Scan 230
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026. Printed page 156. See the scan on archive.org.
1one of a melancholy character, full of sudden pauses which produce a startling effect. This tune is sung in unison and in the chorus all join. Other dances of the Spanish gypsies are the seguidilla, the manchegos, the rodena, the fandango, and the malaguena. All these are accompanied by the old-fashioned calabash-shaped guitar and the castanets.
3The Hungarians are intensely musical, and the gypsies are their musicians. Leland writes: "The Hungarian gypsy differs from all his brethren of Europe in being more intensely gypsy. He has deeper, wilder and more original feeling in music, and he is inspired with a love of travel." And Liszt states: "The Magyars have adopted the gypsies for their national musicians; they have identified themselves with the proud and warlike enthusiasm, with the depressing sadness of the Hungarians, which they know so well how to depict." This gypsy music is an echo of the minstrelsy of the hegedosök or Hungarian bards.
5Although great poverty invariably prevails, there is nowhere to be found more music and dancing than in a Hungarian encampment. Carousals and festivals are very popular and the fiddler is king, for while the folk-music of most peoples is principally vocal, that of the gypsies is instrumental. The man who is at work with his hands, must of necessity sing if he would have music, for he has at his disposal no means of playing an instrument. But the gypsy belongs not to a race of workers. He always has time and leisure for music-making, his hands are free, and he naturally becomes an instrumentalist.
7The foundation of the gypsy band is the violin and cembalo. These instruments are peculiarly gypsy. The cembalo, which is the outgrowth of the dulcimer of Biblical times, is an oblong-shaped box strung with metal strings, which are struck by hammers in the hands of the player. The tone is somewhat similar to that of the clavichord, which was the precursor of our modern pianoforte. Other instruments now employed are those other members of the string family, the viola, cello, and double bass; the clarinet, in
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