Once upon a time, back in ancient Greece, there were folk storytellers called rhapsodies. 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 were nothing more than antique rhapsodies.
From antiquity to romanticism
Thus, the literal meaning of the word “rhapsody” is a song of a folk singer-storyteller. Each nation in a certain historical era had such artists, they were only called differently: kobzars, guslars, dzyads, akyns, ashugs ...
Time passed and they were replaced by professional musicians. However, in the XIX century the era of romanticism began, the aesthetics of which were distinguished by a heightened interest in national folklore.
The academic music of the romantics has created a new genre with the old name. Rhapsody is not necessarily a vocal, but often an instrumental work. It was composed in a free, epic style. The presence of improvisation as an echo of the tradition of ancient storytellers has become a distinctive feature of the genre.
Rhapsody is a kind of fantasy written in free form. Her musical theme is always based on folk music. Sometimes it’s stylization, sometimes it’s direct quotation. Just as in the performance of the national singer, contrasting episodes alternate here, differing from each other in character, pace, dynamics.
Instrumental Rhapsody
What is instrumental rhapsody? According to the style of the play with this name, they resemble similar creations of ancient Greek rhapsodies, but they are based on a completely different national epic.
Admittedly, the founder of instrumental rhapsody is the famous Hungarian romantic composer of the 19th century, Ferenc 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 tunes. These pieces were written for the piano and pose a very complex task for the performer, primarily of a technical order.
Any Liszt rhapsody is a brilliant, virtuoso concert piece, usually of considerable size. All of them are saturated with bright, colorful melody, easy to perceive and therefore extremely popular.
Well-known modern Chinese pianist Lang Lang says that he made the decision to become a musician in early childhood, having heard List's second rhapsody in the cartoon Tom and Jerry. In addition to this, the 6th and 12th rhapsodies are also especially often performed.
There are many good and different rhapsodies
Rhapsody is a genre that has interested many composers. In addition to Liszt Ferenc, instrumental rhapsodies were written by I. Brahms. The Czech composer Dvořák wrote “Slavic Rhapsodies” for the orchestra; widely known "Spanish Rhapsody" Ravel.
Lyapunov created the “Ukrainian Rhapsody” for piano and orchestra; for the same composition there is a “Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninov. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in blues tones” enjoys great love among listeners. The Soviet composer Karayev wrote the Albanian Rhapsody for the orchestra.
However, the unsurpassed, textbook version of instrumental rhapsody is still the famous "Hungarian Rhapsody" by Franz Liszt.