Rhapsody is a continuation of the ancient tradition. Transformation of the genre in instrumental music

Once upon a time, back in ancient Greece, there were folk singers-storytellers, called rapsods. They themselves composed epic poems, walked the streets and sang them in front of the people, accompanying themselves on stringed instruments.

One of the representatives of this category of artists was the famous Homer, and the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" - none other than the ancient rhapsodies.

From antiquity to romanticism

Thus, the literal meaning of the word "rhapsody" is the song of a folk singer-narrator. Each people in a certain historical era there were such artists, only they were called in different ways: kobzar, guslar, dzyady, akyny, ashigi ...

Time passed, and they were replaced by professional musicians. However, in the XIX century came the era of Romanticism, whose aesthetics were marked by an increased interest in national folklore.

Academic music of romantics created a new genre with an old name. Rhapsody - this is not necessarily a vocal, but often instrumental work. It was made in a free, epic style. The presence of improvisation as an echo of the tradition of ancient narrators has become a distinctive feature of the genre.

Rhapsody is a kind of fantasy written in free form. At the heart of her musical themes is always folk music. Sometimes it's stylization, sometimes - direct quoting. Just as accurately as in the performance of a folk singer, contrast scenes alternate here, differing in character, pace, and dynamics.

Instrumental Rhapsody

What is instrumental rhapsody? The style of the play with this name resembles similar creations of ancient Greek rhapsodies, but they are based entirely on another national epic.

The ancestor of instrumental rhapsody is admittedly 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 Hungarian Gypsies, there are also Spanish melodies. These works are written for pianoforte and put before the performer very complex tasks, first of all, technical order.

Any sheet metal rhapsody is a brilliant, virtuosic concert piece, usually of considerable size. All of them are full of bright, colorful melodies, they are easy for perception and therefore extremely popular.

The well-known modern Chinese pianist Lang Lang says that he decided to become a musician in his early childhood after hearing List's second rhapsody in the cartoon "Tom and Jerry". In addition to this, the 6th and 12th Rhapsodies are especially often performed.

There are many rhapsodies of good and different

Rhapsody is a genre that interested many composers. In addition to Franz Liszt, instrumental rhapsody was written by I. Brahms. The Czech composer Dvorak wrote "Slavonic Rhapsodies" for the orchestra; Ravel's Spanish Rhapsody is widely known.

Lyapunov created for the piano and orchestra "Ukrainian Rhapsody"; For the same composition there is a "Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini" by Rakhmaninov. A lot of love among listeners is enjoyed by Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blues Tones. The Soviet composer Karaev wrote for the orchestra "The Albanian Rhapsody."

However, the unsurpassed, textbook version of instrumental rhapsody is still the famous "Hungarian Rhapsodies" by Franz Liszt.