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“Virtuoso piece in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody” – thus reads Ravel’s entry on “Tzigane” in the so-called “Autobiographical Sketch”. Composed in 1924, there are three versions of this work: with piano, with orchestra and with luthéal, a device for keyboard instruments to extend the timbre. “Tzigane” was inspired by the Hungarian-English violinist Jelly d’Aranyi, to whom Ravel had already promised a virtuoso piece in 1922 following Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsodies”. Work progressed slowly and d’Aranyi only received the music four days before the première – but she still gave a brilliant performance.
