Verbunkos (), other spellings being ''Verbounko'', ''Verbunko'', ''Verbunkas'', ''Werbunkos'', ''Werbunkosch'', ''Verbunkoche''; sometimes known simply as the hongroise or ungarischer Tanz is an 18th-century
Hungarian dance and
music genre.
The verbunkos is typically in a pair of sections, slow (''lassú''), with a characteristic dotted rhythm, and fast (''friss''), with virtuosic running-note passages. In some cases, this slow-fast pair alternates at greater length.
The name is derived from the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
word ''Werbung'', a noun derived from the verb ''werben'' that means, in particular, "to recruit"; verbunkos—recruiter. This music and dance was played during military recruiting before the Habsburg Emperors, who were also
Kings of Hungary, introduced
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
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
Romani people (Gypsies), because the accompaniment was usually played by Romani musicians in characteristic Romani style.
The Romani composer
János Bihari (1764–1827) remains the most well-known composer and interpreter of verbunkos. Eighty-four compositions of his remain. Bihari was a
violinist who played in the court in
Vienna during the entire
Congress of Vienna in 1814. Another composer of verbunkos was
József Kossovits
József Kossovits (born after 1750; died after 1819, possibly in Košice) was a Hungarian composer and cellist.
Kossovits was employed by various members of the Hungarian nobility, including the Andrássy family. Many of his compositions are dan ...
(d. c. 1819).
With the establishment in 1837 of the Hungarian National Theatre in Pest, the verbunkos style began to change under the influence of the first director of the theatre and operatic composer,
Ferenc Erkel, whose most successful operas were
Hunyadi László
László Hunyadi or Ladislaus Hunyadi ( Slovak: ''Ladislav Huňady''; 1431Bánhegyi 2008, p. 17. – 16 March 1457) was a Hungarian nobleman.
Ladislaus Hunyadi was the elder of the two sons of John Hunyadi, voivode of Transylvania and later rege ...
(1844) and
Bánk bán (1861).
Haydn incorporated verbunkos into the "Piano Trio No. 39 (Haydn), Gypsy Rondo" piano trio, composed in 1795. Béla Bartók's ''Contrasts (Bartók), Contrasts'' (1938), a trio for clarinet, piano and violin, is in three movements, the first of which is named Verbunkos. His Violin Concerto No. 2 (Bartók), Violin Concerto No. 2 is also an example of verbunkos style.
Slovácko verbuňk
The ''Slovácko verbuňk'' is also an improvised folk dance in the Moravian Slovakia, South Moravia and Zlín districts of the Czech Republic, and was inscribed in 2008 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
See also
*Schuhplattler
Sources
{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible Eastern Europe
Hungarian styles of music
Hungarian dances
Hungarian words and phrases
Dance forms in classical music