rhapsody. Strictly, from the ancient Gr. usage, the recitation of parts of an epic poem. In mus. the term has come to mean a comp. in one continuous movt., often based on popular, nat., or folk melodies. Thus Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies, Stanford's Irish Rhapsodies, Vaughan Williams's Norfolk Rhapsody. Delius's Brigg Fair, variations on an Eng. folk-song, is subtitled An English Rhapsody, and Rachmaninov's variations on a caprice by Paganini are called Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Brahms used the term for works for solo pf. and for his Alto Rhapsody, a setting for v., male ch., and orch. of verses by Goethe. Gershwin used the term for his Rhapsody in Blue and Chabrier's España is a Sp. rhapsody.