The piece is divided into three main sections: • Introduction (Tempo giusto –
Presto) • Lassan (
Andante) • Friska (
Allegro) The first part of the rhapsody is an introduction (Tempo giusto), where the left hand of the player plays a steady bassline made up of the chords in the D-flat major scale. Due to the overlapping of the melody over the bars, the piece does not sound as though it is in a rhythm. This is because Liszt did not start the first chord of the piece as an upbeat, which is what many composers have done to relate to the
time signature of the piece. The melody of the first part is repetitive, leading to a brief prelude of the friska section's main theme and ending with a long
cadenza mainly using the black keys. The second part (
presto) is in
C-sharp major (which is simply an enharmonic version of the previous D-flat, not a modulation) and has a lively rhythm, leading to the lassan in
B-flat minor. The lassan is played slowly, with a rhythm in improvisational style, again finishing with a large cadenza at the end, leading sequentially to the friska (Allegro) in
B-flat major. The melody is played in semiquavers requiring the player to move fast in
octaves. The bass line repeats the same strong
quaver rhythms. The final part of the piece ends with
chromatic scales in octaves moving in contrary motion, leading to B-flat major chords. The piece makes use of the
gypsy scale. == Sources of the melodies ==