Zigeunerweisen,
Op.20, No.1
Zigeunerweisen you are now listening to !
Note: the original Zigeunerweisen is far more better than this midi version !! If possible, go to find its cd either in the music shop or public library, okay?
Zigeunerweisen (Song of the Tramps / Gypsy Airs), a famous violin fantasy (with orchestra) by the remarkable Spanish violinist, Pablo de Sarasate.
Pablo
de Sarasate
(Pablo Martin Meliton Sarasate) was born on 10 
March
1844 in Pamplona, Spain. In his child stage, Sarasate was already a promising
virtuosi violinist. At ten, his performance for the Queen of Spain earned
him an elegant violin from the Queen. During the studies and researches in
the Paris Conservatoire of Music, Sarasate composed lots of noticable violin
with piano accompaniment. His brilliant technique on composing violin pieces
not only attracted the famous composers (e.g. Saint Saeins , Bizet and Sarasate
composed 'Concert fantasies on Carmen, Op. 25') of his time composed their
works for him, but also became the Spanish idiom such as his most popular
composition 'Zigeunerweisen". Sarasate died on 20 Sept 1908, Biaritz
(France).
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This
is a poster I found on the Internet.
It's 2001 Performaning Sarasate's Violin works Competition. See how important and famous Sarasate is !! |
Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs / Song of the Tramps) - a brilliant fantasy by Sarasate. It's a violin solo with orchestra which requires an extraordinary talent and skill in order to perform its spirits! Zigezunerweisen is not a long piece. It only lasts for around 7 - 9 minutes (depends how the performancer performs it). And yet, just within the short performance, audiences experience the life of Gypsy. Here is the brief illustraion of this song. Maybe you have different feeling when listen to this fantasy?
Starts
with a shock/sharp rhyme that brings a kind of saddness / helplessness in
the air (ha? too exaggreate? But, it does shock me ^_^). In the middle part,
however, it's filled with Gypsy style of dancing, of wandering from places
to places. So, hte saddness turns to joys and cheers and from pessimism to
optimism 
! In sum,
this fantasia can be divided into 4 parts:
1. C Minor 4/4 , Prelude. A strong and energetic orchestra leads and introduces the violinist. This gives a sharp and shock feeling- the feeling of saddness and helpless.
2. Slow. Starts with the melow violin emphasizes on repearing and the changing rhymes. A strong technique is needed. If you listen carefully, it's not difficult to know how the violinst strokes the string skillfully with energetic mood. The focus here is Violin and the orchestra is less obvious.
3.
2/4 in rhyme. A sound weaker is placed onto the violin and hte kind
of saddness is recalled and reaching its climax. This part is the most familiar
part by audiences. In fact, some movies and advertisements have used this
part as their background music.
4. 2/4 in rhyme. The rhyme becomes faster and less heavy which gives the 'Let's Go and Dance' message from the Gypsy! The atmosphere becomes cheerful and joy as the composer shows the beliefs of the Gypsy - there's hope behind the saddness. To be honest, I think this part is quite difficult to follow (I meant, when you play it with your violin) and catch. This part makes a great contrast between the first and second parts. After a series of quick and energetic strokes, the fantasia ends. =^_^=
Recommendation
The great tenors are Domingo, Careras, Paavarotti, etc. And the great, fantastic violinists are . . . Your answers would probably include beautiful Anne Sophie Mutter, right? What about Rabin? Do you know him?
Since Mutter is so well-known and it's not difficult to find her albums in the music shops, I am not going to introude her Zigeunerweisen performance. Here, I would like to recommend Michael Rabin's performance on Zigeunerweisen to you! This is my Zigeunerweisen CD. I highly recommend it to you. Of course, Mutter's is also a good choice!!! For Hong Kong fans, you can find many Mutter CD in the public libraries --> save money ^_*.
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Front
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Back
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Michael
Rabin The Early Years
contains 25 songs (with 6 Sarasate's works including 'Zigeunerweisen') First recorded in 1939, 1951, 1953. Re-recorded in 1999, Sony SONY CLASSICAL MHK 60984 ADD |
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How
Far is 'Zigeunerweisen' applied in EC? (around 35%)
In 'Zigeunerweisen', Cain mets a mysterious Gypsy 'woman' (acutally pretended
by a male youth) who is good at playing Zigeunerweisen. The song 'Zigeunerweisen'
is mentioned but the main content of this story is related to Cain's Uncle
who loves and cares Cain deeply. AT first, Cain thought tha his only trusted
kins are Merryweather and Riff. At last, he finally realized that his Uncle
is always there loving and caring him. However, cruel fate doesn't allow the
happiness on Cain's Uncle lasts long since Alexial promises that anyone surrounds
Cain wil l become the scapegoat and so as Cain's Uncle. It seems that the
Gypsy 'woman' is one of the right hand men of Alexial in DELIAH?! At the end
of this story, Cain asks if Riff is ready in war with his father, Alexial
. . .
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