A six-month tour through Spain and Portugal has left its mark… Fascinated by the fiery melodies of the Iberian peninsula, Liszt integrates this music into his pianistic work. The "Spanish Rhapsody" differs significantly in its character from its Hungarian counterparts: instead of the profusion and impenetrable Magyar melancholy, it is the Spanish nobility and elegance that this work expresses. In the centre is the very old theme of "Spanish follies" as well as a fashionable melody drawn from a folk dance from Aragon ("jota") - Liszt has drawn a series of brilliant, virtuoso variations. A highly qualified preface written by Mária Eckhardt, a musicologist specialist at Liszt, opens this Urtext edition.