Tzigane (Ravel)
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Tzigane is a rhapsody type of composition by the French composer Maurice Ravel. It was originally written for violin with Luthéal accompaniment in 1924, and dedicated to the Hungarian violinist Jelly d'Aranyi.
Later versions replaced the original accompanying instrument by piano, or orchestra.
The name of the piece was derived from the generic European term for gypsy (in French: gitan, tsigane or tzigane), reflecting the powerful gypsy tunes which are found in this lively work. Note that in Ravel's days in Paris gypsy/gitan/tsigane/tzigane did not so much refer to Roma people in strict sense: the "gypsy-esque" features of the work were rather a kind of musical exoticism, comparable to the Spanish exoticism in Ravel's day (compare Chabrier's España), or the Janissary exotism in Mozart's day (Alla Turca).
The Luthéal was, in Ravel's day, a comparatively new piano-like instrument that had several tone-colour (not exclusively "pitch") registers that could be engaged by pulling stops above the keyboard. One of these registers had a cimbalon-like sound, which fitted well with the gypsyesk idea of the composition. The printed version of the original score of the Tzigane piece contained instructions for these register-changes during execution. The Luthéal, however, never really made it as a fashionable music instrument: by the end of the 20th century the first print of the "Luthéal" version of the accompaniment was still available at the publishers... by that time the chamber music version of the piece relied on the piano as accompanying instrument. In this sense Tzigane is comparable to Schubert's "arpeggione" sonata: that piece was also written in order to promote a new uncommon instrument, and when the composition proved more popular than the instrument a few years later, execution shifted to a more common instrument (cello in Schubert's case).
Tzigane is often performed as an arrangement (by Ravel himself) for solo violin and orchestra. Though the composer is almost universally regarded as following a mainly Impressionist idiom, 'Tzigane' clearly demonstrates Ravel's ability to imitate the (late) Romantic style of violin showmanship promoted by such composer-virtuosi as Paganini and Sarasate. In fact, the musical format and structure of 'Tzigane' bears a striking similarity to Sarasate's 'Zigeunerweisen'.
