Max Derrickson

Maurice Ravel
(Born in Cibourne, Basses-Pyrénées, France in 1875; died in Paris in 1937)

Tzigane, for Violin and Orchestra

Like so many composers before him, French composer Maurice Ravel succumbed to the charms of Hungarian gypsy folk music in 1924 when he heard a recital by the great Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aryáni, the grand-niece of the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim.  Ravel was so captivated that he stopped all other composition to write his own Hungarian-style gypsy piece for violin and piano, calling it simply, Tzigane (meaning “gypsy”).  Interestingly, the first version was written for a version of the piano invention called the luthéal – a piano which had add-on registers controlled by stops like an organ.  The luthéal had an attachment sounding like the Hungarian cimbalom, a lovely folk instrument much like a harp turned on its side and played with small hammers.  The luthéal was invented in 1919 but proved short-lived.  The piece lived on, however, for like so many of his other chamber works, Ravel soon orchestrated Tzigane for violin and orchestra.

Tzigane opens with an extended quasi-cadenza for solo violin.  When the orchestra joins in, the piece grows with those magical and inventive orchestral colors so unique to Ravel.  The main melody of the work mimics an interesting aspect of spoken Hungarian – a short note followed by a longer one, the way that Hungarian emphasizes the first syllable in speech.  Most impressive is Ravel’s uncanny mastery […] prevalent in the 1800’s.   Tzigane is almost insane with notes for the violinist, with pizzicato (plucked string) for both hands, multiple […] fire.  The sheer solo effort, however, is not wasted on the listener.  When Tzigane is over, everyone […].