Description
In 1922 Maurice Ravel heard the young Hungarian violin virtuoso and niece of Joseph Joachim, Jelly D�Aranyi, in concert in London. Following the performance, Ravel spent the remainder of the evening requesting D�Aranyi to play numerous gypsy tunes on her violin, probing her on the technical limits of the instrument. The result of this encounter is Ravel�s virtuoso classic �Tzigane�.
Written originally for violin and piano or luth�al (a mechanism invented in 1919 that attaches to a piano, producing a sound similar to the rich overtones of the Cimbalon), the premiere took place in London in April 1924. The composer had finished the work only days beforehand. Ravel later orchestrated �Tzigane� and both versions remain a �must� for music-lovers and aspiring violinists today. Jelly D�Aranyi performed both versions regularly throughout her long career.
This Urtext edition presents the first scholarly-critical edition of Ravel�s masterpiece. It is published both in the orchestral version, complete with full score and performance material, as well as in the composer�s earlier version for violin and piano. All known sources, including letters, have been drawn on for the new edition; one of the available sources, consulted for the first time, was a copy of �Tzigane� from the estate of Jelly D�Aranyi, which is today part of a private collection.
The version for piano and violin contains, besides the Urtext part, a second violin part as a facsimile with performance instructions by Jelly D�Aranyi. D�Aranyi�s alterations and fingering reflect how Ravel must have heard the work in rehearsals and performance and as such are a document of early 20th century performance practice. The cooperation between Ravel and D�Aranyi is comparable to that of Brahms and Joachim working on the Brahms violin concerto.
