Hungarian Fantasy (Liszt) - Overview

Overview

During Liszt's lifetime, his Hungarian Rhapsodies were among his most popular works. Because of this popularity, he may have been under pressure to produce versions of them for piano and orchestra. The present work is the only such work that Liszt is known to have produced. However he may, at the end of his life, have helped his student Sophie Menter with her Concerto in the Hungarian Style (1885), a work which was clearly influenced by the Hungarian Fantasy.

A slow introduction by the orchestra is followed by a solo cadenza before proceeding to the main body of the work. The bold, marchlike main theme of the work, as in the version for solo piano, is the Hungarian folk song "Mohac's Field," with a long-short-short-long rhythm. While much of the piece's thematic material is derived from this song, there is also a section in A minor marked "in gypsy style" (alla zingarese).

While the Fantasia is in the same style and tradition as the Hungarian Rhapsodies, it differs structurally from them. The Rhapsodies generally present a clear succession of three traditional scales — lassan, czifra, and friska. These dances are evident in the Fantasia, particularly in the long and brilliant friska section. However, Liszt is freer and wider-ranging in his combination and juxataposition of material than he usually is in this type of work.