Fantaisie On Hungarian Themes

This composition is based on melodies from the opera Hunyadi Laszló by Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893), interspersed with popular arrangements of traditional verbunkos themes, also by Erkel. The csárdás movement (the Andante sections on pp. 3 and 9) is particularly emotive of the style hongrois, as is the Rákóczi March. Dubez’ elaboration of this famous theme, seems to be a straight transcription of the 1840 piano arrangement of it by Erkel which could very well have been the source for Berlioz’ and Liszt’s adaptations of the Rákóczi March. Of particular significance is the closing chorus, “Dead is the Intriguer,” from Act I of Hunyadi Laszló, already presented in the Overture to the opera. It is developed here by Dubez in several challenging variations.