Pablo de SARASATE (1844 – 1908)

Zigeunerweisen, opus 20

Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate was born Pablo Martin Melton Sarasate y Navascuez in the the town of Pamplona. His father was a local military bandmaster and the young Pablo demonstrated musical talent very early - beginning violin lessons at the age of five and making his concert debut at age eight. The young man went to Madrid to study and proved to be a sensation at the court of Queen Isabel II. When Sarasate was 12, he and his mother set out for Paris on a journey meant to advance his skills on the violin, but his mother died on the train en route and Sarasate was diagnosed with cholera. After recovering, he continued on to Paris where he finally auditioned at the Paris Conservatoire. After five years of study there, Sarasate won the Conservatoire's annual first prize and embarked on one of most exciting and enduring violin careers of the 19th century. In 1859, he embarked on a world tour that ran, more or less continuously, for three decades and included concerts on all the great stages of Europe and North & South America! Immensely popular, a number of works were created on his behalf, and several have become staples of violin repertoire, including Lalo's Symphonie espagnole and Violin Concerto in f minor, Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and the First and Third Violin Concerti, and Bruch's Second Violin Concerto and the Scottish Fantasy. Although, by 1890, Sarasate had retired (to a villa in the seacoast town of Biarritz, France), he continued to perform at the Fiesta de San Fermín every year in his hometown of Pamplona. He died, at the age of 64, from a bout of bronchitis.

Sarasate’s reputation as a violinist was based on his virtuosity. He was known for technical perfection and for the effortlessness with which he handled the instrument. His sound, however, did not receive similar accolades and while it was extremely beautiful, he was criticized for a lack of dynamics as well as for rather meager emotional content. Like many virtuoso performers of his day, Sarasate also composed a considerable amount of music for his instrument. He composed some 57 works for violin but only a few have survived the test of time. The Zigeunerweisen and Carmen Fantasy remain indispensable items in a violinist's repertoire to this day. Zigeunerweisen, written in 1878, is not only technically difficult, but contains some of Sarasate's most inspired moments. It was originally composed Zigeunerweisen for violin and piano, but later orchestrated by the composer. Divided into four section, the piece engages the violinist in all manner of technical display, including harmonics, rapid passage work, spiccato runs, and themes in double stops. While not an emotionally profound work, Zigeunerweisen presents late Romantic era schmaltz at its finest and remains a staple of the virtuoso repertoire.

OF NOTE: Sarasate became so thoroughly attached to the Paris Conservatoire, in particular, and France, in general, that he bequeathed his 1724 Antonio Stradivari violin to the school. His second Stradivari violin was bequeathed to the Conservatory of Madrid with the remainder of his possessions left to the town of Pamplona, which erected a museum in his memory.

| SARASATE: Zigeunerweisen, opus 20