2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Once upon a time, back in ancient Greece, there were folk singer-storytellers who were called rhapsodes. They themselves composed epic poems, walked the streets and sang them in a sing-song voice to the people, accompanying themselves on stringed instruments.
One of the representatives of this category of artists was the famous Homer, and the Iliad and the Odyssey are nothing but ancient rhapsodies.
From Antiquity to Romanticism
Thus, the literal meaning of the word "rhapsody" is the song of a folk singer-storyteller. Every nation in a certain historical era had such artists, only they were called differently: kobzars, guslars, dzyads, akyns, ashugs…
Time passed and they were replaced by professional musicians. However, in the 19th century, the era of romanticism began, the aesthetics of which were distinguished by an increased interest in national folklore.
Academic music of romantics created a new genre with an old name. Rhapsody is not necessarily a vocal, but often an instrumental piece. It was written in a free, epic style. Availabilityimprovisation as an echo of the tradition of ancient storytellers has become a distinctive feature of the genre.
Rhapsody is a kind of free-form fantasy. At the heart of her musical themes is always folk music. Sometimes it's a stylization, sometimes it's a direct quotation. Just as in the performance of a folk singer, contrasting episodes alternate here, differing from each other in character, tempo, and dynamics.
Instrumental Rhapsody
What is instrumental rhapsody? In style, plays with this name resemble similar creations of ancient Greek rhapsodes, but they are based on a completely different national epic.
The founder of the instrumental rhapsody is generally considered to be the famous Hungarian romantic composer of the 19th century, Franz Liszt. In total, he created 19 Hungarian rhapsodies and one Spanish.
In them the composer used folk themes borrowed from the Hungarian gypsies, there are also Spanish melodies. These works are written for the piano and pose very difficult tasks for the performer, primarily of a technical nature.
Any Lisztian rhapsody is a brilliant, virtuoso concert piece, usually of considerable size. All of them are full of bright, colorful melody, easy to perceive and therefore extremely popular.
Famous contemporary Chinese pianist Lang Lang says that he made the decision to become a musician at an early age after hearing Liszt's 2nd Rhapsody in the cartoon "Tom and Jerry". Apart from this, especiallythe 6th and 12th rhapsodies are also frequently performed.
There are many good and different rhapsodies
Rhapsody is a genre that has interested many composers. In addition to Franz Liszt, I. Brahms wrote instrumental rhapsodies. The Czech composer Dvořák wrote "Slavic Rhapsodies" for orchestra; Ravel's "Spanish Rhapsody" is widely known.
Lyapunov created "Ukrainian Rhapsody" for piano and orchestra; for the same composition, there is Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blues" enjoys great love among listeners. The Soviet composer Karaev wrote the Albanian Rhapsody for the orchestra.
However, the famous "Hungarian Rhapsodies" by Franz Liszt remain unsurpassed, a textbook version of the instrumental rhapsody.
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