Doppler, F :: Fantaisie pastorale hongroise op. 26

Franz Doppler was a flutist, composer, and conductor, who made his debut in Vienna at the age of thirteen. His first teacher was his father, the composer and oboist Joseph Doppler. From a young age, Franz made successful concert tours with his brother, Karl (a flutist, composer, and conductor). The Doppler brothers tours included a visit to the Weimar court (1854), where they met the great Hungarian pianist Liszt, as well as a tour to London (1856) with the violinist Karl Hubay. As an orchestral musician, Doppler held posts as early as 1838 as principal flutist of the German Town Theater, and then at the Hungarian National Theater in 1841. Later in his life (1864 67), Doppler became a professor of flute at the Vienna Conservatory. Doppler s compositions reflect Hungarian, Russian, and Polish folk music and Italian opera (such as Donizetti) influences. Many, if not all, of these influences can be heard in the Fantaisie sur des motifs hongrois (Fantasy on the Hungarian Motives) with its Eastern European folk dance/tunes and operatic cadenzas. It bears a strong affinity to its close relative written for solo flute and piano, the Fantaisie pastorale hongroise, op. 26 (Mainz, undated), with its hauntingly nostalgic opening fantasy reminiscent of gypsy and Eastern European folk music and its folk tune/dance-driven second half.

- Kathryn Croom Peisert and Ai Goldsmith, 2009