Interpreting Flamenco-Associated Gestures in Moritz Moszkowski's Caprice espagnol, Op. 37

Abstract

First published in 1885, Moritz Moszkowski's Caprice espagnol, Op. 37 combines Romantic piano virtuosity with an imagined Spanish sound world. This article examines how its textures, articulations, accents, and metric organization can be heard as flamenco-associated gestures. After mapping the work's large-scale form, the analysis tests three interpretive correspondences: repeated-note attack and guitar strumming; registral leaps and plucked articulation; and rhythmic-dynamic contrasts and choreographic imagery. Because no documentary evidence is presented to demonstrate direct borrowing from a particular flamenco palo, these correspondences are framed as analogical interpretations rather than source attributions. The analysis argues that the work's Spanish effect arises less from quotation than from the pianistic transformation of timbre, rhythm, and bodily gesture.