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Other Folks' Folk Music

These composers were inspired by the folk music of foreign lands.

Fascinated with folk music from foreign lands, Czech composer Dvorak and Afro-British composer Coleridge-Taylor were both deeply moved and influenced by the music they heard while visiting America. Ravel was so entranced after hearing Hungarian gypsy violinist Jelly D'Aranyi that he ran home and transcribed what he had heard, creating the wild, impressionistic show-piece, Tzigane. The results of exposure to (and free play with) these foreign folk styles are fresh and original compositions that continue to move and delight us.


Dvorak: Sonatina for Violin and Piano (18 min)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Sonata for Violin and Piano (23 min)

Ravel: Tzigane (violin and piano) (10 min)

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