"Gypsy violinist Czinka Panna; Pista Dankó; Rigó Jancsi; Imre Magyari; and Racz Laci. They created the Csárdás, which influenced such composers as Joseph Haydn; Franz Liszt, who wrote fifteen Hungarian rhapsodies; Johannes Brahms, who wrote twenty-one Hungarian dances; Antonín Dvořák; Pablo de Sarasate, who wrote ""Zigeunerweisen""; George Bizet, who wrote ""Carmen""; and Maurice Ravel, who wrote Tzigane. By 1920, Cleveland had the largest population of Hungarians in America, second to Budapest. Cleveland Hungarians held hundreds of events every year and the Gypsies were the entertainment for all of these events. Detroit's Delray district had many Hungarian restaurants such as the"
"Romanian Folk Dances Romanian Folk Dances (), Sz. 56, BB 68 is a suite of six short piano pieces composed by Béla Bartók in 1915. He later orchestrated it for small ensemble in 1917 as Sz. 68, BB 76. It is based on seven Romanian tunes from Transylvania, originally played on fiddle or shepherd's flute. The original name for the piece was titled Romanian Folk Dances from Hungary (""Magyarországi román népi táncok"") but was later changed by Bartók when Romania occupied and finally annexed Transylvania between 1918–1920. It is nowadays available in the 1971 edition which is written with key"
"Two Romanian Dances The Two Romanian Dances (""Két Román Tánc"" in Hungarian), Op. 8a, are piano work written by Béla Bartók, based on Romanian folk music. Written in 1910, they date from the beginning of his interest in folk music — his first work showing strong folk influence, the String Quartet No. 1, is from just two years before. However, the ""Dances"" show that he has already seamlessly incorporated folk idioms into his musical language. The first dance (""Allegro vivace"") is rhapsodic in form, though with a recurrent main theme. This theme, which provides the melodic, textural, and rhythmic foundations"
"Hungarian Rhapsodies The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106 (, , ), is a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and later in 1882 and 1885. Liszt also arranged versions for orchestra, piano duet and piano trio. Some are better known than others, with Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 being particularly famous and No. 6, No. 10, No. 12 and No. 14 (especially as arranged for piano and orchestra as the Hungarian Fantasy) also being well known. In their original piano form, the ""Hungarian Rhapsodies"" are noted for their difficulty (Liszt was a"
"Hungarian Rhapsody No. 19 Hungarian Rhapsody No. 19 (S.244/19) in D minor is the last of a set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies by the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. It was written in 1885. ""Hungarian Rhapsody No. 19"" is based on the ""Csárdás nobles"" by Kornél Ábrányi, better known as a music critic than as a composer. The piece begins with a sharp theme, beginning in the lower register but moving up and down the piano several times. Slowly the theme develops more Hungarian character and also becomes more interesting. Halfway through the piece the mood changes drastically and a memorable"
"Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs ""Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs"", Sz. 71, BB 79 is a collection of short folk melodies arranged for piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was composed between 1914 and 1918. The collection consists of fifteen movements, some of which are grouped together. A typical performance lasts 13–15 minutes. The movement list is as follows: Some critics claim Bartók intended the work to be split into two parts: the first one would include the first six movements, and the second one would include the following nine movements. However, such division is not present in the original score."
"Notable recordings of this composition include: Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs ""Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs"", Sz. 71, BB 79 is a collection of short folk melodies arranged for piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was composed between 1914 and 1918. The collection consists of fifteen movements, some of which are grouped together. A typical performance lasts 13–15 minutes. The movement list is as follows: Some critics claim Bartók intended the work to be split into two parts: the first one would include the first six movements, and the second one would include the following nine movements. However, such division is"
"Hungarian dance Hungarian dance refers to the folk dances practised and performed by the Hungarians, both amongst the populations native to Hungary and its neighbours, and also amongst the Hungarian diaspora. According to György Martin, a prominent folklore expert, Hungarian dances can be divided into two categories. The first refers to dances performed in the middle ages while the second relates to the 18th and 19th century. Improvisation is often mentioned as being characteristic of Hungarian dance. ""The peasant dance is not one which is set absolutely according to rule; the dancer constructs his steps according to his mood and"
"Slovak Dance Slovak Dance, sometimes also incorrectly referred to as Slovakian Dance, is a piece for solo piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was presumably composed in 1923, but it was not published until 1999. This scherzo-style composition was meant to be placed between the second and the third movement of Bartók's ""Dance Suite"", but he eventually refused because of his mathematical principles, as placing it in the Suite would ruin the proportion of the whole work. Since ""Dance Suite"" was an orchestral suite, this ""Slovakian Dance"" remained as a sketch, unpublished and unorchestrated, until his son, Peter Bartók,"
"Ungarische Zigeunerweisen Ungarische Zigeunerweisen (Konzert im ungarischen Styl), ""Hungarian Gypsy Melodies (Concerto in the Hungarian Style)"", is a single-movement work for piano and orchestra of about 17 minutes' duration by Sophie Menter (a renowned pianist in her day, Franz Liszt's favourite female student, and a composer of salon trifles). The work was written in 1885 (with possible help from Liszt), was orchestrated by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1892, and first performed by Menter (with Tchaikovsky conducting) in 1893. The work is listed in Liszt's catalogue as S.714 (recently renumbered as S.126a) on account of his possible involvement. It is not"
"Dance Suite (Bartók) Dance Suite (; ), Sz. 77, BB 86a, is a well-known 1923 orchestral work by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The composer produced a reduction for piano (Sz. 77, BB 86b) in 1925, though this is less commonly performed. Béla Bartók composed the ""Dance Suite"" in 1923 in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the union of the cities Buda and Pest, to form the Hungarian capital Budapest. Then, after its great success, the director of Universal Edition, Emil Hertzka, commissioned from him an arrangement for piano, which was published in 1925. However, he never publicly"
"were also Kings of Hungary, introduced conscription in 1849. A group of a dozen hussars performed the dance in different parts, with the leading sergeant opening with slow movements, then the lower officers joining for more energetic parts, and the youngest soldiers concluding the dance with jumps and spur-clicking . Despite its name, the melodies originate from Hungarian folk and popular music and have been sometimes attributed to Gypsies, because the accompaniment was usually played by Gypsy musicians in characteristic Gypsy style (; ; ). The Gypsy composer János Bihari (1764–1827) remains the most well-known composer and interpreter of verbunkos."
"of the marches by Franz Schubert to his sons Willi and Louis. Thern died in Vienna in 1886. Károly Thern Károly (Carl) Thern (13 August 1817 – 13 April 1886) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor and arranger. He was of German descent, but was among the second generation of composers who developed the language of Hungarian art music. Thern was born in 1817,in Spišská Nová Ves (""Zipser Neudorf"" in German, ""Iglo"" in Hungarian; now in Slovakia). He conducted at the National Theatre of Pest in 1840s, and at the Music Lovers' Association of Pest between 1868 and 1873, in"
"Three Czech Dances (Martinů) Three Czech Dances (H. 154) is a set of three solo piano pieces written by the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů, written in 1926, premiered in 1927, and published in 1929. Out of the three pieces in the set, two were given the names of traditional Czech dances, ""Obkročák"" (""Stepping Round""), and ""Dupák"" (""Stomp Dance""), while the third was named ""Polka"". The total duration is approximately ten minutes. All three pieces have dedications, the first to John Herman, the second to Molié Denyse, and the third to Jeane Mortier. Mortier premiered the entire work, although in segments."
"Hungarian Fantasy (Liszt) The Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies (German: ""Fantasie über ungarische Volksmelodien"", Hungarian: ""Fantázia magyar népi dallamokkal""), commonly known in short form simply as the Hungarian Fantasy, is Franz Liszt's arrangement for piano and orchestra of his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14, originally for solo piano. The Fantasia was written in 1852 and premiered in Pest on June 1, 1853, with Hans von Bülow as soloist and Ferenc Erkel conducting the orchestra. During Liszt's lifetime, his Hungarian Rhapsodies were among his most popular works. Because of this popularity, he may have been under pressure to produce versions of them"
"Dances of Galánta Dances of Galánta (Galántai táncok) is a 1933 orchestral work by Zoltán Kodály. The piece was composed on commission for the 80th anniversary of the Budapest Philharmonic Society. It is based on folk music of Galánta (now part of Slovakia), where Kodály lived for several years. The composer remarked: ""At that time there existed a famous Gypsy band...This was the first 'orchestral' sonority that came to the ears of the child...About 1800 some books of Hungarian dances were published in Vienna, one of which contained music 'after several Gypsies from Galánta'...the composer has taken his principal themes"
"important thing in Kodály's life. He is depicted as a fragile old man, who walks almost imperceptibly among the horse-chestnut trees. Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method. Born in Kecskemét, Hungary, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child. In 1905 he visited remote villages to collect songs, recording them on phonograph cylinders. In 1906 he wrote a thesis on Hungarian folk song, ""Strophic Construction in Hungarian Folksong"". At around"
"""Az a szép, az a szép"" (""Handsome is, handsome is""), which is still among popular folk dance songs in Hungary. At the request of his associate Géza Gárdonyi, a prominent Hungarian author, Dankó composed a march named ""A magyarok bejövetele"" (""March of the Hungarians"") for the thousandth anniversary of the Hungarian state in 1885. This work represented the pinnacle of Dankó's popularity in life, earning him a status rarely achieved by a Rom among the elite in Hungary. Dankó is a rare example of a Rom who was born into poverty and then rose to relative fame and fortune. He"
"Hungarian Pictures Hungarian Pictures, sometimes also referred to as Hungarian Sketches, Sz. 97, BB 103 () is a suite for orchestra by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók finished in 1931. The suite consists of orchestrations of earlier short pieces for piano composed between 1908 and 1911. The original piano pieces were created during Bartók's journey around Romania and Hungary, when he started collecting and arranging folk music that further transformed his somewhat Lisztian early style into the style he came to develop. Therefore, many of the compositions from this period were either based on folk music or created from scratch with"
"""Spanish Dance"" and the ""Mazurka"", Ivanov staged the ""Neapolitan Dance"" and the ""Hungarian Dance""). During the premiere of the 1895 revival the ""Spanish Dance"" and the ""Neapolitan Dance"" left a rather neutral impression, but the ""Hungarian Dance"" and ""Mazurka"" were both encored. The ""Hungarian Dance"" was performed by the Danseur Alfred Bekefi and Petipa's daughter Marie Petipa (famous for creating the role of the Lilac Fairy in ""The Sleeping Beauty""), who wore 12,000 roubles worth of diamonds for the performance. Perhaps the biggest sensation was the ""Mazurka"", danced by a group of dancers with Felix Kschessinsky as soloist. Kschessinsky (the"
"her bid to free László from prison and he is condemned to death, the executioner only succeeding in cutting off his head at the fourth attempt. Hunyadi László (opera) Hunyadi László (""László Hunyadi"") is an opera in three acts by the Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel. The libretto, by Béni Egressy, is based on a play by Lőrinc Tóth. The opera was first performed at the Pesti Nemzeti Magyar Szinház, Budapest on 27 January 1844. ""Hunyadi László"" is considered to be the first important Hungarian opera and Erkel's musical style draws on folk influences, particularly the dance known as the verbunkos."
"modern Hungarian poets, such as Endre Ady and Babits, to dance. By the 1920s, she had begun to publish her own works widely and perform large-scale movement dramas. Her first performance of her own work was ""Hajnalvárás"" (Waiting for Dawn, 1925), followed by ""Nyolc boldogság"" (The Eight Beatitudes, 1926). These drama performances used her own lyrics and were often set to the music of Lajos Bárdos and performed in an outdoor arena like the Budapest City Park. The scope was often massive, as in her performance of ""A gyermek útja"" (The Child's Path, 1935), which used nearly 1,000 performers. Some"
"Lakodalmas (Ligeti) Lakodalmas, commonly translated into English as Wedding Dance, is an early vocal composition by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. It was completed in 1950, before he finished his musical studies. Ligeti finished this composition in 1950, when he was living in Hungary. At that time, he was following Béla Bartók's steps: he produced other vocal compositions based on Hungarian traditional music and poems. This composition has been later associated with Bujdosó (1946) and Kállai kettős (1950), forming a set called ""Three Hungarian Folksongs"", even though there is no direct relation; all those compositions were composed, conceived, and published separately."
"Kállai kettős (Ligeti) Kállai kettős, also referred to in English as Double-Dance from Kálló, Kálló Two-Step, Two Folksongs, or its French form Kálló's pas de deux, is an early vocal composition by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. It was composed in 1950 and is one of Ligeti's collections of Hungarian pieces which the composer himself conceived as a whole. This composition was written in 1950, when Ligeti was still living in Hungary. As Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, Ligeti was very interested in adapting and arranging Hungarian traditional music with his own style. During this period, Hungary was going through a repressive"
"Lachian Dances The Lachian Dances (in Czech ""Lašské tance"") was the first mature work by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. Originally titled Wallachian Dances after the Moravian Wallachia region, Janáček later changed the title when the region's name also changed, since it reflects folk songs from that specific area. Janáček began to compose the first set of instrumental arrangements of folk dances in 1888. The first performance took place on 11 January 1889 in Olomouc. The composition was reworked again in 1925, when Janáček made a new selection and ordering of numbers, including some changes in instrumentation. The work was"
"Sándor Petőfi Sándor Petőfi (; né Petrovics; ; ; 1 January 1823 – most likely 31 July 1849) was a Hungarian poet and liberal revolutionary. He is considered Hungary's national poet, and was one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. He is the author of the ""Nemzeti dal"" (National Song), which is said to have inspired the revolution in the Kingdom of Hungary that grew into a war for independence from the Austrian Empire. It is most likely that he died in the Battle of Segesvár, one of the last battles of the war. Petőfi was"
"called ""Slovakian Dance"", and was finally dismissed and remained unorchestrated. However, the first, second and fourth movements contain thematic references to this piece towards the end of each one of them. Notable recordings of the orchestral version include: Notable recordings of the piano reduction include: Dance Suite (Bartók) Dance Suite (; ), Sz. 77, BB 86a, is a well-known 1923 orchestral work by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. The composer produced a reduction for piano (Sz. 77, BB 86b) in 1925, though this is less commonly performed. Béla Bartók composed the ""Dance Suite"" in 1923 in order to celebrate the"
"Nemzeti dal The Nemzeti dal (""""National Song"""") is a poem written by Sándor Petőfi that is said to have inspired the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Petőfi read the poem aloud on March 15 in Vörösmarty Square in Budapest to a gathering crowd, who by the end were chanting the refrain as they began to march around the city, seizing the presses, liberating political prisoners, and declaring the end of Austrian rule. Hungarians celebrate the anniversary of the revolution on March 15. Red-white-green ribbons are worn to commemorate the fallen revolutionaries and the ideal of the revolution. Hungary briefly achieved independence"
"Hunyadi László (opera) Hunyadi László (""László Hunyadi"") is an opera in three acts by the Hungarian composer Ferenc Erkel. The libretto, by Béni Egressy, is based on a play by Lőrinc Tóth. The opera was first performed at the Pesti Nemzeti Magyar Szinház, Budapest on 27 January 1844. ""Hunyadi László"" is considered to be the first important Hungarian opera and Erkel's musical style draws on folk influences, particularly the dance known as the verbunkos. The opera is based on events which took place in Hungary in 1456-7. The great military leader, János Hunyadi, who defended Hungary against the attacks of"
"being the waltzes ""Amoretten"", ""Hydropaten"", ""Casino"" and ""Dreams on the Ocean"", the ""In Stiller Mitternacht"" polka, and the ""Blue Violets"" mazurka. His Hungarian march was transcribed by Franz Liszt. His music is characterized by the same-easy flowing melodies and well-marked rhythm that distinguish the dances of the younger Strauss, to whom alone he can be ranked second in this kind of composition. Joseph Gungl Joseph Gungl, correct: ""Josef Gung'l"" (1 December 1809 - 1 February 1889), was an Austrian composer, bandmaster, and conductor. He was born in Schambeck, Austria (now Zsámbék, Hungary). After working as a school-teacher in Buda, and"
"László Melis László Melis (14 August 1953 – 12 February 2018) was a Hungarian composer and violinist. He writes primarily in the minimal style and his compositions are often characterized by a propulsive, bouncy quality. Melis was a founding member of the Hungarian new music group Group 180, which during its existence (1978–1990) performed and recorded five of his compositions. Melis has composed music for film, winning the Award for Best Music for his work in the animated pieces, ""A szél"" (""The Wind"") and ""Gyurmatek"" (""Clay Play"") at the 2nd Kecskemét Animation Film Festival. He composed the score for the"
"made slight changes for it to be published in 1999. The movement Nos. 1, 2, and 4 from the ""Dance Suite"" contain thematic references to this piece. As this is one of the sketches that he dismissed, there is no identification number for this composition, and most catalogues do not include it. Notable recordings of this work include: Slovak Dance Slovak Dance, sometimes also incorrectly referred to as Slovakian Dance, is a piece for solo piano by Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It was presumably composed in 1923, but it was not published until 1999. This scherzo-style composition was meant to"
"Csárdás (Liszt) The three csárdás that Franz Liszt wrote in 1881-2 and 1884 are solo piano pieces based on the Hungarian dance form of the same name. Liszt treats the dance form itself much less freely than he did much earlier with the ""verbunkos"" in the Hungarian Rhapsodies, and the material itself remains more specifically Hungarian than gypsy in thematic material. Their spare lines, angular rhythms and advanced harmonies show these pieces to be direct ancestors of the compositions of Béla Bartók. Because of these attributes, the csárdás are considered by Liszt scholars among the more interesting of the composer's"