Pablo de Sarasate Zigeunerweisen
Pablo de Sarasate Zigeunerweisen Program Notes
Sarasate was born in the small, northern Spanish city of Pamplona, famed for its running-of-the-bulls, featured in Ernest Hemingway The Sun Also Rises. Père Sarasate was a military musician, and recognized Pablo’s prodigious talent when the child was five. Giving recitals by eight, Pablo was sent to Madrid for formal studies, before the Paris conservatoire, where he won their first prize aged 17. Over his career he was celebrated for brilliant technique, with many great pieces of the violin repertoire composed for him, including Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol, Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy, and concerti by Wieniawski and Saint-Saëns (as well as the latter’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso). Sarasate composed some showpieces for his own performances, including the Carmen Fantasy on Bizet’s themes and this Zigeunerweisen (or ‘Gypsy Airs’). Gypsy was not then considered the pejorative term for the stateless European Roma people that it is now. Its first main section is in C minor, and is at turns heroic, then mournful. In a kind of fantasy form, it has sections of declamation by the solo violin, and its mournful themes are loosely based on Roma melodies. The final section (in the brighter key of A minor), is in a virtuosic 2/4 Allegro molto vivace czardas, with technical fireworks of double-stops fast runs. Birth name: Martín Melitón Pablo de Sarasate y Navascués Born: March 10, 1844, Pamplona, Spain Died: September 20, 1908, France Biarritz, FranceZigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs), Op. 20 is a dazzling showpiece for violin and orchestra composed by Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate in 1878, drawing on Hungarian Romani folk melodies. It is one of the most technically demanding and thrilling pieces in the violin repertoire.
Sarasate composed Zigeunerweisen in 1878 and premiered it himself, as he did virtually all of his compositions. He was one of the most celebrated violinists of the nineteenth century and wrote exclusively to showcase his own extraordinary technique.
A typical performance lasts approximately 10 to 12 minutes.
After a brief orchestral introduction, the violin launches into a series of increasingly virtuosic sections — the slow, improvisatory Moderato, the singing Un poco più lento, and then the blazing Molto vivace finale with its left-hand pizzicato, rapid string crossings, and hair-raising double stops. The sheer technical difficulty is breathtaking.
Sarasate was renowned for the beauty of his tone and the effortless elegance of his technique — he made the most difficult passages sound easy. Composers including Bruch, Lalo, and Saint-Saëns wrote concertos specifically for him, trusting him to do justice to their most demanding writing.
