1844–1908 · Romantic
Pablo de Sarasate
2 works
Sarasate was born in Pamplona in 1844 and studied with Jean-Delphin Alard at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won its Premier Prix at seventeen. He toured Europe, North America and South America, and the pianist Berthe Marx accompanied him in about 600 concerts. His reputation rested on purity of tone, free of any sentimental or rhapsodic tendency, and on an impressive ease of execution. Lalo, Saint-Saëns, Wieniawski and Bruch wrote works for him.
His own compositions are mainly show-pieces, among them the Carmen Fantasy (1883), four books of Spanish Dances, Zigeunerweisen and the Introduction et Tarentelle. Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), Op. 20, was written and first performed in Leipzig in 1878. Its themes are Hungarian, not Romani: the third section borrows a melody by Elemér Szentirmay, and the last uses a theme from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in csárdás rhythm. It is one movement in four sections, Moderato, Lento, Un poco più lento (with the soloist muted) and Allegro molto vivace. The solo part calls for spiccato and ricochet bowing, double stops, artificial harmonics and left-hand pizzicato.
Introduction et Tarentelle, Op. 43, was published for violin and piano in 1899, and Sarasate made a version with orchestra a year later. It is a single movement, with a Moderato introduction followed by an Allegro vivace tarantella, a fast dance from southern Italy.
What to listen for
- In Zigeunerweisen, the four-section plan: a moderate opening, a slow section, a muted section and a fast finale.
- The solo violin's special effects: bouncing bow strokes, notes that sound like high whistles (harmonics) and plucked notes from the left hand.
- Rhythms borrowed from the Hungarian csárdás in the last section.
- In Introduction et Tarentelle, the change from the slow introduction to the fast, whirling tarantella.
Sources: Pablo de Sarasate (Wikipedia), Zigeunerweisen (Wikipedia), Introduction et Tarentelle, Op.43 (IMSLP)
