''Ungarische Zigeunerweisen (Konzert im ungarischen Stil)'', ''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
Sophie Menter (29 July 1846 – 23 February 1918) was a German pianist and composer who became the favorite female student of Franz Liszt.Schonberg, 262. She was called ''l'incarnation de Liszt'' in Paris because of her robust, electrifying playing ...
(a renowned pianist in her day,
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
'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
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
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 known whether Tchaikovsky played any part in the actual composition, but towards the coda there is a harmonic sequence very familiar from Tchaikovsky's concertos.
History
The history of the work is clouded with uncertainties. What is known is that Tchaikovsky, while staying with Menter in Austria (from to ) at Menter's request prepared a score for piano and orchestra from material which she provided. The score was signed by Tchaikovsky on at Menter's castle
Itter Castle
Itter Castle (german: Schloss Itter) is a 19th-century castle in Itter, a village in Tyrol, Austria. In 1943, during World War II, it was turned into a Nazi prison for French VIPs. The castle was the site of an extraordinary instance of the U.S. ...
. Tchaikovsky conducted Menter in the premiere of the work in
Odessa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...
on . However the publication of that score was not seen through the press by Tchaikovsky (who died ten months later), and the published score and parts require a good deal of common-sense correction.
What Tchaikovsky worked from has not been preserved, but it seems to have been some kind of short score. The uncertainty is whether Sophie Menter composed the work, or whether Liszt did, or whether Menter took something to Liszt which he then got into shape for her (in the period of exactly two days in which he is known to have worked at Menter's castle in 1885).
August Göllerich
August Göllerich (2 July 185916 March 1923) was an Austrian pianist, conductor, music educator and music writer. He studied the piano with Franz Liszt, who made him also his secretary and companion on concert tours. Göllerich is known for study ...
mentions the work in his diary and suggests that Liszt would have had trouble completing it (failing eyesight and poor health being likely primary reasons; not wishing to write a virtuoso piece in a style which he had long abandoned no doubt being another). Liszt's letter to Menter dated 3 August 1885 tells her that the "Sophie Menter Concerto" is begun and that he would complete it at Schloss Itter. At this remove it cannot be established whether the work (referred to as a ''Concerto in the Hungarian Style'') is the present piece, but it seems very likely.
One theory that has been advanced is that Liszt instructed Menter to take the piece to her friend Tchaikovsky for orchestration, but not to mention his (Liszt's) name so that Liszt's composership of the work could be hidden from Tchaikovsky (who did not especially admire Liszt). Tchaikovsky once wrote "
iszt'smusic leaves me completely cold", and he was not pleased with Liszt's piano transcription of his Polonaise from the opera ''
Eugene Onegin
''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is a novel in verse written by Ale ...
''.
[Classics Online]
/ref>
Recordings
* Cyprien Katsaris
Cyprien Katsaris ( el, Κυπριανός Κατσαρής; born 5 May 1951) is a French- Cypriot virtuoso pianist, teacher and composer. Amongst his teachers were Monique de la Bruchollerie, a student of Emil von Sauer, who had been a pupil o ...
recorded the work with Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association wit ...
in 1981.
* Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' and was one ...
recorded the work with Karl Anton Rickenbacher
Karl Anton Rickenbacher (20 May 1940 – 28 February 2014) was a Swiss conductor.
Born in Basel, Rickenbacher studied at the Berlin Conservatory with Herbert von Karajan. He took part in master classes with Pierre Boulez. He was an assistant ...
in 1998.
* Andrej Hoteev
Andrej Ivanovich Hoteev (Андрей Иванович Хотеев/'; 2 December 1946 - 28 November 2021) was a Russian classical pianist.
Early life
Andrej Hoteev was born in Leningrad. He studied piano at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in ...
Discographie
recorded the work with
Vladimir Fedoseyev
Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev ( rus, Владимир Иванович Федосе́ев, p=, links=no; born 5 August 1932, in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian conductor, accordionist, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1980). ...
KOCH-Schwann “The 4 Piano Concerti / Bohemian Melodies / Allegro C”1998.
See also
*
Classical music written in collaboration
In classical music, it is relatively rare for a work to be written in collaboration by multiple composers. This contrasts with popular music, where it is common for more than one person to contribute to the music for a song. Nevertheless, there ar ...
References
Information at Tchaikovsky Research
{{Authority control
Collaborations in classical music
1885 compositions
Compositions for piano and orchestra