening to the continued scratching ofstrings and never flagging. I must give many thanks to professors Mathes and Punter foragreeing to follow me on this project. I also received wonderful direction from Matanya Ophee and Richard Long, men unsurpassed in their scholarly contributions to the history of theguitar. I owe an unending debt of gratitude to Dr. Jonathan Bellman of the University of Northern Colorado, the country’s foremost scholar of style
hongrois, and someone who supplied an absolutely priceless amount of help.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Examples ........................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii Chapter One .................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction. ................................................................................................................................ 1
Purpose ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two.................................................................................................................................... 4 Mertz: Background Biographical Information............................................................................ 4 Chapter Three.................................................................................................................................. 8 Introducing the Style Hongrois ................................................................................................... 8 Hungarian/Magyar vs. Gypsy ................................................................................................... 10 Buffer Zone/Melting Pot: Historical Preface toStyle Hongrois ............................................... 11 Cigányzene: Music of the Gypsies ........................................................................................... 13
Verbunkos Music ...................................................................................................................... 17 Early Use of Style Hongrois ..................................................................................................... 20 Stylistic Devices........................................................................................................................ 21
Instrumental Imitation .......................................................................................................... 22 Rhythm .................................................................................................................................. 23 Melody and Harmony ........................................................................................................... 23 Chapter Four ................................................................................................................................. 25 Usage of Style Hongrois by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) .................................................... 25 Chapter Five .................................................................................................................................. 29 Usage of the Style
Hongrois by Franz Liszt ............................................................................. 29
Chapter Six.................................................................................................................................... 35 Analysis of Mertz Fantaisie Hongroise Op.65, No.1 ............................................................... 35
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Closing Ideas Regarding Interpretation and Performance Implications ................................... 54 Chapter Seven ............................................................................................................................... 58 Overview of Extant Guitar Works in theStyle Hongrois ......................................................... 58 A Note on Sources .................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 62 J.K. Mertz: Fantaisie Hongroise, Op. 65 No.1 ......................................................................... 62 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 67 Johann Dubez: Fantaisie sur des motifs Hongroise . (excerpts) ............................................... 67
Rákóczy March...................................................................................................................... 68 Csárdás, lassan. .................................................................................................................... 69 Palotás .................................................................................................................................. 70 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................... 71 Rákóczy March ......................................................................................................................... 71 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................... 72 J.K. Mertz: Hazai Virágom ....................................................................................................... 72 Appendix E: Permissions .............................................................................................................. 73 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 75 Biographical Sketch ...................................................................................................................... 79
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LIST OF EXAMPLES Example 1:
Fantaisie Hongroise Op.65, No.1: mm. 1-4........................................................... 38
Example 2: mm. 5 -7.................................................................................................................... 39 Example 3: mm. 8-13................................................................................................................... 40 Example 4: mm. 14-20................................................................................................................ 41 Example 5: Bardenklänge, Op.13, No. 2, Romanze. mm. 1-2.................................................... 42 Example 6: Fantaisie
Hongroise. mm. 22-28.............................................................................. 43
Example 7: mm. 29-34................................................................................................................ 44 Example 8: mm. 35 with “out of tune” glissando. ....................................................................... 44 Example 9: mm. 36 ...................................................................................................................... 45 Example 10: mm. 37-38............................................................................................................... 46 Example 11: mm. 40-43............................................................................................................... 46 Example 12: mm. 43-45............................................................................................................... 47 Example 13: mm. 46-49............................................................................................................... 48 Example 14: mm. 50-55............................................................................................................... 48 Example 15: mm. 56-60.............................................................................................................. 49 Example 16: mm. 61-68.............................................................................................................. 50 Example 17: mm. 69-76............................................................................................................... 51 Example 18: mm. 77-84............................................................................................................... 52 Example 19: mm. 99-103............................................................................................................. 52 Example 20: mm. 104-132........................................................................................................... 53 Example 21: mm. 133-141........................................................................................................... 54
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ABSTRACT Over the course of the past few decades, the guitar works of J.K. Mertz have become popular amongst performing guitarists. In particular,Fantaisie Hongroise, Op. 65, No.1 has seen a meteoric rise both to the concert and competition stage. This music lies firmlywithin the musical idiom of style hongrois, alongside such other iconic works as Johannes Brahms’s
Hungarian Dances and Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies. To date, no scholarly research has been conducted regarding Mertz with the purpose of placing his contributions within the style
hongrois, nor has there been any attempt to identify the particular stylistic devices that make it so. The aim of this document is threefold. First, to provide a brief overview of the style
hongrois to provide historical perspective. Secondly, to illustrate key points of usage of the style hongrois by both Liszt and Brahms in order to form a comparative baseline. Lastly, to examine the Fantaisie Hongroise, identify stylistic elements, and provide some context for the piece based upon both technical considerations and musical input from a broader understanding of the
style hongrois.
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CHAPTER ONE Introduction. Purpose. The works of Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856) lay in relative obscurity from the time of his death until recentdecades. Thanks to the scholarly workof individuals such as Simon Wynberg and Matanya Ophee, along with performances by prominent guitarists such as David Russell, those works have been resurrected and now enjoy a position of relative importance within the modern guitarist’s repertoire. If forced to name one piece by Mertz performed more than any other, theFantaisie Hongroise Op. 65, No.1 would most likely be the answer for any guitarist. This piece, along with Elegy, represents the two most successful 1
character pieces from the surviving works of Mertz. Accordingly, in recent years a multiplicity of performances and recordings provide seemingly abundant opportunities to observe interpretive feats expected ofthe modern concert artist. However, one casual observation that this writer has considered is the general lack of interpretive thoroughness that would seem to benefit nineteenth-century music, and most especially music that isderived from folk srcin. It would seem lacking to interpret this work of Mertz with the same Romantic ideals as would be applied to Regondi’s
Introduction et Caprice Op.23 or with the same conventions of pastiche
that one would apply to theRossinianae of Giuliani. However, it does appear as though these composers suffer, at the hands of many modern guitarists, from being interpreted in very similar ways, simply because they can comfortably be categorized as “nineteenth-century music.” It is ironic that guitarists are becoming almost hyper-aware of performance practices when performing Baroque works, most especially those of J.S. Bach. Contrary to this, when it comes to addressing Classical or Romantic period music, while there has been significant scholarly output, the most common criterion necessary for being an “expert” performer on this music seems to be limited to playing ona period instrument or modern copy. It is extraordinary to hear some enterprising guitarists (billed as experts on music of the nineteenth-century) rationalize their decision-making by referencing the writings of Czerny, that famous pedagogue of the piano.
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Wade, Graham. A Concise History of the Classical Guitar. (Pacific: Mel Bay Publications, 2001), 89
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On the surface, these observations might be characterized as hyperbolic or selective, but at the very least, it is evident that with few exceptions, such as Lorenzo Micheli or Pavel Steidl, there is a disparity between the scholarly research conducted by the musicological community and performing guitarists. This writing is intended tobe a modest attempt at bridging thedivide between the academic andthe practical. The ultimate goals of thiswork shall be three-fold: to gain an historical overview ofstyle hongrois and its roots; to observe how the master-composers who most typify the style approached it; to identify characteristics of style
hongrois within the
Fantaisie Hongroise, Op.65, No.1, and to offer interpretive performance suggestions that are based in the context of the historical period, and of thestyle hongrois itself. While doing so, it is important to note that this is decidedly not an attempt to “standardize” interpretation, as that would run counter thevery nature of music performance itself. However, by showing specific ideas within the piece that are indicative ofstyle
hongrois and placing them within contexts of
both srcin and performance practice, perhaps some performers might compel themselves to exercise greater degrees of creativity and gain a greater understanding of their own endeavors through time well spent studying the music of their program in meaningful ways.
Moving Beyond the Score. A particular purpose to this writingis to attempt to capture and expose an attribute that several composershave articulated about Hungarian music. Jan Swafford writes: “Friends remembered his flashing eyes when Brahms played his dances, the rhythm darting and halting, his hands all over the keyboard at once…[He initially] resisted writing them down…[because] he felt unsure how to capture that protean 2 freedom in the cold black-and-white notation.” Samuel Barber also expressed a similar sentiment when listening to this music: “[The Gypsy orchestra] began playing some violins, and viola and bass with a [cimbalom]. It swept me off my feet; for it was not music; it was a [release]…of an expression too naïve, too naked, and living to be music. It is something I shall never forget, and I left Budapest early for I did not wish to hear it again.”3
style The nature of Hungarian and Gypsy music (and therefore music written in the hongrois) necessitates a great deal of interpretive planning that searches well beyond the score. Swafford, Jan. Johannes Brahms (New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1997), 343. From a letter to his family, 21 August 1928, quoted in Barbara B. Heyman, His music (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 57. 2
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Samuel Barber: The Composer and
The hesitation that Brahms felt about writing and publishing hisHungarian Dances, for example, was well founded. How does one articulate the transition from theLassú to the Friss in a csárdás using traditional notation and indications?While it can also be pointed out that even “authentic” performances by Gypsy musicians will contain variety, there can be observed a high degree of “sameness,” if not uniformity that is certainly informed by cultural immersion. While attention will be paid to the subjects of improvisation and ornamentation in a general sense, this is not particular to thestyle hongrois by any means. In a much more general overview of ornamentation, for example, Clive Brown observes the following: “The present-day musician who wishes to understand the ways in which…performers might have responded to the notation of their day…needs to be conscious of a number of distinctions…There were…a number of specific situations in which the performer was expected to see beyond the literal meaning 4 of the composer’s text.” One goal of this document shall be to identify those areas within Mertz’s work that fit this description and topropose a stylistically informed interpretive solution. In addition, my contribution will include a perspective informed by the idiosyncratic solutions of the guitar.
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Brown, Clive. 1999), 416.
Classical & Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 3
CHAPTER TWO Mertz: Background Biographical Information The lifetime and output of Johann Kaspar Mertz occured during a particularly unfortunate period for the guitar repertoire. It was during his lifetime that the guitarwould become overshadowed by more sonically powerful instruments such as the piano.Mertz was born in 1806 in Pressburg, Hungary (presently Bratislava, Slovak Republic) and died in 1856. Though he 5 He married a pianist, used the initials J.K. professionally, he was born Casparus Josephus.
Josephine Plantin, in 1842 and the couple settled in Vienna. He had a somewhat extensive 6
performing career, travelling to Austria, Poland, and Russia.His life was spent trying to extoll the virtues of guitar through both composition and performance at a time in music history when the instrument’s golden age had ended. The solo compositions of the era were dominated by the rise of the piano that could be said to begin with Beethoven and continued relentlessly with other iconic composers. The guitar’s role in the early classical period had been mostly one of salon music and other ratherintimate settings. As concerts increasingly became attended bya growing middle class public and the demand for larger venues increased, the guitar was clearly not suited for these environments. The guitar’s construction presented natural impediments restricting how effectively it could present many of the developments that took place during the Romantic period. The tendency of composers to explore new tonal relationships between keys and even between chords was much more suited to the capabilities of the piano thanthe guitar. The lack of significant innovation in construction to produce a concert hall-class sound, in addition to the ill-suited nature of the guitar to Romantic tonal development, led to a lack of serious composers writing for the instrument and a decline in the popularity of the classical guitar that would remain virtually unanswered until the Spanish luthier Antonio de Torres (1817-1892) and composer/performer Francisco Tarrega (1852-1909). Mertz initially wouldn’t seem that he would have occupied a place in history so different from his predecessors, as he was the inheritor of the great traditions of Classical period composers and virtuosi such as Dionisio Aguado, Mauro Giuliani, and Luigi Legnani. Although
Stempnik, Astrid. Caspar Joseph Mertz: Leben und Werk des letzen Gitarristen im österreichischen Beidermeier (Doctoral dissertation, University of Berlin, 1989), 92-94. 6 Mertz, Johann Kaspar, Opern Revue, Op.8. Edited by Brian Torosian (Pacific: Mel Bay Publications Inc., DGA Editions, 2006), 4 5
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there is scant little recorded of his life, we can gain some insight from the memoirs of a Russian military officer, aristocrat, and guitar enthusiast and patron Nicolai Makaroff (1810-1890). Makaroff, according to his memoirs, travelled extensively throughout Europe in search of a high class constructor of guitars and of composers and players whom he could endorse and in various ways promote as worthy ambassadors of theinstrument. In his writings, he details his frank disappointment with many of the luthiers and players that he met, even those that he met through recommendations. However, through his many interactions with performers, composers, teachers, and luthiers, we can obtain some baseline for comparison of Mertz to other guitaristcomposers, both famous and obscure. Makaroff was (by his own account at least) a talented guitarist, adequate composer, and tireless advocate for the instrument. While largely self-taught, henevertheless decided to embark upon several journeys to seek out the best performers and guitarist-composers in order not only to attend performances and witness their compositions, but also to try to learn, possibly take lessons, and gain feedback on his own playing and writing in order to further his own 7
ambitions. During these journeys, he heard many guitarists whose names are lost to us now, but also met some who are among the most celebrated andwell-known from that period. In addition to Mertz, Makaroff also met with Zani di Ferranti, Coste, Schultz, and the luthiers Fisher, and 8
Scherzer. From his writings, it is clear that not only wa s Makaroff trying to seek out the best of his time and advance his own ambitions, but he was also keenly aware of the declining state of 9
the guitar since the death of Mertz and even prior. It is also noteworthy that even though itis clear from Makaroff’s accounts that he considered Mertz to be the best composer of the time, he also felt that the future of the guitar was in jeopardy. He mentions that instruments ingeneral were undergoing all manner of improvements in construction to better perfect both tonal and dynamic qualities. He mentions the pianoforte as the leading instrument to have undergone 10
changes in this regard.
Makaroff also somewhatangrily laments the reluctance of composers
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There are many “accounts” given in Makaroff’s writings detailing his failures to find an adequate teacher. Many guitarists that he encountered he dismisses immediately after hearing them perform, for one deficiency or another. He quotes one of the most famous guitarists of the day, Zani de Ferranti who commented thusly on his own ability: “I thought that you were simply a dilettante, but I see that you are a really great virtuoso and I assure you there is no one who can teach you…” The Memoirs of Makaroff. Published in Guitar Review 1,3,5 , translated by V. Bobri and Nuna Ulreich. 1946-1947, 7. 8 Ibid, 7-11, 13. 9 Ibid, 18. 10 Ibid.
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for the guitar to venture tonally into any area that goes beyond “a few sharps,” and rarely venturing into flat keys. Mertz lived in Vienna and performed on the guitars of the Viennese builder Scherzer, 11
himself in the employ of one of the most famous of European luthiers at that time, Stauffer. His pieces require and Makaroff also remarks that the instrument preferred by Mertz was the ten12
string guitar.
Mertz’ works show themselves to be rooted in the popular character piece forms
that partly defined the Romantic period. In his Bardenklänge, Op.13 , Mertz uses titles familiar to us from other Romantic greats such as Mendelssohn and Chopin; for example: Étude, Lied
öhne Worte, Romance, Fingals Höhle, etc.13 These works draw their inspiration (in part) from the Ossianic themes of the poet James MacPherson and those that share titles with Mendelssohn are not based upon that master-composer’s work.
Fingals Höhle does not borrow any musical
material from Die Hebriden, to name one example.14 These works are true examples of the 15 Biedermeier period, accessible to the casual player and containing simple, appealing ideas.
Indeed, from examining any number of works, it is clear that the model that Mertz followed was that of the piano, which might help explain the general decline of the guitar during this time. Given that significant innovations to the construction of the guitar did not allow it to keep pace with the piano and the majority of compositions for the guitar were either based on pianistic models or fantasy-variations utilizing operatic airs, it is easy to imagine that a void was beginning to form between the guitar and a place of prominence in the art music community. Indeed, Makaroff himself decided to attempt to spur on both the community of composers and luthiers by holding a competition in Brussels in 1856. The purpose, as described byMakaroff was to find composers and builders who would bethe wave of the future for the instrument. The first prize in composition wasawarded posthumously to Mertz, second prizeto Coste. The first prize in construction was awarded to Scherzer and second prize to Argusen, a builder that Makaroff described as a “copyist” of Scherzer. Makaroff concludes hisremarks on the competition with the following:
Mertz, Johann Kaspar. Opern Revue, Op.8. edited by Brian T orosian. (Pacific: Mel Bay Publications. 2006), 7 The Memoirs of Makaroff. Guitar Review, 3, 16 Notes by Richard Long on Johann Mertz: Bardenklänge Op.13, 3 14 Adams, Daniel. Literary Themes in Mertz’s Bardenklänge. Soundboard Vol. XXX, No. 4, 26-29 15 Yates, W.E. Biedermeier. Grove Music Online http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/03049 (accessed May 3 2012). 11 12 13
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“My contest for which I had built up so much hope ended in this manner. Alas! The contest did not achieve what I had had in mind; it did not uncover any new or wonderful composer for the guitar who could fittingly occupy theplace left vacant by Mertz. I hope that perhaps someone in the future will be morefortunate than I. However, for the revival of the guitar, I believe I did everything I could, everything one person alone, without any support of 16 sympathizers to encourage and help him, could do.” The observations by Makaroff can indicate to those of us glimpsing back upon history that Mertz, while being perhaps the most able guitarist-composer of his time in Vienna, was following a path that ultimately ended in failure. Performers such as Paganini and Liszt were pushing the envelope of technique and showmanship. Composers such as Liszt, Brahms, and Mendelssohn were carving new paths for the development of music. Mertz largely continued the Classical period traditions set by composers such as Giuliani and Sor in terms of form. In addition, master-composers were driving harmonic practice into areas that the guitar could not follow. However, the most enduring of his compositions have left us with an interesting use of the guitar in the style hongrois. It is also notable that at least one of Mertz’s students also carried on this idea. Johann Dubez (1828-1891) was aViennese composer-performer and a student of Mertz. His contributions in this style included his own Fantaisie sur des Motifs Hongroise, a large scale work that shares some of the same melodic material as Mertz’s fantasy. As the title implies, the work makes use of several themes from Hungarian composers. These include the famous Rákóczy March and the Palotás from the opera Hunyadi László by Ferenc Erkel (181017
1893).
The palotás as a dance will be discussed in a later chapter.
Mertz’s legacy to the modern guitarist is nowclear. Since the resurgence ofhis music in recent decades, his repertoire is amongst the most performed (and indeed sometimes incessantly so) from the Romantic period. In addition to his oeuvre, Mertz also left a method book and an historically significant movement towards playing the instrument with fingernails, which was not 18 19
the orthodoxy at the time.
The Memoirs of Makaroff. Guitar Review, 5, 19, 23-28. Dubez, Johann. Fantaisie sur des Motifs Hongroise. Notes by Matanya Ophee. Edited by Matanya Ophee (Columbus: Editions Orphée. 2006). 18 Mertz, Johann Kaspar, Schüle für die guitar. (Vienna: Haslinger Witwe und Sohn. 1840’s) 19 An account of how Mertz’s nails affected his gut strings is given in Brian Torosian’s notes. In referring to Josephine Mertz’s writings. Apparently Mertz was stopped at a customs post and questioned because he had multiple instruments in tow. Mertz’s given reason was that he had developed a new method of playing with nails and playing in such a manner accelerated his wear on gut strings, necessitating the additional instruments when travelling. See Brian Torosian’s notes in Mertz, Johann Kaspar. Opern Revue, Op. 8, 5. 16 17
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CHAPTER THREE Introducing the Style Hongrois Ralph Locke defines exoticism as:“The evocation of a place, people or social milieu that is (or is perceived or imagined to be) profoundly different from accepted local norms in its attitudes, customs and morals.”
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From the middle of the seventeenth-century to the close of the
nineteenth-century, the use of exoticism was highly popular practice amongst composers. In Vienna, the two most pervasive were the Turkish Style and thestyle hongrois. Both of these musical styles drew upon perceived stereotypes of cultures thought to be foreign, and even dangerous, by the general populace. While there are examples of repertoire from as early as the sixteenth-century described as such, the term style hongrois generally referred to music of the eighteenth and nineteenth21
centuries that evokes the Hungarian gypsy. The style hongrois was the successor to the 22
janissary or Turkish style prevalent in Vienna following the siege of 1683.
The srcins of the
23
Turkish style date back to before the founding of the janissaries in 1329. The authentically Turkish (Ottoman) music would have been heard in Vienna as early as 1665 in a ceremonial 24
setting during the entry of Grand Envoy Mehmed Pasha. The Turkish style was exemplified most famously by Mozart in hisRondo alla turka from his Piano Sonata K. 331 and his opera,
Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Mozart was, of course, a highly versatile composer, and the inclusion of this style in select musical works reflects his well-tuned business acumen responsive 25
to the trends of the Viennese musical scene. In the case of the opera, beyond simple setting and 26
social stereotypes, Mozart includes thebatterie turque.
This is much the same as detailed in
Haydn’s Symphony No. 100, during the second movement. While not a fixed, absolute
Locke, Ralph P. Exoticism. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/45644 (accessed May 22, 2012) 21 Head, Matthew. Style Hongrois. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/44652 (accessed May 22, 2012) 22 Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe. (Richmond: Northeastern University Press. 1993), 13-14. 23 Pirker, Michael. Janissary Music. New Grove Dictionary. Oxford Music Online. Accessed May 3 2012. http://oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/14133 (accessed May 22, 2012) 24 Ibid. 25 Gay, Peter. Mozart. (London: Butler and Tanner, Ltd. 1999), 65-71 26 Stolba, Mary K. The Development of Western Music. (Boston: McGraw Hill Co., Inc. 1998), 385. 20
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instrumentation, it normally consisted of cymbals, triangle, tambourine, and bass drum . Also
sunay or zurna, a included in the opera is the piccolo to create a shrill effect imitative of the 28
Turkish horn. In the case of the Rondo alla turca, the drama of the theatre was also present, as 29
the primary purpose in the piece of the facets of Turkish style was percussive. Jonathan Bellman, in his highly illustrative text on the genre ofstyle hongrois, shows that as a matter of course, there was some degree of overlap between thestyle hongrois and the Turkish style and that composers of the time, including Haydn and Mozart, deliberately wrote works that occasionally blurred the two. However, Bellman does concede that even amongst scholars, there is a little disagreement on this point. In referencing Bence Szabolcsi’s work on the subject, Bellman observes the following: “Bence Szabolcsi went so far as to suggest that ‘it is increasingly obvious that for Haydn and his contemporaries Slavonic, Gypsy, Rumaniansic [ ] and Turkish music formed one single– mixed but scarcely divisible– complex.’ This may be a slight overstatement…styles do appear to be mixed. Nonetheless, that Haydn understood Turkish and Hungarian-Gypsy musics as separate entities is unquestionably proven by the thoroughly Turkish second movement of his Symphony No. 100…and by an undiluted Gypsy essay such as the second 30 movement of String Quartet Op. 54/2, an improvisatory Gypsy lament.” One characteristic of bothstyle hongrois and Turkish style is the use of the interval of the third. The use of the melodic third, for example, inthe closing measures ofthe Rondo alla turca, is one key device used in thestyle hongrois. Bellman and Szabolcsi agree on this, regardless of 31
their differences elsewhere. The popular response to the Turkish style became such that redesigned pianofortes were soon built with “Turkish stops” connected to bells, chimes, and 32
other percussive devices that were intended to add to the overall effect. As with many other styles of musical composition throughout history, there was no absolute and conveniently timed end to the Turkish style followed by the rise ofstyle hongrois. Rather, the two coexisted for a 33
time and some compositional devices were used interchangeably. The stereotypes of both
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 35. Pirker, Michael. Janissary Music. New Grove Dictionary. Oxford Music Online. Accessed May 3 2012. 29 Gordon, Stuart. A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and its Forerunners. (Belmont: Wadsworth Group. 1992), 132. 30 Szabolcsi, Bence. Quoted in Bellman, The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 49. 31 Bellman, Jonathan The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe , 36. 32 Ibid, 43. 33 Ibid, 44. 27 28
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styles were replete with exoticism,sujets interdit, and an “elemental attraction” that combined to 34
make both popular throughout Europe.
It is important here to note that the Turkish style also included a large amount of fictionalized material, as the srcinal “source material” was the highly percussive and sparsely 35
textured martial beatings of the invading Turkish armies. Balacon and Bellman both note that composers of the Classical period were essentially capitalizing on a brand of exoticism that dwelled on stereotypes of themysterious and dangerous Ottomans tothe east. Once the threat from the Turks had been curtailed in the minds of the populace, thestyle hongrois emerged and replaced the Turkish style. By around 1825, the transition was complete and the Turkish style was no longer employed.36 This was due in part to the shifting perception of the Turks and a resurgent cultural stereotype of the gypsies. Balacon notes that thegypsies were seen as godless, promiscuous, nomadic menaces.37 Their cultural identity was distinctly separated from those of the countries they happened toinhabit. In the country of Hungary, this leadto a strong association between music, musicians, dancing, and gypsy cultural stereotypes.
Hungarian/Magyar vs. Gypsy It is important at this juncture to clarify three terms: Hungarian, Magyar, andgypsy. For the sake of clarity, in this text, the word Hungarian and Magyar can be seen as interchangeable. It is worth noting that in technical terms, they do not mean the same thing. Unfortunately, in most (western) languages, the word Hungary, or Hungarian is used mostly erroneously, as the purpose for the use of the word is to imply that the country is that of the Huns, and that the Hungarian people andculture are descendants ofthe Huns that invaded Europe. Historically, this is an inaccurate use of the term, as the Huns were themselves supplanted as the dominant group in Hungary by another nomadic tribe known as the Magyars, hence the word for Hungary in the native language is‘Magyarország’ or “country of the Magyars.” This is an important distinction to make when examining musical and cultural terms and stereotypes, particularly when discussing exoticisms such asstyle hongrois, as the word ‘Magyar’ is used often in titles and dances. It is also important that assumptions are not madein terms of trying to tie Ibid. Ibid, 31-37. Balacon, Maira: Style Hongrois Features in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy Other, 18. 37 Ibid, 29-32. 34 35 36
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style Hungarian music to the Hun culture that precedes the Magyar one when discussing hongrois. To the popular imagination of the Romantic period, the gypsy was a symbol of freedom, 38
nonconformity, and independence from the constrictions of society. During the Romantic period, music that was written in thestyle hongrois was in many instances intended to evoke many stylistic idiosyncrasies and performance practices of gypsy bands.In some cases, such as 39
Haydn, the word “gypsy” can even be found in the scores.
This is not altogether accurate, as
the historical understandings of the time were not as well articulated as in the modern era, and in any case, many composers were not troubled to make the distinction between ‘Magyar’ and ‘gypsy’ in their works. In addressing the srcins ofthe material that composers usedfor these works, it is therefore important to distinguish those features that are taken from the gypsy performers themselves and those that are being taken from the Magyar people and heritage.
Buffer Zone/Melting Pot: Historical Preface to Style Hongrois The history of the Hungarian people is one of continual upheaval, invasion, suppression, and rebellion. During the lengthy period oftime that the Ottoman Turkswere a threat to Western Europe (most notably from the 1400’s to the 1800’s), Hungary was an eastern gateway through which the Turks necessarily had to traverse in order to gain access to the affluent Habsburg and Bourbon dominated European mainland. As such, the lands of Hungary were often invaded (sometimes successfully) by theTurks. This led to a general distrust by the peoples to the West, most notably those in Germanic lands, of the Hungarians. This would inexorably lead to invasions by the Habsburgs in an attempt to control the access point to Europe and use Hungary as a buffer zone against the Turks. Naturally, the usage of their people and land in such a fashion did not lend itself well to feelings of trust and mutual respect from the Hungarians either. The bad blood would be further compounded in1673. At this point in history, the Habsburgs exercised control over the Hungarian lands and people. No official posts of government were held by Hungarians; all positions of authority were delegated to Germanic Habsburg puppets. In addition, a campaign was carried out by the Habsburgs to suppress both the culture and language ofHungary. It was against this backdrop that arebellion, led by Imre Thököly and his Kuruc warriors (after whom thekuruc fourth is named), was launched. While 38 39
Bellman, Jonathan. Toward a Lexicon for the Style Hongrois. The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 9, No. 2, 214. Ibid.
11
ostensibly a point of pride for Hungarian pride and unity, the more lasting effect of this rebellion 40
was to further alienate the Hungarians from both East and West. A treaty with the Habsburgs was subsequently signed by Thököly, as well as a separate commitment with the Turks not to help the Austrians in conflict. However, when the Turksdid begin a campaign against the Habsburgs, Thököly didn’t assist them either. Even in this period of independence, much of the lands of Hungary were still in the hands of either the Turks or the Habsburgs, leaving Hungary 41
weakened, emaciated, and standing between two relative giants, simply in the way. Added to this was the legacy of vilification and association of the people who call themselves ‘Rom.’
40
Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a
Fictionalized Gypsy Other, 15. 41 Bellman. Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 30. 12
Cigányzene: Music of the Gypsies Throughout recorded history, the nomadic tribes collectively known as gypsies (Romani) have been feared, ostracized, hunted, and drivenout of Western countries. While erroneous accounts have often been proposed for describing the srcins of the gypsies, work of more merit has shown that they srcinate from India.
42
As a slowly (peaceful) wanderingpeople, the
gypsies themselves were not aware of their srcins as they arrived in various countries in 43
Europe. By the mid-sixteenth-century, the gypsies had arrivedin the furthest reaches of 44 European kingdoms, including England, France, and Sweden. By the latter quarter of the same century, written accounts began to surface describing gypsies as thieves, drunks, spies and 45
barbarians.
By the eighteenth-century, decrees were issued forth from all the major countries of
Europe with orders to exterminate, persecute, or expel the gypsies. However, in Hungary, a warmer welcome would take place, most notably under the efforts of the enlightened despot, Maria Theresa, ruler of Hungary from 1740-1780. In a forceful attempt to assimilate the gypsies into the Magyar culture, she decreed such actions as learning Hungarian and abandoning the Romani language, taking on ‘suitable’ jobs, relocating to townships, and giving up their children at the age of five to be raised by peasants. They were also instructed not to refer to themselves as gypsy, but “new Hungarian,” or “new peasant.” As one might expect, very few of these initiatives had more than thebriefest of brushes with reality. Despite these difficulties, over time the gypsies found a home within Hungary’s borders. The relative peace and acceptance enjoyed by the gypsies in Hungary is further illustrated byrough census figures cited bySárosi. At the time of his writing, between two and three hundred thousand gypsies were living in Hungary, compared to sixty thousand in the Soviet Union, one hundred thousand spread amongst the Balkans and Czechoslovakia, and a mere fifteen thousand in Poland (noting that between thirty 46
five and forty thousand Polish gypsies were exterminated by Hitler).
From the time that gypsies settled in Hungary, the social strata developed in such a manner as to place the musician-gypsy at the top of their culture, with a large percentage of
Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music. Translated by Fred Macnicol. (Budapest: Franklin Printing House. 1978), 11. Ibid, 13. Ibid. 45 Ibid. 46 Ibid, 20-22. 42 43 44
13
47
gypsies working as musicians. It is these musicians that took up thestyle known as verbunkos and later the csárdás. The term verbunkos refers both to a genre and a dance. The dance music would be traditionally be performed by gypsy musicians at the behest of Hungarian military recruiters for the purpose of inspiring young men to sign up for service. Later, the music of the
verbunkos would serve as the basis for another dance, thecsárdás. The csárdás was traditionally performed in the rural taverns throughout Hungary. Characteristics of the csárdás will be discussed in conjunction with the music of Liszt, Brahms, and Mertz in later chapters. With the passage of time, elements of both Magyar and gypsy would fuse to become a singular musical stereotype. It was this stereotype that providedthe basis for the style hongrois. At this juncture, it would be logical to describe the development of the gypsy people and their history in music fromthe fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries. However, for the sakeof preserving scope and a modest sense of brevity, this lengthy subject will be restricted to a few points of clarification withregards to srcinal sources, missconceptions, and corrections. For an
Gypsy Music by extended treatment of the subject of gypsy musical development, the book Bálint Sárosi is a recommended starting point. A further discussion ofthe development of a “fictionalized gypsy other” and its integral relationship to the Maira Balacon’s doctoral dissertation,
style hongrois can be found in
Style Hongrois Features in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances:
A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy “Other.” With regard to style hongrois, several misconceptions are presented in srcinal material by composers in their scores. The central of these rests with the label “gypsy” versus “Hungarian.” Liszt, in his book The Gypsy in Music, incorrectly credits all musical creation worthy of merit in Hungary to the gypsies. This generated a stir amongst his contemporaries as well as criticism fromlater scholars, most notably Bartók. Sárosi also offers a fairand concise discussion of events in his writing. In discussing Liszt’s book, Sárosi points out one of the more controversial statements: “The Hungarian songs as they are to be found in our villages and the arias which are performed there at home on the instruments mentioned above [the flute and the bagpipe], being modest and imperfect, cannot command such respect as to be generally honoured [sic] and to be raised to the same rank as is held by other more widespread lyrical works, whereas the instrumental music, as it is performed and spread by the gypsy orchestras, is capable of competing with anything in the
47
Ibid, 21.
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sublimely and daring of its emotion as in the perfection of its form, and, we might say, the fineness of its development.” 48 This statement (among others) from Liszt drew no small amount of uproar from the 49
Hungarian press at the time. While the criticism he drewwas certainly not without merit, it is possible to speculate here, and Sárosi does, that Liszt was merely recounting the facts based 50
upon what he knew. It would be rather naïve to postulate that Liszt was the only composer of the era who employed thestyle hongrois to have made such erroneous assertions. We can look to Haydn’s Piano Trio in G Major, Hob. XV:25 Rondo “in the Gypsy style” to find a parallel. There would be absolutely no point of fault to be found if Haydn had instead labeled his work “in Hungarian folk style.”
51
Liszt’s fault was two-fold: firstly, he was making his point in the
public eye; secondly, he was Hungarian and would have been perceived to have taken on the mantle of responsibility of knowing his own musical heritage and seemingly failed to do so. This can be shown indirectly by one of the results of his book’s publication. Kálmán Simonffy accused Liszt of being unpatriotic and broke off ties with him (the two had formerly enjoyed a friendship of sorts).52 He further went on to lobby Hungarianjournalists to openly refute the claims of Liszt and to cast him out as the foremost exponent of Hungarian musical performance 53
and composition.
One further comment by Liszt bears remark. It is quoted, once more, by Sárosi: “The gypsy artist is one who takes the theme of a song or a dance just like the text of a discussion, as a poetic memorial, and who moves and flutters round this notion, of which he never loses sight, in the course of his improvisation. Most admired of all of us is one who lavishly enriches his own subject with runs, appoggiaturas, leaps, tremolos, chord stopping, diatonic and chromatic scales, groups of notes in such a way that on account of this abundance of ornamentation the srcinal idea is scarcely more apparent than the broadcloth in the sleeve of a brown cloak though the artistically worked out lacing and braiding which covers 54 it with a dense and multicoloured s[ ic] network.”
Liszt, Franz. Des Bohémiens et de leurs Musique en Hongrie. Quoted in Sárosi, 140. Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music, 143. 50 Ibid, 141. 51 For an overview of the Haydn trio and mixed usage of Turkish Style and Style Hongrois, see Bellman, The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 50. 52 Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music, 143. 53 Ibid, 145. 54 Liszt, Franz. Des Bohémiens et de leurs Musique en Hongrie. Quoted in Sárosi, 146. 48 49
15
This passage reveals tous the high regard Liszt had for performance improvisation. He had been known to improvise and ornament even when performing compositions of Beethoven, 55
for example.
More of Liszt’s regard for tempo and general performance interpretation will
follow in discussion of his pedagogy. Bartók is also amongst those authors who take Liszt to task with objectivity on the subject of the gypsy srcins of the music he wrote. It also noteworthy that he also made vocal points regarding his admiration for thecomposer in more generalterms. His high regard for Liszt’s use of harmony, his specific regard for works such as the E-Flat Piano Concerto, the B Minor Sonata, and the Faust
Symphony, and his general forgiveness of Liszt’s excessive bravado
helped to redefine history’s perspective on the importance of Liszt.56 He also defended Liszt’s assertions, not for their accuracy, but for the historical context of the time: “When Franz Liszt’s well known book on gypsy music appeared it created strong indignation at home. But why? Simply because Liszt dared toaffirm in his book that what the Hungarians call gypsy musicis really gypsy music! It seems that Liszt fell an innocent victim of this loose terminology. He must have reasoned that since the Hungarians themselves call this music “gypsy” and not “Hungarian” it cannot conceivably be Hungarian music.”57 Bartók’s primary contribution to the field of musicology from this perspective was to separate the gypsy fromthe Hungarian peasant music. His work on cataloging and characterizing authentically Hungarian folk material had the added benefit of separating some of the ambiguous clutter of thenineteenth-century. He was also, it would seem, none too fond of the gypsy stereotype, or at least certainly not its apparent treatment by the musicologists and people of high position during his time: “The role of this popular art music is to furnish entertainment and to satisfy the musical needs of those whose artistic sensibilities are of a low order…That this Hungarian popular art music, incorrectly called gypsy music, has more value than the abovementioned foreign trash [Western European “song hits, operetta airs,” etc.] is perhaps a matter of pride for us, but when it is held up as something superior to so-called “light music,” when it is represented as being something more than music of a lower order destined to gratify undeveloped musical tastes, 58 we must raise our voices in solemn protest.”
Schonberg, Harold C. Lives of the Great Composers (New York. W.W. Norton and. Co., Inc., 1997), 198. Ibid, 210. Bartók, Béla. Gypsy Music or Hungarian Music? The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 2, 24 1. 58 Ibid, 241-242. 55 56 57
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He continues: “It is disconcerting, though, to observe how musical artists and writers in high positions endeavor to endow this popular music with the attributes of a serious and superior art. In doing so they value it – either because of inherently bad taste 59 or bad intentions – above really serious Hungarian music of a higher order.” Further questions become evident when taking a slightly larger view of the picture: what causes this confusion for composers suchas Liszt? What causes the process ofHungarian folk music to be taken up by gypsy musicians and, over the passage of time, become completely misappropriated to the gypsies, to such an extent as requires the full and exhaustive efforts of Bartók and Kodály to begin to correct? The answer lies intwo parts. The first is the
,a development of the verbunkos and the blending of Magyar music and gypsy performance subject covered in greater detail inthe next section. The second can be identified by one last remark by Bartók, a rather off-handed one that illuminates one interesting and largely untouched facet of nineteenth-century social priorities: “…what people (including Hungarians) call ‘gypsy music’ is not gypsy music but Hungarian music; it is not old folk music but a fairly recent type of Hungarian popular art music composed, practically without exception, by Hungarians of the upper middle class. But, while a Hungarian gentleman may composemusic, it is traditionally unbecoming to his social status to perform it “for money” – only gypsies are supposed to do that.” 60 That performing musicians should occupya low post in society is not news. However, that Bartók identifies this reality of musical life is rather significant in understanding the disconnect that developed and eventually caused Liszt’s infamous error. On one hand, gypsy bands were engaged to performverbunkos music, providing an impetus towards associating the gypsies as performance musicians. On the other, the Hungarians themselves were indirectly distancing themselves from their own legacy due to the socio-economic norms of the time.
Verbunkos Music As the verbunkos style of music is the most prominent source of music for Brahms, Liszt, and Erkel, it is appropriate to briefly discuss this music. One of the most significant works to address the history of theverbunkos is Bálint Sárosi in his bookGypsy Music. He asserts:
59 60
Ibid, 242. Ibid, 241.
17
“The verbunkós [sic] is the characteristic genre of the gypsy musician in Hungary. Its stylistic features are still characteristic of the gypsy musicians playing to this very day. On the basis of these stylistic features we - erroneously - call the music 61 played by the gypsy musicians ‘gypsy music’”
csárdás. The stylistic features that Sárosi points out are those that carry forward into the These include the division of the music into slow lassu ( ) fast (friss) sections. The slow section usually features rhapsodic, improvisatory performance coupled with emphasis on dottedrhythms. The fast section usually features running notes and is characterized by virtuosity. It is 62
also possible for many alternating sections of slow and fast to be used in the form. and In addition to the misconception that theverbunkos is of gypsy srcin, Sárosi also points out that srcinally, the dance music that srcinates the style was simply referred to as “Magyar.”
63
As the
dance evolved and came to be used as a tool of recruitment, the environment and the people who would come to use it also influenced this evolution. For example, in the eighteenth-century, the regular troops of the Hungarian army were of mixed nationalities, however, one group that was homogeneous within the armedforces were the famouscavalrymen known as the Hussars. The Hungarian people have a long history of being talented horsemen. In the modern era, demonstrations of their incredible abilities are routine (such as a specialized form of archery that is performed while on a galloping horse known as thelovasíjász). The long trousers of the Hussars and the clicking of the spurs “…point to a people whose living element is riding…As a necessity…the dancer must be spurred.”
64
The clicking of spurs would become central to one
of the most typical gestures of thestyle hongrois, the bokázó. The verbunkos would eventually become divided into two sections, the slow dance, and 65
the lively dance. Some purists contend that onlythe slow dance is authentically Hungarian.
Nonetheless, as the music became disseminated throughout the country, it would eventually become the single most nationally recognizable form of music. The verbunkos, like any number of other folk-derived styles is a collection of many influences, some of which are foreign. At the time the verbunkos began to gain an identity (ca. Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music, 85. Bellman, Jonathan. Verbunkos. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/29184?q=verbunkos&search=q uick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed June 26, 2012) 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid, 89. 65 Ibid, 90. 61 62
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1770), many of the prominent musical figures in Hungary wereforeign. This is pointed out by Bence Szabolcsi: “Haydn, Zivilhoffer, Werner, Dorfmeister, Krommer, Albrecthsberger, Dittersdorf, Czibulka, Zimmermann, Druschetzky, Wratnitzky, Franz, Roser, Pichl, Weigl, Mederitsch, Tomasini were to be found in the residences and in the towns, in the court of prince-primates and aristocrats of Pozsony (Esterházy, Batthyány, Grassalkovich, Erdődy), of Kismarton (the Princes of Esterházy), of Nagyvárad (Bishop Patachich), of Kiscenk (Count Széchenyi), of Vereb (Végh), of Pest, etc. Practically only Czech and German names were to be found in the field of musical pedagogics, among makers of In musical instruments, the – where the publishers of musical works and the the music shops. Pest-Buda fraternity of the Buda musicians was already formed around 1719– the first music school was opened by Georg Nase (1727), the first organ maker, known by name, was Johann Staudinger (1743), the first music shops were owned by Weingand and Köpf, and the first manual for the piano was written by Franz Rigler (1779, 1798), etc. The titlepages of publications of “verbunkós ”[sic] and “Hungarian tunes” (i.e. dance pieces) were for a long time headed by German names – and yet this rising literature, in its spirit, was essentially different from 66 the former work of German musicians in Hungary.” This sentiment characterizes the influence of foreign musicians, composers, and builders on Hungarian music. A similar observation was made by Bartók: “At times it is, not a popular music, but the peasant music of some adjoining country, representing a higher degree of culture, that exercises the influence 67
leading to the birth of a new style.”
verbunkos Another key ingredient that would make its way into the framework of the style was the rhapsodic, improvisatory style of playing inherent to gypsy performance.
verbunkos, Improvisation along with ornamentation would become assimilated into the
csárdás,
68
and seal themselves into the national stereotype.
As this music became more popular, the foreign identity of some of the component parts would eventually become “glossed over.”69 As the transition became complete and the music of the csárdás and verbunkos became a symbol of national pride, they would begin to emerge into the operatic works of Erkel and the rhapsodies of Liszt. These were the two most iconic
Szabolcsi, Bence. A Concise History of Hungarian Music. Translated by Sára Karig (Budapest: Corvina P ress. 1964), 53. 67 Bartók, Béla. The Hungarian Folk Song. Translated by M.D. Calvocoressi (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981), 3. 68 Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music, 92. 69 Szabolcsi, Bence. A Concise History of Hungarian Music , 54-56. 66
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composers native to Hungarythat would embrace thesestyles in the nineteenth-century. The most famous of the verbunkos tunes to be used was by far theRákóczy March . The namesake of this tune was Francis Rákóczi II, a leader of a failed popular uprising against theHabsburgs. An antecedent of the march was called theRákóczi Nóta or Rákóczi Lament, dating back to ca. 1670. While the popular notion is that the march dates back to the same time, known as the Kuruc Period, this is not thecase. The march itself was born at the height of theverbunkos period (with 70
some of the first performances given by the gypsy violinist János Bihari between 1809-1820). This piece would be famously used by Liszt in theHungarian Rhapsody No.15 and by Hector 71
Berlioz in the opera La Damnation de Faust, composed in 1846.
Berlioz deliberately set the
first part of his opera on the plains of Hungary in order to include his arrangement of the march 72 in the opera, such was its popularity at the time.
One characteristic that typifies the Hungarian gypsyin music is the type of band. One interesting detail is that the gypsy and the peasant do not share the complete range of instruments present in Hungary in their music. The cimbalom, violin, and clarinet areused by both peasants and gypsies. Many peasant instruments such as the zither,shepherd’s pipe, cittern, or hurdygurdy were not used by gypsies. The typical gypsy bandwould consist of cello, double-bass, 73
cimbalom, clarinet, and violin. This is important when considering style hongrois, as some of the devices used are imitative of instruments commonly found in the gypsy band.
Early Use of Style Hongrois While examples of music set in thestyle hongrois can be found earlier, the most plentiful and iconic works in the style were written from during the Classical and Romantic periods. Several composers from the Classical period would employ thestyle hongrois. Among them are Haydn, Hummel, Mozart, andBeethoven. These composers wouldoften appear to interchange elements of both the Turkish style andstyle hongrois. Likewise, many works would be written in a largely conventional format with sections or mere moments that fit one of the two exoticisms. This can be observed in the works of Haydn and Beethoven.
Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music, 99. Ibid, 98. Berlioz, Hector. La Damnation de Faust. Notes by Hugh MacDonald, 11. 73 Kodály, Zoltán. Folk Music of Hungary. Translated by Lawrence Picken (Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 1960), 126128 70 71 72
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It is well known that Haydn spent a large portion of his career in the employ of the Ezterházy family in northwest Hungary. His relative isolation isoften credited for his inventiveness, use of humor, and other significant developments throughout his compositional career. Less frequently mentioned is theexposure that Haydn clearly hadto the music of the Magyars and of the gypsies. Berger, in his discussion of Haydn’s Quartet in C Major, Op. 74, No.1 (“Apponyi”) describes the finale as containing “rustic, peasantlike [ sic] melodic fragments played over a bagpipe drone.”
74
This is an early example of elements ofstyle hongrois making
an appearance, even though the movement as a whole wouldn’t be accurately described as being written in the style. While not mentioned in theBerger text, it is relevant forthe purpose of identifying style hongrois that the violin is assigned the melodic,darting fragments. Amongst the bands of Hungary, the violin is treated in this manner most often, playing in an improvisatory (even frenzied) style, over static harmonies based onthe interval of a third or fifth. Another such example is the Trio “in the Gypsy Style.” Beethoven was also conversant in the language ofstyle hongrois. It is reported by Julius Kaldy that Beethoven heard the famous gypsy violinist János Bihari perform and doubtless this 75
gave Beethoven some ideas. Perhaps one of the well-known examples of Beethoven is his
Rondo alla Ingharese, Op. 129. Given the nickname “rage over a lost penny,” this piece shows a clear ability to use both the Turkish style and thestyle hongrois in a single movement, yet compartmentalized within respectivesections. The opening measures contain what Bellman describes as a “jangly” ornamented opening melody, characterized by alternating, rapid 76
sixteenths.
This is set against anincessant, percussive eighth-note block in the left hand that is
reminiscent of Mozart’s own famous rondo. Abruptly switching from these Turkish style devices, Beethoven moves to Hungarian devices such as the rhythmicspondee , alla zoppa, and anapests. Traits of these individual characteristics will be discussedin greater detail in the following section.
Stylistic Devices This section will provide an overview of the various types of stylistic devices used as a lexicon for style hongrois. Within style hongrois, there are several categories of gestures, Berger, Melvin. Guide to Chamber Music (Mineola: Dover Publications Inc., 2001), 214. Kaldy, Julius. A History of Hungarian Music. Quoted in Bellman. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 57. 76 Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 59-61. 74 75
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figures, and ornaments. Many of the individual elements themselves arealso commonly found in music that is not consistent with thestyle hongrois and so, in and of themselves, do not serve to identify the style onthe merit of their existence. Rather, when used in conjunction with other elements, the result is indicative ofstyle hongrois. Thankfully, there areexamples of elements that are identified as "typical" of the style and are more unique, such as what Liszt called the "Magyar cadence." Elements can be categorized into several groups. The first is the imitation of gypsy instruments and the characteristic wayin which they were played. The second group consists of several types of rhythmic gestures derived from a combination of ornamentation, language, and dance. A third group consists ofmaterial derived from melodic gestures that 77
either generally emphasize certain intervals or are based upon typical Hungarian-Gypsy music. Harmonic characteristics will also be discussed.
Instrumental Imitation. The most prominently featured instrument inthe nineteenth and twentieth centuries within the gypsyband is the violin. Gypsy players have built and maintained a reputation within Hungarian society as masters of the instrument and are 78
considered by the populous to be among the best instrumentalists the nation produces. The violin is often imitated throughseveral different methods. One of these methods is through the use of double stops that use two notesof extreme range. This is intended to imitate the 79
scratching, ornamented style of the gypsy player. The part of the violin (especially during the
Lassú or Hallgató sections) is generally accorded a rhapsodic and dramatic treatment rich with ornamentation, so entire sections ofstyle hongrois can be attributed not only in gesture, but also in general concept to the imitation of the violin. Another instrument which isunique to Hungary and which is prominently featured in the traditional gypsy ensembleis the cimbalom. The cimbalom is similar to a hammer dulcimer, using carved wooden sticks as hammers. During the height of the verbunkos, the instrument did not have a dampening pedal (this would be added 80
around 1870) and the hammers were not padded, as they are today. This would lead to a lack of control with regard to harmonic shift and a more metallic timbre than is typic al of today’s players. This instrument provides much ofthe rhythmic and harmonicstability (even while also providing an extensive arrayof ornamentation). The cimbalom is also responsible for leading Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 93-94. Ibid, 95. Ibid, 97. 80 Manga, János. Hungarian Folk Song and Folk Instruments. Translated by Gyula Gulyás ( Budapest: Corvina Kiadó. 1969), 56. 77 78 79
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acceleration or deceleration into newtempi. One of the most important imitations attributed to the cimbalom for the purpose of this discussion ofMertz is referred to as "crying." This occurs 81
when a melody is embellished upon using rapid thirds and sixths.
Rhythm. There are several rhythmic featuresof the style hongrois that feature in Mertz’s fantasy. I will provide a brief and incomplete list here (limited tothose gestures that appear in Mertz):
Spondee: Bellman defines this as “a metric foot consisting of two longs.” 82 It can begin or end a phrase and is most typically characterized by an arresting, punctuating effect.
Accented short-long: Very often seen as sixteenth to dotted-eighth note figures, this is commonly imitative of Hungarian language. Many words place emphasis onthe second, rather than thefirst syllable, such as “király,” “hazám,” and “szegény.” 83
Alla zoppa: The Italian “limping” rhythm consists of a quarter note between two eighths or other comparable proportion.
84
Anapest: The anapest consists of two short and onelong note value (accented). This is seen most often as two sixteenth notes to an eighth-note.
Choriambus: This rhythmic gesture is typical ofstyle hongrois and generally not used elsewhere. 85
It consists of a succession oflong-short-short-long values.
In addition to these figures, elements that aren’t indicative of the style alone, but contribute 86
highly are the pervasive use of dotted rhythms, and decorative triplets.
Bokázó: This rhythmic and melodic gesture consists of a turn beginning on the upper neighbor coupled with a dotted rhythm at a cadence. This is often referred to as a “Magyar cadence.”87
Melody and Harmony. There are many melodic and harmonic gestures that occuras part of the style hongrois, but very few are actually employed by Mertz. Some of the most typical such as the kuruc
fourth and the use of the “Gypsy Scale,” which features use of the
augmented second (by raising both the fourth and seventh scale degrees in the minor mode), do not make appearances inthe fantasy. Devices that Mertz occasionally uses include theraised
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 111. Ibid, 112. 83 Balacon, Maira. Features of Style Hongrois in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, 53 84 Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 115. 85 Ibid, 112. 86 Ibid, 116. 87 Ibid, 119. 81 82
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fourth scale degree, the use of non-functional harmony and unprepared, abrupt harmonic shifts and the juxtaposition of unrelated chords.
24
CHAPTER FOUR Usage of Style Hongrois by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) In order to establish a baseline from which to view the usage ofstyle
hongrois by Mertz,
it is useful to examine the usage of the style in the works of two of the most prominent figures to have done so. The works of both Franz Liszt and JohannesBrahms written in thestyle hongrois provide a familiar bodyof repertoire that typifies the style. Both Brahms and Liszt embraced the style for the entirety of compositions, rather than the more fleeting manner used by composers such as Beethoven and Schubert. 88
As early as age eleven, Brahms was already arranging tunes from Hungary. In addition, following the revolution in 1848 that forced many Hungarians to flee, Brahms accompanied the gypsy violinist Eduard Reményi during performances. In 1867, Brahms 89
travelled to Hungary as part of a concert tour with Joachim and heard gypsies perform. This experience had the effect of providing some exposure to the folk (Magyar) material and gestural articulations of gypsy performance. The most famous body of works of Brahms to use the style is the collection of Hungarian Dances. Originally conceived for four-hands piano, Brahms’s great friend and collaborator Joseph Joachim (Hungarian himself) later arranged these dances for 90
violin and piano in 1871. Brahms did not consider these pieces srcinal compositions and did not assign them opus numbers. It is that body of work that shall be used here to typify the use of
style hongrois as Brahms saw fit to employ. It is worth noting, however, that Brahms would Variations on a write a large output that would draw upon the style, including such works as Hungarian Song, Op.21, No.2, the finale to the Piano Quartet, Op.25 in G Minor and later works 91
such as Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103 and the Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115. The Hungarian Dances
88 Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms's Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy "Other", 37. 89 Bell, Carol. A Performance Analysis of Selected Dances from the Hungarian Dances of Johannes Brahms and the Slavonic Dances of Antonin Dvořák for One-Piano, Four-Hand. Doctoral dissertation. University of Oklahoma.
1990, 21. 90 Chang, Eric Jung-Teng. A Recording Project and Performance Guide of Twenty-One Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, Arranged for Violin and Piano by Joseph Joachim. Doctoral dissertation. University of Maryland. 2003, 5. 91 Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms's Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy "Other", 37.
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became very popular and were transcribed for a number of different settings during Brahms’s 92
lifetime.
The sale of the published dances also greatly increased Brahms’s income.93
Of the Hungarian dances, the most famous andexamined is No. 5. It is perhaps the most quintessential and iconic example of art music that follows the rubric ofstyle hongrois. The source material for the piece has been the subject of much debate and discussion amongst scholars. In her work discussing gypsypianist György Cziffra, Elizabeth Loparitsascribes the srcin of the first section to a work called
Bártfay Emlék by Béla Kéler, but also possibly written
by Ede (Eduard) Reményi.94 The form of the music isalso set in the most famous ofMagyar forms, the csárdás [czárdás]. This type of dance is also associated verystrongly with the gypsy stereotype, as it was derived fromverbunkos. Gypsy bands were most commonly used to perform this music, and there began a long period of association, dissemination, and the development of stereotypes. The marriage of Magyar folk material and gypsy performance habits created a unique “other” that cannot be authentically claimed in totality by either group, 95
but belongs to each in its own way. The second section isattributed to Ignácz Bognár, ina folk song set for voice and piano calledUccu bizon.
96
The overall form of the Hungarian Dance No. 5
is ABA, each section containing contrasting areas identified aslassú [lassan, lassen] and friss [frissan]. The lassú is characterized by a slow tempo, large interpretive rubato, and rhapsodic melodies, usually in 4/4 time. The friss can begin in a fast tempo and gradually move to a more 97
frenzied tempo and is highly virtuosic, usually in 2/4.
Perhaps the liveliest subject of discussion when considering Brahms’s output in the
style
hongrois (as articulated through the dances) wasthe consideration of character. It is markedly different from that of Schubert or Liszt. Bellman notes the following: “…the style hongrois would become one of Brahms’s most beloved modes of expression, used throughout his life with greater nonchalance than either 92 Loparits, Elizabeth. Hungarian Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra's Two Transcriptions of Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance. Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008, 50. 93
Ibid. Ibid, 75. 95 Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms's Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy "Other,” 19. She points out that style hongrois is ‘twice removed’ from Hungarian and popular music by virtue of art music imitating gypsy performance practice, and source material that can be traced back to the Hungarian peasants. One can also refer back to Bartók’s article, discussed above for this topic. 96 Loparits, Elisabeth. Hungarian Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra's Two Transcriptions of Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance, 78. 97 Bellman, Jonathan. Csárdás. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/06918 (accessed 12 May 2012). 94
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Schubert of Liszt hadbeen able to achieve. For Brahms, it was not necessarily 98 the language of the soul’s darkest cries, or of a forbidden subculture.” This last point, essentially referring to the musical settings of the (mostly negative) stereotypes of the gypsies, is notwithout some contradiction. Bellman argues that Brahms had been playing vernacular music all of his life, and not always in the most auspicious of settings, and was therefore able to set a more unfettered approach, unencumbered by the same 99
ephemerality and superficiality that consumed other composers, most notably Liszt. He further describes Brahms’s dances as accessing the “lighter, more popular gypsy vein.” 100 In contrast to this view lie the assertions of Maira Balacon. The essential purpose of her work has been to show the mostly negative or hyperbolic stereotypes of gypsies through examination of the Hungarian Dances by Brahms. She asserts, for example, that the use of crying thirds and sixths in the B section ofHungarian Dance No. 11 is done in such a way as to 101
portray “heart-breaking grief and sorrow.”
She also points out that the typical European
interpretation of many of Brahms’s settings would be “deemed alluring and dangerously 102
sensual.”
Her native Hungarian heritage may give her a unique perspective on the subject, but
nonetheless, it is important to note differences in the character presentations of Brahms, despite the fact that Liszt and Brahms used the totality of the lexicon ofstyle hongrois with equal ability. While it might be argued that gypsy stereotypes manifest themselves to a greater or lesser degree, it is clear from even a cursory level that Brahms’s exhibits a lighter character in his work than does Liszt. The work of Mertz examined in this document o c uld be said to fit in the center when compared to Brahms and Liszt. While formally closerto Liszt’s model, the overall character of Fantaisie Hongroise is much lighter and closer to Brahms. One of the most useful points to glean from comparing the works of Brahms and Mertz is one of formal difference, not similarity. From the vantage point of structure, one can arguewith merit that dances of Brahms follow a more “authentic” formal structure, closer to that of the srcinal
verbunkos than Mertz or Liszt. The utility of discerning this difference, while also able
to view the csárdás set in an unfettered manner within a piece of art music is realized when
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 202. Ibid. Ibid. 101 Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, 69. 102 Ibid. 98 99
100
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examining the treatment of thecsárdás within Mertz. This will be seen later, in the examination of Mertz’s Fantaisie Hongroise.
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CHAPTER FIVE Usage of the Style Hongrois by Franz Liszt When discussing master-composers, few illicit such polarizing opinions as Franz Liszt (1811-1886). While he did much to advance Western music, healso did much to justify the scorn and ridicule that came his way, even within his own lifetime. The discussion of this controversial figure and his opinions, actions, and works, will be limited to that which concerns the srcins of gypsy music, the setting of Magyar material to virtuoso showcase music, and his pedagogy. The development of Liszt as a nationalist composer and his subsequent impact on the study and understanding of gypsymusic is rather interesting. Liszt was generally neglecting of his heritage until well into hiscareer. His first language was German,second was French, he 103
was never able to fluently speak Hungarian.
This is not particularly surprising, as during the
this period in history (shortly before the ill-fated 1848-49 War of Independence), the official language of the area known as Hungary was German and the Magyar language was generally 104
spoken in small towns and villages. 105
family relocated to Vienna.
Liszt lived in Budapest until the age of ten, when his
He would visit Hungary during the 1820’s as his career as a
virtuoso was burgeoning; however it was not until a benefit concert for the victims of a massive flood in Pest in 1838 that Liszt developed a more keen interest in the music and culture of his 106
home country.
style The most iconic body of music to emerge during this period set in the
hongrois was the collection ofHungarian Rhapsodies . The rhapsodies werenot published as a complete collection all at once, Liszt would continually add to this output until near the year of 107
his death.
Szabolcsi, Bence. The Twilight of Liszt Ferenc. Translated by András Deák (Boston: Crescendo Publishing. 1957), 13. 104 Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music,143 105 Liszt, Franz. Ten Hungarian Rhapsodies. Edited by August Spanuth and John Orth. (Boston: The Merrymount Press, 1904), vii. 106 Laporits, Elisabeth. Hungarian Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra's Two Transcriptions of Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance, 35. 107 Szabolcsi, Bence. The Twilight of Liszt Ferenc, 37. 103
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“It is said of Liszt that his technique was so amazing that difficulties were nonexistent, so that he could give his undivided attention, heart and soul to the aesthetic side of his playing”108
The above sentiment describes a composer and performer close to limitless both musically and technically.It is possible to gain an insight into Liszt’s views and opinions on
style hongrois through observing hiswork and teaching comments. Liszt developed a reputation as an outstanding virtuoso with unprecedented technique. It was partly in service of this technique that Liszt developed theHungarian Rhapsodies. Paganini gave his Vienna debut concert tour in the spring of 1828. This occurs shortly after thedeath of Beethoven andshortly 109
before that of Schubert.
The career of Paganini, perhaps more than anyother performing
musician, gave impetus to theprominent rise of instrumental virtuosi. By the time Clara Wieck and Liszt arrived with force in Vienna during 1837-1838, there was already a strong culture of celebrating virtuosi and even a small group known in the city by the title Imperial and Royal 110
Chamber Virtuoso, one of which was the pianist Sigismund Thalberg. The newly arrived pianists earnestly desired the same title forthemselves. A rivalry broke out between these three most prominent pianists. Comparisons were drawn constantly bythe public, the press, the musical circles of the time,and among themselves. Clara Wieck would write inher diary:
“I played pieces by Liszt and Thalberg to silence those who thought I couldn’t play Thalberg. There were 13 curtain calls, and not even Thalberg experienced that.”111
Liszt and Thalberg would even have a “musical duel” at a charity event in Paris (declared a draw) and Liszt was consistent in his attempts to “best” his competition.
112
In particular, he
played programs that would be comprised of a variety of composers, unlike Thalberg who played
Wilkinson, Charles. Well-Known Piano Solos: How to Play Them with Understanding, Expression, and Effect. (London. The New Temple Press, 1909), 228. 109 Gibbs, Christopher. Franz Liszt and His World. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 169. 110 Ibid, 173. 111 Ibid, 174. 112 Ibid. 108
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113
only his own works.
As a matter of well-calculated business acumen,Liszt concentrated on
playing works of Schubert and Beethoven within his programs and also made sure to associate 114
himself with Czerny and the prominent publisher Haslinger. It is within this context of competition, gamesmanship, and general interest in furthering his career, that Liszt conceived (at least initially) the Hungarian Rhapsodies, and its predecessor series,Magyar Dalok.
115
Liszt’s output in the rhapsodies draws primarily from the verbunkos tradition. This is something that he hadin common with Brahms. The more familiar descendentcsárdás is the form in which Liszt wrote perhaps his most famous rhapsody,No.2, in C-sharp minor. Unlike the treatment of verbunkos material by Brahms, Liszt adds a little more variety to this piece beyond the simple lassú-friss form. In the opening, marked lento a capriccio, Liszt writes a small introduction before thelassan. Before the friss begins in earnest, there is a rather unique section of buildup beginning with a section evocative ofLa Campanella, passing through an imitation of cimbalom, tremolando, and octaves set in arpeggio figures as a means to introduce the bombastic section of thecsárdás. In another interesting difference to the more literal 116
structure as used by Brahms, Liszt invites the use of an improvised cadenza.
While there are a number of composers to have written in thestyle hongrois, Liszt’s name is singled out here because he most successfully married the performance characteristics of the gypsies (improvisation, rhapsodic style) and composition within a more classical framework. While much criticism has been cast on his claims to authenticity within his Hungarian works and also on his book, Les Bohémiens et des leur musique en hongrie, there can be no doubt that at least some of his tunes were taken from the more popularverbunkos literature (such as
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15 based on the Rákóczy March). Meanwhile, those works of srcinal design are very convincingly inspired from theverbunkos and the Hungarian Rhapsodies show a great fluency in the characteristics ofstyle
hongrois. That Liszt was also moved by inspirations
of nationalistic nature is also unquestionable.Perhaps it didn’t occur in a purely altruistic fashion in his younger years, but he did try to contribute to the cause of his country with his repertoire, his book, and even triedto learn the mother tongue. Apparently he failed with such
113
Ibid, 176. Ibid, 180. Gordon, Stewart. A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and its Forerunners, 320. 116 Ibid, 321. See also Liszt, Ten Hungarian Rhapsodies, 6-16. 114 115
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simple words as“eltántoríthatatlanság,” but felt compelled to continue trying even into his 117
dotage.
We can gain an appreciation that Liszt, besides being a technical phenomenon who may rightly have been accused of questionable musical pursuits, was also an immensely intelligent and refined musician. Therefore, his pedagogical preferences withregards to theHungarian
Rhapsodies, can be of value for the performance practices of the modern era.It is especially prudent, when informing performance for Mertz, to know Lisz t’s beliefs on the flexibility of tempo. Liszt’s own views would have no doubt been informed by one of his own mentors, Czerny. Czerny’s views (when discussing the interpretation of Beethoven) are not suggestive of wild, frenzied exaggerations of tempo, but of flexibility that reflects a refinement and 118
restraint.
Czerny’s views on flexibility shifted from conservative to slightly less so in his
lifetime, and the momentum continued with Liszt. This is not, in and of itself, remarkable. However, to know that Liszt, whose works can sometimes rest purely on bravado, also carried the mantle of Beethovenian refinement, is quite so. From this, we can draw that Liszt had deliberate intent to separate interpretation of Hungarian music from other music. After playing a concert in which he performed a bombastictranscription of Imre Széchényi’s Introduction and
Hungarian March, Liszt played a Chopin nocturne “with the warmth and charm of poetry that ”119 the leading pianists of our times try in vain to imitate. A certain light can be shed on performance preferences from the notes of August Göllerich, a pianist who chronicled some of the master classes given by Liszt late in life. We can gather that Liszt had a respect for gestural tempo (meaning in broader terms that the technical difficulty should not impede the tempo of figures). OnHungarian Rhapsody No.5 : “Not too slow at the beginning…always play the triplets [at mm.51] in time at the 120
place where the left hand crosses over…”
Legány, Dezső. Liszt and His Country. Translated by Gyula Gulyás (Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 1976), 163-164. Rosenblum, Sandra P. Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991), 390-392. 119 Legány, Dezső. Liszt and His Country, 161. 120 Göllerich, August. The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt. 1884-1886. Translated by Richard Louis Zimdars. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996), 87. 117 118
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We can also gather that he believed these pieces should be immediately engaging and impressive. On a Hungarian Rhapsody No. 4:
“After the first few bars, the audience must be bowled over!”
121
He also showed a preference for clarity over speed. OnHungarian Rhapsody No. 8:
“He [Liszt] played the finale several times and stressed that thetempo should not be taken too fast, or everything will be blurred and sound like an tude.” é
122
An enlightening yet contrasting remark shows a maturity of interpretation and that Liszt, On Beethoven’s for all his pomposity, arrogance and ability, knew moderation and restraint.
Sonate in E minor, op. 90 : “…it must be played quite simply, indeed not too sentimentally and ‘performed.’ There are things that must be played quite simply and where one may lay on nothing at all.”
123
On another occasion of a student performingHungarian Rhapsody No. 4:
“…Play the sixteenth notes at the end of the theme without accelerating; instead slow down somewhat (even a lot)…make a good diminuendo to ppp and slow down a lot…Definitely do not begin the Allegretto rapidly, and always slow down, very gypsy-like, at the end of he t theme…Each repetition a degree faster, 124 and finally the theme isPresto.” We can gather from these notes, brief though they may be, that Liszt believed that
style hongrois as he rhapsodic interpretations of tempo were an authentic and integral part of the understood it. That he calls for restraint in other music is all the more telling. As a point of fact,
121
Ibid, 56. Ibid. Ibid, 57. 124 Ibid, 133 122 123
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many of the notes regarding tempo attributed to Liszt by Göllerich are emphatic about not playing too fast, too slow, or breaking the tempo.
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CHAPTER SIX Analysis of Mertz Fantaisie Hongroise Op.65, No.1 The Fantaisie Hongroise is written in a similar overall form to Liszt’s rhapsodies, rather than that of Brahms’s dances. As noted previously, Brahms generally followed theverbunkos form rather faithfully. Liszt, on the other hand, would add small transition sections,
csárdás. introductions, and other structural embellishments to the standard patterns of the One curious point regarding Mertz and his work is the complete absence of interpretive indications that overtly call to specific elements ofstyle hongrois. For example, Liszt would commonly use indications such as lassú, friss, or even quasi zimbalo to indicate formal sections that correspond to the csárdás, or as in the last indication, a specific instrumental reference identifying a very 125
particular compositional technique.
A few score-writing practices that are since defunct were
employed by Mertz and most shall be discussedin each particular example. One general designation that warrants clarifying is that Mertz used letters, rather than numbers, to designate strings when arranging passages in positions that could possibly be interpreted in more than one 126
way.
In measures 1-5 (see example 1), Mertz already forcefully establishes the character of the piece through a combination of devices taken from the standard lexicon of the style hongrois. The declamatory alla zoppa rhythm is displayed in measure 1 in addition to forceful
f, sf, sf, ff. establishment of the key of A Minor, coupled with successive dynamic markings of This is reminiscent of the opening of a very popularcsárdás (ironically by an Italian named Monti) wherein the full band begins with strong dynamics and declamatory blocked chords establishing the tonal centerand minor mode immediately. The dotted eighth-note followed by
style sixteenth note occurring on the fourth beat is also used with great frequency in the hongrois. Measure 2 features a solo line, typically a response to the opening chords, imitative of the gypsy fiddler. Mertz marks this area Quasi Recitativ, slentando. Additionally, he pointedly separates the eighth-note rhythm into an anacrusis followed by a large leap using repeated notes, dotted rhythms and fermatas to produce an improvisatory and rhapsodic character. The
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 108. Mattingly, Stephen. Franz Schubert’s Chamber Music with Guitar: A Study of the Guitar’s Role in Biedermeier Vienna. Doctoral Dissertation, Florida State University. 2006, 34 -43. 125 126
35
fingerings indicated by the composer, using the fourth string exclusively for the solo line, also indicate an instrumentally imitative idea. From measures 3-4, this exact collection ofideas is repeated; the only substantive difference is the completion of the harmonic progression from dominant back to tonic. It should also be noted here thatthe use of dots above notes does not indicate a staccato articulation. These markings were used to indicate a return to individual articulation of notes, almost always when a particular passage was flanked by slur markings. 127
This is consistent with guitarist-composer’s notational techniques from the nineteenth-century.
Mertz appears to often use dots to prevent guitarists from slurring fast passages, and the marking here could also be due to the fact that the passage is also markedcon anima. If the particular notes are both flanked by slurs and are to be played in astaccato fashion, it would be common for the composer to write the word in addition to using dots.
127
Mertz, Johann Kaspar.
Opern Revue, Op.8 . See notes by Torosian, 11. 36
Figure 1: Guitar by Johann Scherzer, ca. 1856.128
128
This instrument currently belongs to Matanya Ophee, who speculates that it is possibly the same instrument built by Scherzer for the purpose of Makaroff’s competition mentioned in the memoirs of Makaroff in chapter 2. http://www.matanyaophee.com/collection/scherzer.html. Accessed 9 June 2012.
37
Example 1: Fantaisie Hongroise Op.65, No.1: mm. 1-4 of violin solo Imitation
Alla zoppa
Alla zoppa
In the next section, measures 5-7 (see example 2), the setting changes somewhat to something closer to the piano. Marked eroico followed by dolce, the combination of declamatory chords with more dynamic markings off, sf, f indicate a more Lisztian approach. Unfortunately, the modern guitar is not equipped as the Scherzer guitar was with extra contrabass strings (see fig.1), so it isn’t possible to articulate the low D3 as written. One solution is to cut the D4 from the chord on the downbeat and articulate it in place ofthe D3. The loss of grandiosity here is lamentable, but can be made up in some degree by rolling the chord on the second beat with particular emphasis onthe F6. The following repeated note descending line with dotted rhythms not only employs the same combinatorial techniques ofstyle hongrois as mentioned above, but also provides a slightly more formalized and perhaps less freely interpreted link to measure 2 and measure4. This gives way in measure 7to a dramatic crescendo built of insistent chords with an E3 pedal leading to another use of repeated notes and dotted rhythms in a cadential fashion.
38
Example 2: mm. 5 -7
The following poco piu mosso begins the first significantly insistent forward motion of the piece, with a pulsing eighth-note rhythmon static sixths. Instrumentally, this section is also imitative of a pianistic setting, wherein one hand (presumably the right, in this instance) would articulate the static harmony while theother contrasts with a movingline. If we guitarists could just articulate another harmonic idea below the moving bass here, it would be a perfect counterfeit for Liszt, butalas, no such luck. Devices of the style hongrois here include 129
ornamental triplets in measure 9 and anotheralla zoppa in measure 10 (see example 3). The chromaticism that occurs in measure13 is one that is quite typical ofMertz. There are several instances in pieces such as theElegy and throughout the Bardenklänge that Mertz employs a brief chromatic interruption leading into a cadence.This use of chromaticism is also common in
style hongrois, though a more typical example will be seen in measure 43 (see example 11).
129
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 116.
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Example 3: mm. 8-13 Decorative triplets
Alla zoppa
Beginning in measure 14 (see example 4), we are introduced to another character and tempo change with the section markedBrillante. Here Mertz uses a short-tremolo articulation, using a p,m,i pattern, rather than the more commonly usedp,a,m,i.
130
This was common amongst
nineteenth century guitarists, possibly introduced to Vienna and made popular by the methods of 131
virtuosos such as Giuliani.
A longer version of tremolo employed by Mertz, and Dubez in the
Fantaisie sur des motifs hongroise, would commonly use p,m,i,a,m,i. The use of p,m,i is particularly idiosyncratic and is also (at the correct tempo) evocative of the tremolando used by the Cimbalom, the dulcimer-like instrument common togypsy bands. Following the rapid tremolo, we are introduced to a series ofalla zoppa figurations that are interrupted by anapests in measures 15 and 17. Finally after the third iteration ofthe tremolo figuration, a complete series of uninterrupted alla zoppa figures leads to next cadential section.
Letters indicate instruction for the right hand. P=thumb, i=index, m=middle, a=ring finger. Mattingly, Stephen. Franz Schubert’s Chamber Music with Guitar: A Study of the Guitar’s Role in Bied ermeier Vienna, 38. 130 131
40
Interrupted alla
Example 4: mm. 14-20.
zoppa, anapests,
followed by complete alla
zoppa
Cimbalom imitation
Series of alla zoppa
Beginning in measure 22 (see example 5), a departure from stylistic elements from the lexicon of style hongrois takes place and instead Mertz delves into his virtuoso wheelhouse for an extended section of harp-like arpeggios preparing for a half-cadence before the first main theme is introduced. While mostly unremarkable, there is oneparticular aspect of this section which draws the attention of any guitarist fluid intypical nineteenth-century figurations. This occurs at measure 22. This passage, which simply takes arpeggiated E-Major andA-Minor triads and moves them across an octave, would be arranged in a completely different manner by Giuliani, Legnani, or any other prominent g uitarist of the era. One can look to Carcassi’s 25 132 Studies, Op. 60, No. 20 to see how typically these figures would be solved on the guitar. At
such a point in the register of the guitar, with frequent shifts to lower positions, it would be common practice to use the first string toaccommodate the third andfifth of the triad. Here, however, Mertz specifies that the hand must shift further than normal and play the triad across three strings, rather than two. It is unlikely that this was chosen due to a musically“pure” Carcassi, Matteo. 25 Melodic and Progressive Studies, Op. 60. Edited by Paul Henry (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. 1993), 36. Originally published in 1836. See No. 20 for common fingering solutions that comprised shifting between lower positions using p,i,m,a and higher positions continuing the arpeggio across only two strings. 132
41
motivation on the part ofMertz. It is more likely the consequence ofachieving a desired effect, rather than following amusically consistent pattern. When examining other works of Mertz, such as Romanze from Bardenklänge, Op.13 , there is a lengthy set of figures during the introduction marked imitation del arpa.
133
Example 5:. Bardenklänge, Op.13, No. 2, Rom anze. mm. 1-2.
It could be the case here that, without stating it directly, Mertz intends to achieve the same effect here. Certainly, it could also bean attempted imitation of the sonority ofthe piano. A third possibility is a virtuosic showcase with a more visually engaging technical device. Whatever the cause, it is an interesting diversion from commonpractice. Another unfortunate side note is that once again, the modern instrument cannot support the actual pitch values of the
volante section at the end of the passage and beginning after the firstfermata, it becomes necessary to transpose all pitches up by an octave.
Mertz, Johann Kaspar. Bardenklänge, Op. 13, Romanze. (Vienna, Chez Charles Haslinger. 1840’s). Used with permission from the Boije collection, Statens musikbibliotek - The Music Library of Sweden. 133
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Example 6: Fantaisie Hongroise. mm. 22-28. Imitation of harp arpeggio arrangement
Thus concludes the introduction. The next major section changesto an Adagio Maestoso and modulates to the parallel major. The melodic material here is very clearly an instrumental imitation of verbunkos song, as yet unidentified. The section is replete with characteristic gestures of the style hongrois. Beginning in measure 30(see example 7), a series of dotted parallel sixths are displayed as the phrase approaches its first ornamental turn and imitation of ‘out of tune’ violins in measure 35 (see example 8)with a double stop glissando (so the glissando ought to be a touch labored, rather unlike modern conventions guitarist use to produce 134 portamentos). The use of thirds and sixths here is typical of a vocal imitation technique. In the
score, there is a rit placed under the rearticulated fifths during the second beat; however this is most likely intended to be executed during the glissando, not afterwards as implied by the score. This would be characteristic of gypsy tendencies during alassú improvisation. For an entertaining reference, one can find a multiplicity of performance recordings of the famous
Csárdás by Vittorio Monti (1868-1922), dating from 1904,online. While this piece wasnot written during the height of theverbunkos style and cannot be considered authentic, it has become fiercely popular and it does draw on many of the typicalstyle
hongrois gestures. This
section is again filled with expressive markings, dynamics that seem only to include the upper 134
Bellman, Jonathan. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe, 110.
43
reaches of the instrument’s capability and at once juxtapose a firmer sense of rhythmic integrity while digging in to rhapsodic indulgence shortlythereafter. Unfortunately, another contrabass D must be omitted on the modern instrument, due to range, in measures 30 and 34 in addition to contrabass A’s in measures 29 and 33.
Example 7: mm. 29-34 Dotted rhythms and parallel 3rds/6ths
Example 8: mm. 35 with “out of tune” glissando.
Following this gesture is a cadence, ornamented by thirty-second notes (see example 9). This section is similar in nature to many cadences inHungarian Dance No. 5 by Brahms that use a running sixteenth-note figure. It contains a turn used as a staple for thebokázó, but does not couple the turn with the most typical rhythm consisting of a dotted-eight to sixteenth-note figure. Since Mertz was one of the early composers to advocate playing guitar with nails on the righthand, the designation of using the second and fourth strings here for the cadence more than likely 44
represents a concerted attempt at directing the player to articulate the cadence in an exaggerated or rhapsodic fashion. His instruction also produces a warmer sound than would occur if the musician were to play the cadence in the standard position (fifth in this case).
Example 9: mm. 36 Melodic turn similar to bokázó
The next section, beginning at measure 37 (see example 10), shows the first unprepared change of harmony in the piece. It would be too much to call this section a modulation, as the key of A-Major is quickly reasserted with only a two-measure sojourn into foreign territory. Nonetheless a sharp change of color (by virtue of contrast from thedulce created by Mertz’s in the preceding cadence to a much brighter sound in measure 37), dynamic, and striking C-sharp Major chord contribute to another technique representative of thestyle hongrois, that of an 135
unprepared modulation or temporary shift in harmony.
This quickly gives way to a
sequencing tremolando (again usingp,m,i) imitative of a cimbalom in dialogue with other instruments. An identical passage, begun thistime on a B-Major chord, gives way toan E-Major preparation for a return to the theme from the beginning of theadagio
maestoso. In each of these
cases, the implied dominant (C# Major and B Major, respectively) is emphasized more than the resolution (F# minor, and EMajor). This is also typical ofthe style hongrois.136
135 Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms's Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy "Other,” 58 136 Ibid, 59.
45
Decorative triplets set in thirds,
Example 10: mm. 37-38.
imitative of cimbalom
The return to the theme of this section is punctuated by a slightly more ornamented approach, using “crying” chromatically shifting thirds and sixths (marked
con dolore) rather than
the dotted rhythm and diatonic movement shown before (mm. 42-43, see example 11). Along with this, an arpeggio ornamentation that is again reminiscent of the harp imitation that Mertz favors marks the preparation forthe cadence. The use of the sixth-string E to begin aslightly unorthodox voicing of an A-Major chord at the beginning of measure 43 is possibly taken from the style hongrois, but the use of such voicing can also be observed in the works of Mauro Giuliani and Luigi Legnani, among others, and was used to fill out the guitar’s sound at the expense of conventional harmonic practice. Since Giuliani in particular was known to have visited and performed in Vienna, Mertz’s use of the technique could easily have been derived from Italian sources.
Example 11: mm. 40-43
“Crying chromaticism”
46
In the second ending (mm. 45, see example 12), Mertz shows us that he is not drawing on the altogether rough-and-tumble world of gypsy-inspired practice exclusively. After unprepared harmonic shifts and a rather unrefined use of chord voicing and melodramatic chromaticism, the ear is presented a gift of a pedaltone modulation to F-Major. Again, he indicates to use the second and fourth strings, rather thanthe more conventional use offirst and third strings. This not only affords consistency of tone color, but also allows for the left hand to occupy a common position for the modulation itself.
Example 12: mm. 43-45. Harp-like ornament.
As stated previously, this piece is not constructed in a form strictly imitative of the srcinal
csárdás, such as in Brahms, but in a more complicated structure more appropriately
comparable to Liszt. This might seem a laughable statement, considering the title of thepiece; however, there is one aspect of the form and the material that is rather interesting in this regard. Within the greater fantasy scheme, there are indications that a traditional lassú-friss structure is conceived. My belief is that the lassú begins at the F-Major section in measure 46 (see example 13). This section is the most openly rhapsodic and improvisatory, harkening tothe spirited gypsy performance practices. The tempo is rather slow, the slowest infact of the entire piece, and is much less rhythmically driven than any section preceding or following this area. Although there are rhythmic gestures that are indicative of thestyle
hongrois on display
previously, the multiplicity of them inserted into such a short space combined with other gestures creates an overall impression of improvisation. Whilst the propensity for dotted rhythm and accents on weaker beats can be identified as
style hongrois traits, a significant series of rhythmic gestures beginning occurs from measure 4649. This begins with an accented short-long in measure 47, achoriambus leading to an anapest
47
begins at measure 48, followed by analla zoppa rhythm moving into the F-Major cadence in measure. 49.
Example 13: mm. 46-49. Accented short-long
Choriambus
Alla zoppa
Anapest
Following this begins a more emphatic section, commencing with another alla zoppa and choriambus in measure 50 (seeexample 14) adding a leap imitative of the gypsy violinist. The following measure opens with the samealla zoppa, slightly ornamented and another choriambus before giving way to a restatement of the first idea, this time ornamented with running thirtysecond-notes in the middle register. Another arpeggio makes anappearance as an ornament to close measure 53. When compared to the earlier adagio maestoso, it is clear that although much has changed, the methods Mertz employs to intensify reiterations in both sections are either similar in nature (filling out textures with ornamental runs or chromaticisms) or identical (in the case of ornamental arpeggios). In this manner the highly sectional nature of thepiece is overcome by an integrity and flow that demonstrates the maturity of Mertz more than that of the
style hongrois. Example 14: mm. 50-55.
Alla zoppa
Choriambus
Choriambus
Anapest
Choriambus
Alla zoppa 48
nd
Running 32
note fragment
The next section (mm. 56-60, see example 15) is essentially a transition between the
lassú and the friss. Mertz uses a combination of diminished chords,pulsing triplets and running thirty-second notes to build intensity. The running notes themselves are a point of connection between the lassú and the friss. In the lugubre section, Mertz uses similar runs featuring accented dissonances and repeated notesmostly as ornamentation. The same ideas will feature prominently in the upcomingscherzando. Mertz finishes the buildup off with another instrumentally imitative leap and half cadence. n
Example 15: mm. 56-60
Running 32 note fragment
The friss commences with a curious gesture. A very typical gestureis the spondee , two accented long rhythmic values. If Mertz were to copy the typical setting of the opening rhythm of a friss, then the Allegro vivace would have placed chords on beats one and two in measure 61 (see example 16) and used adotted quarter-note on the down beat of measure 62.Mertz choses instead to syncopate the gesture, creating an imbalance that leaves the second of the chords with a short articulation. Brahms’s shows both ideas in his dances nos. 4 and 5. InHungarian Dance
No. 5 during the second phrase of the A section, he uses the traditionally setspondee. However, in the opening of Hungarian Dance No. 4, he uses the exact setting as shown here by Mertz, but 137
with a more colorful cimbalom tremolando rumbling around underneath , as compared with
137
Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois features in Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, 71-72.
49
138
Mertz’s more commonplace bass line.
This creates a rhythmic impetus whencontrasted to the
bass line and prepares for the anapests in measures 63 and 64 in a more energetic fashion.
Example 16: mm. 61-68
Syncopated setting of aspondee
Anapests
Mirrored setting of
spondee
Anapest The scherzando commences in measure 69 (see example 17) begins the repeated running sixteenth-note figure that has been foreshadowed in thelugubre. It bears a strong resemblance to a section of the palotás from Ferenc Erkel’s opera
Hunyadi László, which is also derived from
verbunkos dances.139 The alternation of driving runs andanapests creates an upbeat dance rhythm that typifies the style. Again, it warrants mentioning that thedots on the score are indications only that the pitches are not to be slurred, unless noted bystaccato. No further articulation is designated by the presenceof these symbols. The nature of the dancewould allow for a variety of interpretations with regards to the flexibility of thetempo. Most players choose to execute no change in tempo between theAllegro vivace and the scherzando. While this is sometimes the case with gypsy bands, or even pianists playing Brahms, there is also room for a sudden deceleration followed by a dramatic accelerando, such as is often executed by pianists during Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 as the friss begins in earnest. This idea is recounted by Sárosi when discussing the development of theverbunkos. It was not unusual for the tempo of the piece to speed up ever gradually through to the end. Thepalotás is an upper-class brother of the csárdás, with the only point of significant difference between the two lying in the fact that 138
For a contrast of Brahms’s subtle alteration of the srcinal rhythm (in addition to harmonic changes), a comparison is described by Elizabeth Loparits in her dissertation. She shows both the srcinal source folk songs as well as Brahms’s arrangements. Hungarian Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit, 78-83. 139 Dubez, Johann. Fantasy on Hungarian Themes. Notes by Matanya Ophee.
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the palotás was a courtly dance and thecsárdás was typically played in the village taverns (the word csárda translates to “village inn”). The choice to quote Erkel here is likely a deliberate attempt to tap into popular sentiment. The operas of Erkel became symbolic to thepopulace and were simply embraced by the revolutionary spirit of 1848, and subsequently they were hijacked by it. In 1848, attending a concert of music oropera composed by a Hungarian national could just as often mean attending a political action meeting. It was common for the audience to interrupt concerts and demand a gypsy band take the stage to play national songs, most especially the songs of Erkel and theRákóczy March .140 Erkel is considered the father figure of national Hungarian opera, writing operas based upon heroic icons of the country such as Bánk
Bán and Hunyadi László.141 While it is not known that Mertz actually witnessed such things (or even that he was ever in Pest-Buda during this volatile period), the revolution of 1848 could not have escaped his notice.
Example 17: mm. 69-76 t
Running 16 note motive from the
palotás in Erkel’s Hunyadi László
Anapests
Anapest
A quick interruption at measure 77 (see example 18) takes us to C-Major and darts immediately through another sequence to secondary dominants to a half cadence before the repeat of the friss. Each change in direction is commenced with ananapest and the half-cadence
alla zoppa gives our last
of the piece.
Lajosi, Krisztina Katalin. Opera and Nineteenth-Century Nation Building. Doctoral Dissertation: University of Amsterdam , 2008, 171. 141 Kaldy, Julius. History of Hungarian Music (New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd, 1969), 36. 140
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Example 18: mm. 77-84.
Alla zoppa
Anapest
Beginning at the section markedcon brio in measure 99 (see example 19), the piece alternates between less overt nods to thestyle hongrois and virtuosic displays oftechnique. The
con brio uses a running sixteenth-note pattern that is melodically patterned in a similar way to the running fragments that have been used to a greater or lesser extent throughout the piece. Placed within this are interesting accents that are initially placed on weak beats at a rate of once every two beats. The rhythmic frequency of the accents is then increased to onceevery beat and the accents are moved to weaker subdivisions of the beat.
Example 19: mm. 99-103
The brillante section at measure 99 (see example 20) departs from the overt gestures of
style hongrois, but features a technically demanding set of arpeggios that pass through a number of secondary dominants before changing pattern and ascending in a fashion very typically displayed by Mertz; similar to the introduction to both this piece and hisElegy for guitar. It is clear from cases such as these and from observing exercises from his method that arpeggios were a particular strength of his. For the first time, Mertz uses a four-note tremolo pattern inmeasures 116-119, giving way to a series of octaves, simply more typical virtuosity and very likely an attempt to imitate Liszt in a manner reminiscent of theTranscendental
Études and Hungarian
Rhapsodies. He was not alone in this offense, the groundwork being laid years before by Italians
52
such as Giuliani and Legnani. More secondary chords followed bystill more arpeggios finally yield to a closing idea.
Example 20: mm. 104-132. 28 measures of virtuosity
The closing idea (mm. 133-141, see example 21) is one very characteristic of the csárdás. Mertz uses the same base of running sixteenths again in a melodically similar fashion to the instances smattered across thepiece. He closes with the remarksempre cresc. e accel. il tempo. Though not written, it is probably in one’s best interest to lower both the tempo and dynamic level in keeping with executing this idea. If the player had decided to use anaccelerando during the scherzando, then not only will there be pragmatic rewards for this gesture, but also a logical symmetry. The final stylistic gesture before thefinal declamatory cadence is one last violin leap. 53
If anyone has been paying attention to this point, it is hopefully manifest that the manner in which this leap should be executed must be virtuosic and rhythmic, not an evenly measured glissando, as is normally heard (or at least here, lest we miss the note!).
Example 21: mm. 133-141.
Closing Ideas Regarding Interpretation and Performance Implications The music of style hongrois represents an interesting departure from the normal performance conventions of theclassical musician. With regards to interpretation, speaking very generally, much of the performed music of the day is falls into one of two interpretive categories: 1) a conservative orthodoxy in which one tries as much as possible to deliver a faithful rendition of what is written. 2) music in which there is an accepted (and usually very broad) latitude handed to the performer. Music for guitar is especially subject tothese two groups. This is chiefly for two reasons: first, a large amount of repertoire comes in the manner of transcription, leading to a heightened awareness that we are playing with someone else’s toys and should be mindful; secondly, a large amount of repertoire that is of higher quality for the guitar was written by non-guitarists, leading to a large number of pragmatic ‘fixes.’ This leads to an overabundance of both editing scores without merit and changing performance habits to make sure that performers are not overcome bytechnical issues. While a certain degreeof both habits listed above are healthy and reflective of an astute performer, it can also lead to a sort of institutionalized bi-polar manner of interpretation. The music of style hongrois delivers a dose of both interpretational paradigms at once. Those gestures that are directly taken from the lexicon of thestyle hongrois (to borrow a phrase 54
142
from Jonathan Bellman) should be performed with the utmost attention to authenticity.
Playing passages that are imitative of gypsy band instruments without any idea as to their identity will erode their purpose. Guitarists can use changes ofcolor and articulation to help those imitative sections stand apart. This clarity and recognition is also easily helpful for
style rhythmic gestures. It is important to maintain rhythmic consistency when gestures of hongrois are being employed. For example, the mostoften used rhythmic gestures usedby Mertz are the alla zoppa and anapest. Without recognizing these gestures and performing them with clarity, the perception of exoticism will begreatly reduced. However, it is just as important to bring as much musically appropriate and relevant creativity to these musics as possible. Simply performing the written pitches and rhythms with only cursory attention to the improvisatory, rhapsodic practice of the gypsies that performed this music will render it stale. While generally not the performance practice in the modern era, this music cries out for improvisation and addition. For a prominent exampleof a modern performer who accomplished this, the treatise by Elisabeth Loparits concerning theimprovisational style of thegypsy pianist
style hongrois in the George Cziffra provides an enlightening discussion of interpretation of twentieth-century. The odd instrumental leap or cadential addition of baokázó (for some reason completely absent in Mertz, at least in its traditional figuration) would not be an act of desecration. There are prominent examples of repertoire that have been subject to additions that
Chaconne received a have been controversial. In recent years, the Segovia edition of the Bach great deal of criticism from modern-day guitarists due to its lack of authenticity when compared with the srcinal score. T his owes to the fact that many ideas from Busoni’s own transcription make an appearance in Segovia’s work. While the merits of additions such as Segovia’s can be argued with merit both by those for and against his perspective, thestyle
hongrois is a musical
context that almost requires input frombeyond the confines ofthe written score. To add elements of rubato, exaggerated dotting of rhythms, or even srcinal cadenza-type passages where appropriate would not interfere with, but simply enhance the “authenticity” that musicians from the late twentieth-century onwards strive for. From a guitarist’s perspective, it helps to gain an understanding of Mertz’s technique (as seen through his written method), the instrument that the piece was written for, and to inform one’s interpretation, rather than try to copy those practices of the nineteenth-century that are now 142
Bellman, Jonathan. Towards a lexicon for the Style Hongrois, 214.
55
rendered obsolete. It is preposterous to argue that modern guitarists, playingon essentially Spanish instruments, with Segovia-inspired nails, performance habits, and nylon strings should imitate the habits of Mertz or anyone else from that time.There is as yet no information on what shape or condition Mertz kept his fingernails in, so even though one can purchase a Scherzer copy and string it with imitation gut, there is as yet not enough information available to authentically perform the music of Mertz. It is then left to us to do the best we can with the tools at our disposal. If some choose to execute his musicon a Scherzer guitar, then it should be for an aesthetic and pragmatic reason (chiefly achieved through different construction of the body and extended range). Indeed, Matanya Ophee makes acompelling argument towards the modern player for the case that one cannot gain a true appreciation or form a valid opinion of Mertz’s 143
work without attempting it on a Scherzer.
However, when traditional players (that is to say,
people playing on guitars owing their design principally to the templates of Antonio de Torres) take such music into their repertoire, it is equally important that they endeavor to inform their approach and produce asmusically convincing a product as possible. Many players have studied the Fantaisie Hongroise, but few have yet applied a thorough knowledge of thestyle hongrois to their interpretive endeavors. Since the style draws upon such a richly constructed exoticism, the number of compelling approaches to this music is limitless. Some examples from the piece merit discussion. Mertz provides a numberof interpretive markings on the score; accordingly the examples pointed out do not contain specific instruction for suggested performance practices. In measures 16, 17, 19-20 (see example 4) the interrupted
alla zoppas and anapests are difficult to perform with rhythmic integrity, but it if any extra time is taken the rhythmically chargedgestures will become eroded. A change of color and character is appropriate here too, as it follows a section imitative of cimbalom (mm. 14, 16, 18 respectively), while thealla zoppas are indicating a gypsy bandtutti. In measure 23 and 24(see example 6), the open E’s that follow the arpeggiated triads in twelfth position should be played while keeping the left hand in place, rather than shifting early. This will allow overtones tolast longer, enabling the harp-like imitation to bemore effective. In measure 28 (see example6), an opportunity is provided for a cadenza-like improvisation. The use of dotted rhythms and repeated pitches would certainly provide a starting point derived from material used by Mertz throughout the fantasy. 143
Ophee, Stempnik on Mertz. Soundboard Vol. XVIII, No.1, 80.
56
In measure 35 (see example 8), equal emphasis notes of the double-stop and glissando would be useful in a humorous way to more imitate the “out of tune” gypsy fiddler. Measures 61-76 (see example 16) also provide an opportunity to insert some performance habits typical to the csárdás. The transition to a faster tempo can be accomplished in three ways. The most conventional way (for the modern musician) is to essentially follow the score and change tempo abruptly. Another possibility would be toincrease speed gradually throughout the
Allegro Vivace. Still another possibility is to draw an abrupt halt between theAllegro Vivace and the Scherzando, leaving the gradual accelerando until the Scherzando itself. Similarly, the close of the piece (mm. 133-141, see example 21) provides an opportunity to mirror the same manner ofaccelerando as was used in measures 61-76. Since the inspiration for the idea is a dance, it can be executed well by exaggerating theaccelerando itself, beginning at an extremely slow speed and moving to established tempo of theScherzando , or even beyond, given the dramatic close of the piece.
57
CHAPTER SEVEN Overview of Extant Guitar Works in the Style Hongrois While works in the style hongrois are certainly not common for guitar, a body of such repertoire does exist. Select pieces of repertoire that aresignificant and that can beviewed and analyzed in much the same fashion as has been theFantaisie Hongroise in this document merit brief discussion. Johann Dubez, a student of Mertz and virtuoso performer, wrote two primary pieces that focus on the style hongrois. The first, Fantaisie sur des motifs hongroise, is a long form virtuoso piece that owes heavily to Mertz’s own work. Included in this work are arrangements of the
Rákóczy March and a csárdás which includes a variant of thescherzando from Mertz’s fantasy. These segments are represented inAppendix B of this document. The srcinal Diabelli 144
publication is represented here, housed in the Boije collection at the Music Library of Sweden. Matanya Ophee’s edition contains several corrections and adaptations for a modern six-string instrument. Another work, unpublished, also housed in the Boije collection is Dubez’s
Quatre
pieces pour la guitare. These pieces are not all taken from thestyle hongrois, however there is another arrangement of same Erkelpalotás as already remarked upon in theFantaisie
Hongroise. There is also another arrangement of theRákóczy March. Another composer who wrote a work in thestyle hongrois was Raphael Dressler (17841835), a professional flutist who lived andworked in Vienna. His duo, Variationen über ein
ungarisches Thema, op. 25, written for flute and guitar was published in 1815. While the guitarist to whom the piece was dedicated to is unknown, he was known to have dedicated works 145
to the guitarist Teodore Gaude.
The piece showcases many of the typical aspects ofstyle
hongrois, however the arrangement is very much a one-sided affair, with the guitar mostly relegated to simple chordal accompaniments, with the occasional gesture thrown in. Nevertheless, it is a work that has only recently come to light and is an important contribution to our knowledge of chamber music in thestyle
hongrois using guitar. The only significant piece
Dubez, Johann. Fantaisie sur des motifs hongroise. (Vienna: Chez A. Diabelli, 1853). Dressler, Raphael. Variationen über ein ungarisches Thema, op.25. Notes by Andreas Grün, translated by Alan Ross (Vienna: Artaria 1815. Republished, Frankfurt: Zimmerman Publishing, 2003), 16 144 145
58
performed to date has been the Schubert arrangement ofMatiegka’s Notturno, Op. 21 (Schubert’s Quartetto, D. 96) which contains a trio markedZingarra for the third movement.146 A small collection of works that are all written instyle hongrois was published in 1960 by the Hungarian publishing company Editio Musica Budapest, edited by Ferenc Borodszky. Although entitled Magyar Zene Gitárra a XIX. Század első feléből, (Hungarian Music for Guitar th
From the First Half of the 19 Century), all are drawn from theverbunkos. With permission, I have attached two of the most significant pieces in appendixes C andD. One is actually attributed to Mertz himself, entitledHazai Virágok (Flowers of my Homeland). Most of the works we know of Mertz today are those published by Haslinger in the 1840’s and subsequently archived in the Boije collection, housed at the Music Libraryof Sweden. Interestingly, this work is not among those collected by Boije and thus is far removed from the ‘mainstream’ of the Mertz repertoire. Another interesting part ofthe collection is anunattributed transcription of the
Rákóczy March. While not identicalto Dubez’s arrangement in his own fantasy, this seems to owe much to that work. Other adaptations of prominent composers ofverbunkos music are also featured, such as Rózsavölgyi and Kossovits, and a few pieces owe their attributed inspiration to 147
the most famous of all gypsy violinists in the style, János Bihari. It bears mentioning that of those names mentioned, only Bihari was a gypsy performer, all the rest being middle-class Hungarian composers of verbunkos.
148
While many of these works are rather short and vary both
in difficulty and quality, they provide an excellent opportunity for a developing guitarist to experience the style
hongrois without having to undertake a virtuoso piece such as the Dubez or
Mertz fantasies. These can also be thought of as excellent stylistic and pedagogical ‘preludes’ to studying the Fantaisie Hongroise.
A Note on Sources One goal of research undertaken during the preparation of this document was to identify specific verbunkos source material used in Mertz’s
Fantaisie Hongroise. To the extent that I was
able to identify the scherzando section as being based on thepalotás from the opera Hunyadi
146
Mattingly, Stephen. Franz Schubert’s Chamber Music with Guitar: A Study of the Guitar’s Role in Biedermeier
85-87. Vienna, 147
Borodszky, Ferenc. Magyar Zene Gitárra a XIX. Század első feléből. (Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1960), 53-55. 148 Handrigan, Nancy. On the “Hungarian” in Works of Brahms: A Critical Study. Doctoral dissertation, McMaster University. 1995, 49-53.
59
László by Ferenc Erkel, this goal wasaccomplished. However, both the A-majoradagio maestoso and the F-major lugubre sections are both quite clearly based onverbunkos sources. While it should be conceded that this is possibly srcinal material conceived by Mertz and set in a manner typical of theverbunkos, the predilection shown by Mertz towards usingverbunkos has been shown by recent scholarly research. It is therefore unlikely that theaforementioned sections are the result of entirely srcinal work. Certain undertakings into cataloging the folk music of Hungary have been famously accomplished by Bartók and Kodály. Since their srcinal work, aformidable two volume work has been penned by Lajos Vargyas cataloging Hungarian folk ballads tracing texts, tunes, and themes of Hungary and placing them within thegreater European Ballad tradition. These works are all invaluable when studying the material that is described usually as “peasant music.” However, the works of theverbunkos have not been addressed until much more recent scholarly research. At the time of this writing, the best work todate in cataloging these tunes has been accomplished by Géza Papp. Though he has published several papers on the subject, themost complete and most recent work produced isThe Manuscript Mementoes of the Verbunkos:
Thematic Catalog from the Collection of the Music Department of the National Széchenyi Library. This work is by no means the last word on the subject, but is a valuable scholarly first step to fill that contributes greatly to the knowledge base for thestyle hongrois . Papp identifies 149
a number of tunes that appear in works of Mertz, includingHazai Virágok (see Appendix D).
Until a more complete thematic catalog ofverbunkos source material becomes available, further discussion on this subject remainsa matter of conjecture. From the early twentiethcentury onward, there appears to have been a generally encouraged neglect in studying this music at the scholarly level. This is most likely in reaction to the misconceptions that were particularly promoted by Liszt and also due to a following and interest in peasant music developed by Bartók andKodály. Scholars such as Szabolcsi and Sárosicompleted scholarly research that was either centered on,or made mention of, gypsies and music. However, these writings generally approach the subject from a historical perspective and do not attempt to develop any catalog orlexicon. Given the influence offoreign sources in thenineteenth-century, Magyar sources dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth-centuries, and the performancebased influence of the gypsies, it becomes necessary to possess scholarly work that covers all 149
Papp, Géza. A Verbunkos Kéziratos Emlékei. (Budapest. MTA Zenetudományi Intézet Budapest. 1999), 39.
60
three areas before a truly complete analysis can bemaintained. This is most pertinent when identifying source tunes. It is a matter of relative ease, however, to identify stylistic gestures, passages, and intentions. This is thanks to a large and ever-increasing body of recent work addressing the creation of a lexicon, historical development ofstyle hongrois and its predecessors, and analysis.
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APPENDIX A J.K. Mertz: Fantaisie Hongroise, Op. 65 No.1
62
63
64
65
66
APPENDIX B Johann Dubez: Fantaisie sur des motifs Hongroise . (excerpts)
67
Rákóczy March.
68
Csárdás, lassan.
69
Palotás
70
APPENDIX C Rákóczy March
71
APPENDIX D J.K. Mertz: Hazai Virágom
72
APPENDIX E: PERMISSIONS Mónika
[email protected]
Jun 4
Dear Andrew Stroud,
thank you for your letter. Editio Musica Budapest give you the permission to public extracts from "Magyar zene gitárra" by F. Brodszky, in your doctoral treatise. This permission is without any licence fee, but your publication can not be for sales.
Best wishes Monika Farkas
Monika Farkas Copyright Manager Universal Music Publishing Editio Musica Budapest Ltd.
tel: (36-1) 23 61 100 fax: (36-1) 23 61 101 e-mail:
[email protected] www.emb.hu www.umusicpub.com http://universalmusicpublishingclassical.com
>>> Andrew Stroud 2012. 06. 03. 22:35 >>>
To Whom it May Concern, My name is Andrew Stroud. I am a doctoral candidate at Florida State University in the United States. I am currently writing my doctoral treatise onthe subject of style hongrois (verbunkos) in the guitar works of J.K. Mertz. 73
I would like to include reproductions of an edition of guitar music in this style: Magyar Zene Gitárra a XIX. század első feléből
Edited by Ferenc Brodszky, published in 1960. Some pieces would be reproduced in their entirety as part of an appendix of music in the style hongrois, with excerpts reproduced within achapter of analysis. The use of these scores in the treatise will be strictly academic and no profit will be generated by their use. I would greatly appreciate your permission to includethem in my work. Thanks, Andrew Stroud _______________________________________________________________________ Ezt az e-mailt virus- es SPAM-szuresnek vetettuk ala a filter:mail MessageLabs rendszerrel. Tovabbi informacio: http://www.filtermax.hu
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Adams, Daniel. "Literary Themes in Mertz's Bardenklänge."Soundboard , 2005: 26-35. Balacon, Maira. Style Hongrois Features in Brahms's Hungarian Dances: A Musical Construction of a Fictionalized Gypsy "Other". Doctoral Dissertation: University of Cincinatti, 2005. Bartók, Béla. "Gypsy Music or Hungarian Music?"Oxford Journals, April 1947: 240-257. —. The Hungarian Folk Song. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1981. Bell, Carol Ann Roberts.A Performance Analysis of Selected Dances from the Hungarian Dances of Johannes Brahms and the Slavonic Dances of Antonin Dvořák for One-Piano, Four-Hands. Doctoral Dissertation: The University of Oklahama, 1990. Bellman, Jonathan. "Csárdás."Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. n.d. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/069 18 (accessed May 23, 2012). —. The Style Hongrois in the Music of Western Europe. Richmond: Northeastern University Press, 1993. —. "Toward a Lexicon for the Style Hongrois."The Journal of Musicology, 1991: 214-237. —. "Verbunkos." Grove Music Online. n.d. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/291 84?q=verbunkos&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit (accessed June 26, 2012). Berger, Melvin. Guide to Chamber Music. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 2001. Bobri, Vladimir. "The Memoirs of Makaroff."Guitar Review, 1947: 46-59 and 109-113. Brodszky, Ferenc. Magyar Zene Gitárra a XIX. század első feléből. Budapest: Editio Musica Budapest, 1960. Brown, Clive. Classical & Romantic Performing Practice 1750-1900. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Carcassi, Matteo. 25 Melodic and Progressive Studies, Op. 60. Edited by Paul Henry. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation, 1993. Chang, Eric Jung-Teng.A Recording Project and Peformance Guide of Twenty-One
Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, Arranged for Violin and Piano by Joseph Joachim. Doctoral Dissertation: University of Maryland, 2003.
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Dressler, Raphael. Variationen über ein ungarisches Thema, op. 25. Vienna/Frankfurt: Artaria/Zimmerman Frankfurt, 1815/2003. Dubez, Johann. Fantaisie on Hungarian Themes. Columbus: Editions Orphee, 2006. —. Fantaisie sur des motifs hongroise. Vienna: Chez A. Diabelli, 1853. Gay, Peter. Mozart. London: Butler & Tanner Ltd., 1999. Gibbs, Christopher. Franz Liszt and His World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. —. Franz Liszt and His World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006. Göllerich, August. The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt 1884-1886. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. Gordon, Stewart. A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and its Forerunners. Belmont: Wadsworth Group, 1996. Handrigan, Nancy. On the "Hungarian" in Works of Brahms: A Critical Study. McMaster University, 1995. Head, Matthew. "Style Hongrois."Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. n.d. http://oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/44652 (accessed May 22, 2012). Heyman, Barbara. Press, 1992.Samuel Barber: The Composer and his Music. New York: Oxford University Holzman, Adam. Johann Mertz Bardenklänge Op.13. Comp. Johann Kaspar Mertz. 1999. Kaldy, Julius. A History of Hungarian Music . New York: Haskell House Publishers LTD, 1969. —. A History of Hungarian Music. New York: Haskell House Publishers, 1969. Kodály, Zoltán. Folk Music of Hungary. New York: Da Capo Press, 1987. Lajosi, Krisztina Katalin.Opera and Nineteenth-Century Nation-Building. Doctoral Dissertation: University of Amsterdam, 2008. Legány, Dezső. Liszt and His Country 1869-1873 translated by Gyula Gulyás. Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 1976.
The Hungarian Rhapsodies, edited by August Spanuth and John Orth. Liszt, Franz. Merrymount Press, 1904.
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Locke, Ralph P. "Exoticism."Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. May 26, 2010. http://oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/45644 (accessed May 22, 2012). Loparits, Elizabeth.Hungarian Gypsy Style in the Lisztian Spirit: Georges Cziffra's Two Transcriptions of Brahms' Fifth Hungarian Dance. Doctoral Dissertation: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. Manga, János. Hungarian Folk Songs and Folk Instruments translated by Gyula Gulyás. Budapest: Corvina Kiadó, 1969. Mattingly, Stephen. Franz Schubert's Chamber Music With Guitar: A Study of the Guitar's Role in Biedermeier Vienna. Tallahassee: The Florida State University, 2007. Mertz, Johann Kaspar. Opern-Revue,
Op.8, Nos.1-8. Mel Bay, DGA Editions, 2006.
—. Schule fur die guitare. . Vienna: Tobias Haslingers Witwe und Sohn, 1840's. —. Trois Morceaux, Op. 65, No.1 Fantaisie Hongroise. Heidelberg: Chanterelle Verlag, 1985. Ophee, Matanya. "Soundboard Feature Review: Stempnik on Mertz."Soundboard , November 711, 1991: 75-81. Orchestra, Montreal Symphony.La Damnation de Faust. Cond. Charles Dutoit. Comp. Hector Berlioz. 1996. Papp, Géza. A Verbunkos Kéziratos Emlékei. Budapest: MTA Zenetudományi Intézet, 1999. Pirker, Michael. "Janissary Music."Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. n.d. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/141 33 (accessed May 23, 2012). Rosenblum, Sandra P. Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. Sárosi, Bálint. Gypsy Music. Translated by Fred Macnicol. Budapest: Franklin Printing House, 1978. Schonberg, Harold C. The Lives of the Great Composers. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 1997. Stolba, Mary K. The Development of Western Music. Boston: McGraw Hill Co., Inc., 1998. Swafford, Jan. Johannes Brahms: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
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Szabolci, Bence. The Twilight of Ferenc Liszt. Translated by András Deák. Boston: Crescendo Publishing Co., 1956. Szabolcsi, Bence. A Concise History of Hungarian Music Translated by Sára Karig. Budapest: Corvina Press, 1964. Vargyas, Lajos. Hungarian Ballads and the European Ballad Tradition, Vol. 2 Translated by Imre Gombos. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1983. —. Hungarian Ballads and the European Ballad Tradition, Vol.1 translated by Imre Gombos. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1983. Wade, Graham. A Concise History of Classical Guitar. Pacific: Mel Bay Publications, Inc., 2001. Wilkinson, Charles. Well-Known Piano Solos: How to Play Them with Understanding, Expression, and Effect. London: The New Temple Press, 1909. Yates, W.E. "Biedermeier Music."Oxford Music Online. n.d. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/03049 (accessed May 3, 2012).
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Andrew Stroud began studying the classical guitar with his father while living in Corsham, England. By the time he left theU.K. for the United States at the ageof 10, Stroud had already given his first public recitals (in Corsham and Swindon).
His teachers have included composer Thomas Coffey, renowned performer Stephen Robinson, French virtuoso Judicael Perroy, and BruceHolzman. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Stetson University and aMaster of Music degree fromFlorida State University. Stroud was awarded three consecutive graduate teaching assistantships, and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Guitar Performance. He has performed in the master classes of Oscar Ghiglia, the Assad Duo, Paul Galbraith, Roland Dyens, Eduardo Fernandez, Paco Pena, Lorenzo Micheli, Matteo Mela, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and many other world renowned musicians.
Andrew has won accolades at many international competitions including the Columbus State Guitar Symposium, Guitare Lachine Competition, Rosario Competition, Schadt String Competition, the Dr. Luis Sigall Competition, Guitar Foundation of America Competition, and the Christopher Parkening International Competition.
As a soloist, Andrew has enjoyed performing in a wide array of venues. Among them are the Festival Mediterreano della Chitarra in Italy, featured solo performances in West Palm Beach’s Gala Concert and a performance at the Veteran World Fencing Championships Gala. As a Chamber Musician, he has performed in diverse roles ranging from orchestral music to opera. He has been featured on local and national broadcasts on television and NPR. In 2009, Andrew made his South American debut, giving master classes andconcerts in Chile. He was recently invited as featured soloist for Canciones, aseries of concerts celebrating Florida’s Spanish heritage, performing in the historic Cathedral Basilica in St. Augustine, amongst other venues.
In 2007, Andrew and fellow guitarist Adam Larison formed Duo 220. The duo has performed in venues across the U.S. and U.K. They have been coached by Bruce Holzman and Sergio Assad, Grammy award winning composer and member of the iconic Assad duo. Duo 220 is committed
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to creating innovative programs, performing works ranging from Baroque to contemporary, highlighting music that falls outside of the mainstream repertoire.
Among his other endeavors have been lectures, master-classes and teaching.Stroud has been a faculty member of Stetson University’s Community School for the Arts, Tallahassee Community College, Chipola College, and as aguest of schools throughout Florida. He has published and recorded for the Hands on Teaching method, and has authored articles published inSoundboard magazine. He currently serves on faculty of Thomas University, Gulf Coast State College, and Wallace Community College. He also serves as a director for the Seven Hills Guitar Series.
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