Late works of Franz Liszt to Saint-Saëns. The three czárdás that Liszt wrote—titled "Czárdás", "Czárdás obstinée" and "Czárdás macabre"—are less freely treated than the Hungarian Rhapsodies and remain more specifically Hungarian than gypsy in thematic material. Their spare lines, angular rhythms and advanced harmonies show these pieces to be direct ancestors of Bartók's work. Because of these attributes, the czárdás are considered by Liszt scholars among the more interesting of the composer's late output. The same, some critics argue, cannot be said as uniformly about his Hungarian Rhapsodies 16-19, composed after he had neglected the genre 30 years. Of these four late rhapsodies, only the
Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 (Brahms) he may have included some earlier compositions, and it is quite possible, although there is no definite proof, that some works—such as the E major rhapsody—may have been conceived before 1892. Two earlier collections of smaller lyric piano pieces, Eight Pieces for Piano Op. 76, and Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79, date from 1871-79 (published 1879 and 1880 respectively). The poetic mood of the first intermezzo from Op. 119 belies its vague title. In a letter from May 1893 to Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote: "I am tempted to copy out a small piano piece for you, because I would like to