The end of the 19th century saw a sudden explosion of interest in folk music, especially of non-Western-European cultures. From the spicy Spanish-Gypsy flavor of Bizet‘s Carmen, through the Hungarian dances of Liszt and Brahms, to the misty temples of Debussy‘s Pagodas, audiences soaked up music that they had never heard before.

Harry T. Burleigh was an African-American musician who helped to bring the folk music and spirituals of African-Americans to the concert stage. He achieved fame as a singer and arranger in New York, where he met and sang for Dvořák. It is said that Burleigh’s singing influenced Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony.

This cheerful little piece for violin and piano is a perfect example of Burleigh’s skill at blending African-American melodies and rhythm with the European style of composition.

Talk about a bold opening. Pablo de Sarasate belongs to a group of composers who wrote showcase pieces primarily to show off their instrumental skills (perhaps the most well-known of these composers is Paganini). Zigeunerweisen (“Gypsy airs”) is his most famous work, and invokes the music of the Romani people. You can hear some more Romani-styled compositions in some of my previous posts.

Quick music lesson. “Rondo” (or its spelling variants) means round.  Not round as in “row-row-row your boat”, but round as in circle. A Rondo is a musical form where you travel around in a circle – always coming back to the same point where you began.

There are tons of pieces in Rondo form. Often, the final movement of a classical symphony or piano sonata is a rondo. For today, here’s the mother of all rondos, from one of Bach‘s partitas for solo violin. The two phrase melody you hear in the first twenty seconds is the main theme – you might call it a refrain. The violin then plays something different for a bit, then returns to the refrain. Again, something new; again, refrain. Different keys, different rhythmic motifs; the refrain keeps coming back.

Rondos are very satisfying to listen to, I believe, because it satisfies two opposing desires we all have: to explore new exciting territory, and to be able to come home to something comfortable that we know.