MusiLLection

Jelly d’Arányi, the Hungarian violinist whose virtuosic playing and deep connection to gypsy musical style inspired Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane . In 1922, Maurice Ravel was profoundly impressed by the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Arányi, after hearing her perform traditional gypsy music from her homeland. Fascinated by its expressive freedom and virtuosity, Ravel was inspired to compose Tzigane , a work originally written for violin and piano and later orchestrated. The composition was completed in 1924 and stands as one of Ravel’s most striking homages to Hungarian and Romani musical idioms. Tzigane is conceived as a rhapsodic concert piece , rich in stylistic allusions to gypsy performance practice rather than direct folk quotation. It opens with an extended and highly demanding solo violin cadenza , unaccompanied, immediately immersing the listener in an atmosphere of improvisatory intensity. Exotic scales, ornamental inflections, and bold harmonic turns—unusual to the Western ear—d...

“Autumn” by Nicolas Poussin, reflecting the rural imagery and seasonal symbolism echoed in Vivaldi’s concerto. The Sonnet I. Allegro The peasants celebrate with songs and dances The pleasure of a rich harvest; And, fired by Bacchus’ liquor, Many end their revelry in sleep. II. Adagio molto All are made to forget their cares and to sing and dance By the gentle air, tempered with pleasure, And by the season which invites so many To enjoy sweet slumber. III. Allegro At dawn the hunters set out, With horns and dogs and guns. The beast flees, and they follow its trail; Terrified and weary of the great noise Of guns and dogs, wounded, it struggles And, harried, dies. The Four Seasons is a cycle of four violin concertos , each offering a vivid musical portrayal of a season of the year. Autumn ( L’autunno ) is the third concerto , written in F major and published in 1725 as part of Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione , Op. 8. In this concerto, Antonio Vivaldi depic...