Franz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of his era, and his piano works continue to be widely performed and recorded.
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term Tondichtung appears to have been first used by the composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt first applied the term Symphonische Dichtung to his 13 works in this vein, which commenced in 1848.
The Hungarian Rhapsodies, S.244, R.106, are a set of 19 piano pieces based on Hungarian folk themes, composed by Franz Liszt during 1846–1853, and later in 1882 and 1885. Liszt also arranged versions for orchestra, piano duet and piano trio.
The Cat Concerto is a 1947 American one-reel animated cartoon and the 29th Tom and Jerry short, released to theatres on April 26, 1947. It was produced by Fred Quimby and directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, with musical supervision by Scott Bradley, and animation by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge and Irven Spence and uncredited animation by Don Patterson.
Rhapsody Rabbit is a 1946 American animated comedy short film in the Merrie Melodies series, directed by Friz Freleng and featuring Bugs Bunny. The movie was originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 9, 1946. This short is a follow-up of sorts to Freleng's 1941 Academy Award-nominated Rhapsody in Rivets, which featured the "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2" by Franz Liszt. The "instrument" used to perform the "Hungarian Rhapsody" in Rhapsody in Rivets is a skyscraper under construction, while this short features Bugs playing the piece at a piano while being pestered by a mouse.
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B♭, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
The "Rákóczi March", sometimes known as the "Hungarian March" was one of the unofficial state anthems of Hungary before Ferenc Kölcsey wrote the Himnusz. It was most likely composed by Nikolaus Scholl in 1820. The melody was later used in many famous compositions, most notably: La damnation de Faust and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 15.
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.
Károly Aggházy was a Hungarian piano virtuoso and composer.
The symphonic poems of the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt are a series of 13 orchestral works, numbered S.95–107. The first 12 were composed between 1848 and 1858 ; the last, Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe, followed in 1882. These works helped establish the genre of orchestral program music—compositions written to illustrate an extra-musical plan derived from a play, poem, painting or work of nature. They inspired the symphonic poems of Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák, Richard Strauss and others.
Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, S. 95, is the first of thirteen symphonic poems by Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. It is an orchestral work inspired by Victor Hugo's poem of the same name, published as No. 5 of his collection Les Feuilles d'automne (1831).
Edith Farnadi was a Hungarian pianist.
Franz Liszt composed his Prometheus in 1850, numbering it No. 5 in his cycle of symphonic poems when he revised it in 1855. The work is based on the Greek myth detailing the Titan Prometheus' theft of fire from the gods and is numbered S.99 in the Searle catalogue.
Kossuth, Sz. 21, BB. 31, DD. 75a is a symphonic poem composed by Béla Bartók inspired by the Hungarian politician Lajos Kossuth.
The Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies, commonly known in short form simply as the Hungarian Fantasy, is Franz Liszt's arrangement for piano and orchestra of his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 14, originally for solo piano. The Fantasia was written in 1852 and premiered in Pest on June 1, 1853, with Hans von Bülow as soloist and Ferenc Erkel conducting the orchestra.
Franz Liszt wrote his symphonic poem Hungaria in 1854, basing it partly on the Heroic March in the Hungarian Style for piano which he wrote in 1840. It was premiered under Liszt's baton at the Hungarian National Theater in Budapest on September 8, 1856, where it achieved an enormous success. "There was better than applause," the composer later wrote. "All wept, both men and women!" He was reminded with that scene of the proverb that "tears are the joy of the Hungarians."
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 8, S.244/8, in F-sharp minor, is the eighth Hungarian Rhapsody composed by Franz Liszt for solo piano. It was composed in 1847 and published in 1853. It has been nicknamed "Capriccio". It utilizes a melody of Hungarian folk song Káka tövén költ a ruca in the slow section. The allegro motif was also used by Liszt in his symphonic poem Hungaria (1856).
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 9, S.244/9, in E-flat major, is the ninth Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt. It is nicknamed the "Carnival in Pest" or "Pesther Carneval" and was composed in 1847. A typical performance of the piece lasts ten minutes.
Die Ideale, S. 106, is a symphonic poem composed by Franz Liszt in 1856–1857 and published in 1858 as No. 12. It was first performed on 5 September 1857. Die Ideale was composed for the unveiling of a Goethe and Schiller monument on Sept. 5th, 1857. It was inspired by multiple passages of the poem of the same name by Schiller, which Liszt liberally rearranged to create a program to his liking. This is an example of the extreme to which Liszt went to create the programmatic atmosphere of his Symphonic Poems.
Héroïde funèbre, S. 102, is a symphonic poem written by Franz Liszt in 1850 and published in 1857 as No. 8. The work originated as the first movement of a planned Revolutionary Symphony inspired by the July Revolution. Liszt pays homage in this programmatic symphonic poem to the soldiers and men that died fighting in revolutionary efforts. The composition of this piece was started in 1830 as a brief sketch for a full symphony, but was dropped by Liszt in the continuing of other works. However, in 1848, there was an uprising in Liszt's home country of Hungary. One of Liszt's friends was killed during this revolution, which caused Liszt to revisit his now 20 year old sketch of the Revolutionary Symphony, shortening it and forming the first movement into the commemorative Héroïde funèbre. Liszt said of the program, "In these successive wars and carnages, sinister sports, whatever be the colours of the flags which rise proudly and boldly against each other, on both sides they float soaked with heroic blood and inexhaustible tears. It is for Art to throw her ennobling veil over the tomb of the brave, to encircle with her golden halo the dead and dying, that they may be the envy of the living."
