Rhapsody
A free-form single movement, often drawing on folk song or epic
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A rhapsody is a free-form single movement, often drawing on folk song, epic or national material: it does not follow the fixed sections of sonata form but juxtaposes, splices and varies several strongly characterised blocks. Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue are two landmarks.
It differs from a fantasia: a fantasia stresses improvisatory freedom, a rhapsody stresses the collage of national or epic material. The usual mistake is to treat it as "anything goes" — the structure is free, but the choice and splicing of material still carry a strong dramatic judgement.
Read deeper → fantasia
Sources
- 狂想曲的体裁特征与李斯特、格什温的用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Rhapsody"；本文为原创表述
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