August Spanuth, now the editor of the _Signale_ in Berlin, wrote _inter
alia_ of the Rhapsodies in his edition prepared for the Ditsons:
"After Liszt's memorable visit to his native country in 1840 he freely
submitted to the influence of the gipsy music. The catholicity of his
musical taste, due to his very sensitive and receptive nature as well as
his cosmopolitan life, would have enabled him to usurp the musical
characteristics of any nation, no matter how uncouth, and work wonders
with them. His versatility and resourcefulness in regard to form seemed
to be inexhaustible, and he would certainly have been able to write some
interesting fantasias on Hungarian themes had his affection for that
country been only acquired instead of inborn. Fortunately his heart was
in the task, and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies not only rank among his
most powerful and convincing works, but must also be counted as superior
specimens of national music in general. It does not involve an injustice
toward Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert, who occasionally affected
Hungarian peculiarities in their compositions, to state that it was
Liszt who with his rhapsodies and kindred compositions started a new era
of Hungarian music. 'Tunes' which heretofore served to amuse a
motley crowd at the czardas on the 'Puszta' have through Liszt been
successfully introduced into legitimate music. And most wonderful of
all, he has not hesitated to preserve all the drastic and coarse effects
of the gipsy band without ever leaning toward vulgarity. Who, before
Franz Liszt, would have dreamed of employing cymbal-effects in
legitimate piano playing? Liszt, such is the power of artistic
transfiguration, imitates the cymbal to perfection and yet does not mar
the illusion of refinement; while, on the other hand, the cymbal as a
solo instrument must still impress us as primitive and rude. Liszt did
not conceive the Hungarian music with his outer ear alone, as most of
his numerous imitators did. They caught but the outline, some rhythmical
features and some stereotyped ornaments; but Liszt was able to penetrate
to the very source of it, he carried the key to its secret in his
Hungarian temperament.
"To speak of Hungarian folk-songs is hardly permissible since a song
includes the words as well as the music. Hungary is a polyglot country,
and a song belonging through its words, as well as its notes, to the
vast majority of the inhabitants is therefore an impossibility. The
Magyars, of course, claim to be the only genuine Hungarians, and
since they settled there almost a thousand years ago and are still
indisputably the dominating race of the country, their claim may remain
uncontested. Even the fact that the Magyars are but half of the total of
a strange mixture, made up of heterogeneous elements, would not
necessarily render invalid any pretension that their songs are the
genuine Hungarian songs. But the proud Magyar will admit that Hungarian
music is first and foremost gipsy music, Hungarian gipsy music. How much
the Magyars have originally contributed to this music does not appear to
be clear. Perhaps more research may lead to other results, but the now
generally accepted conjecture gives the rhythmic features to the Magyars
and the characteristic ornaments to the gipsies. It will probably not be
denied that this presumption looks more like a compromise than the fruit
of thorough scientific investigation. Furthermore, rhythm and ornaments
are in Hungarian music so closely knit that it seems incomprehensible
that they should have originated as characteristic features of two races
so widely divergent. If this is so, however, we may hope that out of our
own negro melodies and the songs of other elements of our population
real American folk-music will yet after centuries develop, though it is
to be feared that neither the negroes nor other inhabitants of the
United States will be in a position to preserve sufficient naivete,
indispensable for the production of real folk-music. Otherwise the
analogon is promising, the despised gipsy taking socially about the same
position in Hungary as our own negro here.
"The Hungarian music as known to-day will impress everybody as a unit;
so much so that its restrictions are obvious, and likely to produce a
monotonous effect if too much of it is offered. Above all, this music is
purely instrumental and therefore different from all other folk-music.
It is based, though not exclusively, on a peculiar scale, the harmonic
minor scale with an augmented fourth. Some commentators read this scale
differently by starting at the dominant. Thus it appears as a major
scale with a diminished second and a minor sixth, a sort of major-minor
mode. The latter scale can be found on the last page of Liszt's
Fifteenth Rhapsody, where it runs from _a_ to _a_, thus: _a_, _b_-flat,
_c_-sharp, _d_, _e_, _f_, _g_-sharp and _a_. But for every scale of this
construction a dozen of the former may be gathered in the Rhapsodies.
While the notes are identical in both, the effect upon the ear is
different, according to the starting note, just as the descending
melodic minor scale is _de facto_ the same as the relative major scale,
but not in its effect. The austerity and acidity of the altered harmonic
minor scale is the chief characteristic of the melodious and harmonic
elements of Hungarian music. Imbued with a plaintive and melancholy
flavour this mode will always be recognised as the gipsy kind. To revel
in sombre melodies seems to be one half of the purpose of Hungarian
music, and in logical opposition a frolicsome gaiety the other half. In
the regular czardas, a rustic dance at the wayside inn on the Puszta,
the melancholy _lassan_ alternates in well-proportioned intervals with
the extravagant and boisterous _friska_. The rhythm may be said to be a
sort of spite-rhythm, very decisive in most cases, but most of the time
in syncopation. This rhythm proves conclusively that the origin of
Hungarian music is instrumental, for even in cantabile periods, where
the melody follows a more dreamy vein, the syncopations are seldom
missing in the accompaniment. At every point one is reminded that the
dance was father to this music, a dance of unconventional movements
where the dancer seems to avoid the step which one expected him to take,
and instead substitutes a queer but graceful jerk. Where actual jerks in
the melody would be inopportune, the ornaments are at hand and help to
prevent every semblance of conventionality.
"Liszt, of course, has widened the scope of these ornamental features
considerably. His fertility in applying such ornaments to each and every
musical thought he is spinning is stupendous. In all his nineteen
rhapsodies--the Twentieth Rhapsody is still in manuscript--the style,
form, constructive idea, and application of these ornaments are
different, but every one is characteristic not only of Hungarian music
in general, but of the rhapsody in particular.
"Both the syncopated rhythm and the rich ornamentation which naturally
necessitate a frequent tempo rubato help to avoid the monotony which
might result from the fact that Hungarian music moves in even rhythm
only. Four-quarter and two-quarter time prevail throughout, while
three-quarter and six-eight do not seem to fit in the rhythmic design of
Hungarian music. Attempts have been made to introduce uneven rhythm,
but they were not successful. Where three-quarter and similar rhythm
appears, the Hungarian spirit evaporates. Much more variety is available
regarding the tempo, the original _lassan_ and _friska_ not being
indispensable. A moderate and graceful _allegretto_ is frequently used
by Liszt, and he also graduates the speed of the brilliant finales as
well as the languor of the introductions of his Rhapsodies."