Hubay Hejre Kati Op. 32 for Violin and String Orchestra

Hejre Kati is the best known of Jenő Hubay's fourteen Scènes de la Csárda, a violin showpiece built from three borrowed Hungarian tunes and finished with all the swagger of the Budapest gypsy bands Hubay grew up around. This edition sets it for solo violin and string orchestra, keeping the fire of the original intact while giving the soloist a full body of strings to work against.

The piece follows the csárda's familiar shape: a rhapsodic, rubato opening giving way to a headlong friss. Its three melodies, "The Yellow Stallion," a song called "The Love of a Young Baron," and a folk tune Brahms also used in his Hungarian Dance No. 21, were popular tunes of their day rather than genuine Magyar folksong, closer to the gypsy-café style Liszt and Hubay both drew on. The string orchestra part grows out of Hubay's own violin and piano original. Its harmonic content stays intact, but the texture has been rewritten for strings, aiming for something closer to the cimbalom-and-strings colour of the gypsy bands than a straight piano reduction. The soloist carries the piece throughout, with the orchestra there to underpin, never to compete.

At around seven minutes, Hejre Kati works as a self-contained showpiece: a diploma or professional recital closer, a competition piece, or the guest-soloist item in a string orchestra's concert programme.

Check the score and parts preview images above, then watch the complete score video below. They'll give you a clear picture of the engraving quality and overall difficulty before you buy.

Key features:

• Instrumentation: Solo Violin and String Orchestra
• Difficulty: Diploma / Professional standard
• Duration: approximately 7 minutes
• Style focus: Hungarian csárda showpiece, gypsy-style virtuosity
• Format: PDF download, full score and all parts

This arrangement suits a diploma-level soloist wanting a concert closer with orchestral backing, a string orchestra looking for a genuine crowd-pleaser for a guest violinist, or a professional player after a stand-alone recital showpiece with real Hungarian character.