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Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2

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Main theme from the friska

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C-sharp minor, S.244/2, is the second in a set of 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies by composer Franz Liszt, published in 1851, and is by far the most famous of the set.

In both the original piano solo form and in the orchestrated version this composition has enjoyed widespread use in animated cartoons. Its themes have also served as the basis of several popular songs.[citation needed]

Background

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The Hungarian-born composer and pianist Franz Liszt was strongly influenced by the music heard in his youth, particularly Hungarian folk music, with its unique gypsy scale, rhythmic spontaneity and direct, seductive expression. These elements would eventually play a significant role in Liszt's compositions. Although this prolific composer's works are highly varied in style, a relatively large part of his output is nationalistic in character, the Hungarian Rhapsodies being an ideal example.

Composed in 1847 and dedicated to Count László Teleki, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 was first published as a piano solo in 1851 by Bartholf Senff.[1] Its immediate success and popularity on the concert stage led to an orchestrated version, arranged (together with five other rhapsodies) in 1857–1860 by the composer in collaboration with Franz Doppler, and published by Schuberth in 1874–1875. In addition to the orchestral version, the composer arranged a piano duet version in 1874, published by Schuberth the following year.

Offering an outstanding contrast to the serious and dramatic lassan, the following friska holds enormous appeal for audiences, with its simple alternating tonic and dominant harmonization, its energetic, toe-tapping rhythms, and breathtaking "pianistics".

Most unusual in this composition is the composer's invitation for the performer to perform a cadenza, although most pianists choose to decline the invitation.[citation needed] Marc-André Hamelin composed a cadenza that has since become famous for its originality, musicality and playfulness, and Sergei Rachmaninoff also wrote a famous cadenza for his interpretation. Liszt himself wrote several cadenzas for his pupils' performances of the piece,[1] but they were rarely performed.[clarification needed] Other pianists have arranged their own versions of the Rhapsody with changes beyond that of simply adding a cadenza, most notably Vladimir Horowitz in 1953.

Sources of the melodies

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The title of this rhapsody is slightly misleading, as the introductory theme is Romanian, rather than Hungarian. This theme was found in one of Liszt's Weimar sketchbooks.[citation needed] In his memoirs, Austrian pianist Heinrich Ehrlich accused Liszt of using his own theme for the piece without adding promised attribution, after Ehrlich played it for Liszt in 1846. The memoirs contain an 1864 letter from Liszt, in which the composer acknowledges Ehrlich's influences while making no claim to the melodies; only that his task "as a rhapsodist is merely limited to turning them into works as close as possible to their true essence."[2]

Form

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Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
MIDI rendition by Bernd Krüger
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Performed by Martha Goldstein on an 1851 Erard piano
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
Sergei Rachmaninoff playing the first 4 minutes of Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, recorded in 1919 by Edison Records
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2
An orchestrated version performed by the United States Navy Band's Concert Band (9:05)
Problems playing these files? See media help.

The piece consists of two distinct sections.

The first is the lassan, with its brief introduction. Although beginning on the C-sharp major triad, C-sharp minor is soon established as the home key. From this point on, the composer modulates freely, particularly to the tonic major and the relative major. The mood of the lassan is generally dark and melancholic, although it contains some playful and capricious moments.

The second section is the friska. It opens quietly in the key of F-sharp minor, but on its dominant chord, C-sharp major, recalling a theme from the lassan. The alternating dominant and tonic harmonies quickly increase in volume, the tempo gaining momentum as the Friska's main theme (in F-sharp major) is approached. At this point, the Friska begins its journey of ever-increasing energy and pianistic bravura, still underpinned by alternating tonic and dominant harmonies. Modulations are limited almost exclusively to the dominant (C-sharp major) and the lowered mediant (A major). Before the final whirlwind of sound, a moment of calm prevails in the key of F-sharp minor, recalling another of the lassan's themes, and is followed by the instruction, Cadenza ad lib. Finally, in the key of F-sharp major, there is a crescendo of prestissimo octaves, which ascend and then descend to cover almost the entire range of the keyboard and bringing the Rhapsody to a conclusion.

Liszt planned his choice of keys in a remarkably symmetrical fashion. Although the lassan's principal key is C-sharp minor (with the appropriate key signature used throughout) the work opens on the tonic major chord, C-sharp major. However, by bar 6, the minor tonality is established. This device provides a contrast which intensifies the generally dark and sombre character of the lassan. This procedure is directly reversed in the Friska. Although the principal key of the Friska is F-sharp major, Liszt chooses to begin in the tonic minor key, F-sharp minor, which is sustained until bar 51. For practical reasons of notation (i.e., the prolongation of the tonic minor key), Liszt chooses the key signature of F-sharp minor, until the arrival of the main theme in F-sharp major. This time, the use of the more serious minor tonality is used as a contrast to the arrival of the playful and jubilant main theme of the Friska.

Arrangements

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The orchestral version of the Rhapsody produced by Liszt and Doppler is scored for an orchestra consisting of a piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭ and A (doubling on the piccolo clarinet and clarinet in D), two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in D, three trombones, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, glockenspiel, harp, and strings, and is raised by a semitone to D minor / G major. Another orchestral arrangement, one semitone below (C minor / F major), by Karl Müller Berghaus, also exists.[3]

In 1933, Franz Schreker made an orchestral transcription, the performance of which was originally intended to be filmed as part of a series entitled Das Weltkonzert.[4] This arrangement is published by Universal Edition.[5]

In 1975, Gábor Szabó played a jazz rendition of the composition for his album Macho.[6]

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The Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 has been prominently used in animated cartoons and popular media, most famously in the Tom and Jerry short The Cat Concerto, which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, and the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit, directed by Friz Freleng.[7] In 1941, five years before Rhapsody Rabbit, Freleng had directed Rhapsody in Rivets, where the construction of the Empire State Building is synchronized to the rhapsody.[8][9][10] He would later use the piece in Back Alley Oproar in 1948,[11] Wise Quackers in 1949, and Ballot Box Bunny in 1951. Robert McKimson would use the piece briefly in What's Up, Doc? in 1950.

The first such appearance in a cartoon was as part of a piano solo by Mickey Mouse in The Opry House in 1929 where he has to deal with an animated piano,[7] and the second cartoon which did it was Bars and Stripes.[8] Another full orchestral version was featured in the Fleischer cartoon A Car-Tune Portrait. The rhapsody made another early appearance, as one of several classical pieces, in Disney's Farmyard Symphony. With a different set of lyrics, Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 became the Capitol Records children's record "Daffy Duck's Rhapsody", sung by Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck.[8][10][12] UPA would use the piece in the Oscar-nominated The Fox and the Crow film The Magic Fluke in 1949.[8] Walter Lantz also gave Woody Woodpecker a chance to perform the piece in Convict Concerto, in which Woody tries to tune a piano under the aim of a bank robber's gun.[8][10] It was used in some other Lantz cartoons before that, such as The Candy House, The Athlete and Pin Feathers. Parts of the piece were used for the theme tune for the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Biskitts.[13]Disney would later use the piece again in 1969's It's Tough to Be a Bird.

In 1945, José Iturbi played this piece in the film Anchors Aweigh (1945). Jack Carson and Doris Day sing "Freddy Get Ready" to the tune of the piece in My Dream Is Yours (1949) along with Bugs Bunny.[8] In the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, director Robert Zemeckis pays tribute to Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2's cartoon heritage by using the piece for the "dueling pianos" scene featuring Daffy Duck and Donald Duck.[14] In the same fashion, themes from this piece are interwoven throughout the score for the Disneyland attraction Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin,[15] composed by George Wilkins.[16] Warner Bros. used it again in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode C Flat or B Sharp?, in which Buster Bunny, Plucky Duck and Hamton J. Pig must take the piano that is on top of the Acme Looniversity's main tower to the concert room, following the orders of Yosemite Sam. The soundtrack of this episode is a shorter version of the composition, and no lines are spoken. The piece was used in the Animaniacs short "Jokahontas" when the Warners would sing about all the different flavors of ice cream, as well as in Wakko's Wish as the tune of "The Wishing Star", as a cast ensemble piece where the Warners sing about the wishing star and how they were off to find it. As the rest of the town finds out that the star will grant a wish to whoever finds it first, everyone sets out on the quest.[15] In 2008, the piece was included as a track in the video game Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor.[17]

The soundtrack to the 1977 Hungarian animated film Mattie the Goose-boy is a Gypsy-style version of the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Tamás Daróci Bárdos [hu]. The final scenes of the 1982 cult film documentary The Atomic Cafe feature the rhapsody as the accompaniment to a nuclear war. The concert film Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest by the British rock band Queen got its name as a play on the Hungarian Rhapsodies by Franz Liszt and one of Queen's most celebrated hits, "Bohemian Rhapsody".[18] A heavily modified version of the Rhapsody played by Yoko Kanno is used in the Japanese animated film Mind Game.[19] It was used during, and at the finale of, the 2014 Hungarian film White God.[20] Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 was used in Sony's Harold and the Purple Crayon, arranged by composer Batu Sener.[21]

In 1979, Victor Borge played the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 on The Muppet Show with Rowlf the Dog.[10] He also played a duo version with Şahan Arzruni, in which they played on the same piano, and changed the parts to make it fun to the viewers. On Sesame Street, the tune was used in the song "The Curious Cantata", sung by Luis, Maria, Bob and Big Bird.

References

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  1. ^ a b Eckhardt, Mária (2005). "Preface". Ungarische Rhapsodie Nr. 2. Munich: G. Henle Verlag. p. V.
  2. ^ Eckhardt 2005, pp. IV–V.
  3. ^ Liszt, Franz. "Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, S.244/2". International Music Score Library Project. Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  4. ^ Christopher Hailey, Franz Schreker: A Cultural Biography (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p.290.
  5. ^ Liszt, Franz; Schreker, Franz (1933). Ungarische Rhapsodie Nr. 2 für großes Orchester. Vienna: Universal Edition. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  6. ^ Jurek, T. Allmusic Review accessed February 21, 2012
  7. ^ a b Hitt, Jen (April 8, 2020). "Kids Learning At Home? Teach Them About These 4 Pieces Of Classical Music While They Watch Cartoons". CPR Classical. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Goldmark, Daniel; Taylor, Yuval, eds. (2002). The Cartoon Music Book. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1569764123.
  9. ^ Goldmark, Daniel (2005). Tunes for 'Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon. ISBN 9780520253117. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c d Abernathy, JJ (June 5, 2011). "'Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2' and conflicting commotions in animation". The Spectrum. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  11. ^ Beck, Jerry (September 1, 2020). The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons. ISBN 9781647221379. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  12. ^ ""Bugs Bunny Sings" On Capitol Records". Cartoon Research. July 14, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  13. ^ Ehrbar, Greg (August 27, 2024). Hanna-Barbera, the Recorded History: From Modern Stone Age to Meddling Kids. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496851864.
  14. ^ Goldmark, Daniel; Taylor, Yuval, eds. (2002). The Cartoon Music Book. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1569764123.
  15. ^ a b "Appearances that the piano solo Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 has made in cartoons". LL Pianos. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  16. ^ "George Wilkins is born". E82 | The Epcot Legacy. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  17. ^ "Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor (DS) review". World Of Stuart. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  18. ^ BraveWords editorial staff (May 14, 2025). "QUEEN Performs Hungarian Folk Song In Budapest; Official Video". BraveWords. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  19. ^ Brayton, Tim (May 25, 2015). "Mind Game (2004)". Alternate Ending. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  20. ^ Heeney, Alex (March 27, 2015). "Director Kornél Mundruczó and Animal Trainer Teresa Miller talk White God". Seventh Row. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
  21. ^ "Harold and the Purple Crayon soundtrack album details". Film Music Reporter. August 1, 2024. Retrieved May 12, 2025.
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