Purchasing information Notice for leaders/bass players
Length: approx. 5¼ mins. Sounds best if the bass is doubled.
Judging from the cover of the original sheet music,
Mazeppa was apparently inspired by the historical Ivan
Mazeppa (1644-1709), a Cossack leader who survived the punishment of being lashed to a wild horse for treason. Here Schwartz is in illustrious company with composers and poets such as Lord Byron, Alexander Pushkin, Victor Hugo, Juliusz Slowacki, Ferenc Liszt,
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Michael Balfe all of whom published works bsed on
Mazeppa themes. This exciting piece itself is fairly long, perhaps artificialy so, in AABBACCAABBA form with a 4-bar introduction, 4-bar interludes and an 8-bar coda. Whether or not the strains may be thematic is open to debate as the the composer himself does not give any indication in his score. It is left to the performers to research
Mazeppa's extraordinary life and make their own conclusions - just the stuff for long winter evenings!
Mazeppa was published by
Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., New York & Chicago, USA.
A tempo of 80 crotchets/min. is suggested.