Georg Ruzitska: Introduction et Variations brillantes sur un theme hongrois, op. 14

Abstract

In 2019 we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the death of Transylvanian composer, Georg Ruzitska. Living a long 83 years, he experienced the transition from the Classial to Romantic eras. This period’s myriad historic and artistic developments influenced Ruzitska’s music, inspiring the migrant composer’s composition of the Introduction et variations brillantes sur un tême hongrois op. 14. The work is one of Ruzitska's four unedited, unpublished cello pieces that lay in the form of manuscript on the shelves of the Széchenyi Library in Budapest. This interesting musical piece is written for cello and piano in the form of theme and variations and represents many elements of the “verbunkos” style, the contemporary national Hungarian musical idiom. This paper seeks to provide a detailed description of the work, with an emphasis on highlighting the above-mentioned stylistic elements.