(Born October 22, 1811, in Raiding, Hungary; died July 31, 1886, in Bayreuth, Germany)

Franz Liszt secured his position in musical history because of his unmatchable piano virtuosity, his championing of such composers of his time as Berlioz and Wagner, and especially because of his “modernization” of music. He created a new style of piano playing, invented the symphonic poem, helped to establish a place for folklore in art-music, and reconstructed the symphony, the sonata, and the concerto. His new ideas profoundly influenced several generations of composers and performers. For many years, his reputation as the world's greatest pianist was the source of his fame, but in the 1840's, this accomplishment was no longer enough for him. He desired to refine, discipline, and redirect his creative powers, in short, to write music that expressed new ideas free of the limitations in form and expression that were predominant as an inheritance from the classic masters. Berlioz and Wagner joined in his struggle. Even though they all idolized Beethoven, in their own work they aspired to address new messages to a new era. As a tireless searcher after technical mastery and precise expression, Liszt worked at his important compositions over long periods of time.

In 1845, Liszt made a concert tour of Spain and recalling that occasion, in 1863, while he was in Rome, created some works that he based on the folk and popular tunes he remembered hearing there. Composing a Fantasy on Spanish Airs, he gave full expression to his feelings about Spain in an elaborate piece with a noble character that was published as a stand-alone piece in 1867.

Liszt subtitled the new work Folies d'Espagne et Jota Aragonesa (“Follies of Spain and Aragonese Dance”). He capitalized on the word “rhapsody” which he used as the formal title, building on the fact that the “rhapsody” had become stylish as a result of his own Hungarian Rhapsodies of the 1850's. He organized his Spanish Rhapsody similarly to Hungarian Rhapsodies, setting it in the old Hungarian folk form of an extended slow section followed by a fast one.

Spanish Rhapsody was often published with the first fifteen Hungarian Rhapsodies, but although publishing this Spanish Rhapsody with the Hungarian Rhapsodies might have helped build its popularity, it contributed nothing towards listeners understanding it. It is much less rhapsodic than they are. Its character differs from them because instead of containing Hungarian boisterousness as well as contrasting deep melancholy, Liszt provides Spanish nobility and elegance.

After dramatic opening flourishes in a long cadenza-like introduction, the work introduces a set of passacaglia-like continuous variations on the traditional low-voiced La Folia subject, a melody known as Folies d'Espagne (“Follies of Spain”). The La Folia subject is a simple melody whose symmetry invites the variation technique that enticed many composers through the centuries to use it as a subject. (In 1700, Corelli published a set of twelve violin sonatas, the last of which was a single movement based on a popular melody that had already been circulating around Europe for centuries.) Its name, La Folia, meant something like folly, madness or obsession; it seemed to have originated in 14^th century Portugal to accompany a dance that was described as wild and lascivious. First written down around 1500, it originally had a fast and frantic pace. Many composers since then have used it in their works, and over time, it calmed to a slow, solemn, and stately theme, while retaining its original name by the end of the 17^th century.

In the 19^th century, when it was thought to be of Spanish origin, Liszt based his Rhapsodie espagnole on it. Liszt used the very same La Folia melody that Corelli and Rachmaninoff both also adopted. Liszt developed it at length in the first section of this work.

The second section, in virtuoso style, is a much-loved, lively, and brilliant Spanish folk dance, a Jota Aragonesa, taking its name from Aragon, a region of Spain located between Barcelona and Madrid. It is based in part on material Liszt had included in his 1845 composition. Glinka also used this material when he wrote a Fantasy in the same year. Here, Liszt works in a dazzling virtuosic series of variations in which he uses many technical challenges, including rapid chords and octaves, all with his characteristic dramatic flourishes and ornamentation.

A grand recapitulation of the jota, covering the whole keyboard, is dramatically marked fff or very loud. After a brief cadenza, a reference to the La Folia subject brings the work to its conclusion.