Note 66 — Chapter XXIV

There is a favourite Hungarian melody, called by the Magyars the “Rákótzy,” of which Paget, in his comprehensive work, in 2 vols., “Hungary and Transylvania,” published in 1855, says—“I am now more than ever convinced that none but a gipsy band can do it full justice. The effect of the melancholy, plaintive sounds with which it begins, increased by the final discords which the gipsies introduce, and of the wild burst of passion which closes it, must depend as much on the manner of its execution as on the mere composition.”