Pablo de Sarasate

By all accounts one of the greatest violinists who ever lived, Pablo Sarasate received dedications from some of the most famous composers of the nineteenth century. He was less known as a composer, even though he published 54 works with opus numbers and a number of others without. Among the most famous of these are the Spanische Tänze, Opp. 21, 22, 23, and 26 (1878-1882); the Fantasy on Carmen, Op. 25 (ca. 1883); and, most importantly, the Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20, of 1878. These pieces are not only technically difficult, but contain Sarasate's most inspired moments, not to be found in many of his other works. Sarasate originally composed Zigeunerweisen for violin and piano, but later orchestrated the work; this is the form in which it is best known today.

From the opening of Zigeunerweisen, it is clear that Sarasate had composed the piece as a vehicle for his impeccable technique and "tone of unsurpassed sweetness and purity." The orchestra has the first word, but the soloist immediately takes over, performing the same melody introduced by the orchestra. All the "sweetness" and expression a performer has must find its way into this opening theme, a slow, arching figure with an accent on its highest note. It incorporates the chromatic inflections his audience associated with Hungarian Gypsy ("Zigeuner" in German) music. The orchestra pops in occasionally, separating the successive solo violin cadenzas and their harmonic minor scales and one particularly impressive spiccato flourish up to a note in the stratosphere. After a few of these alternations between orchestra and soloist, a new section begins, featuring a new, slow melody with a new set of virtuoso flourishes. Yet another theme, narrow in range, appears first in the orchestra and is then expanded by the solo violin. This theme, slowly rising and then falling in leaps, is the most plaintive yet. The sense Sarasate creates is one of a piece that is always beginning, never reaching its fundamental material. The fast and flashy coda shines its spotlight squarely on the soloist.

-- John Palmer