'A few years ago, an excellent tarogato player asked me to write accompaniments for some 18th-century melodies that were to be featured on a new record of his that was currently under preparation. These unaccompanied tunes that had survived in various collections represented the 'light music' of the courts of the nobility, and included some Magyar or Magyar-like melodies. (Thus, in the absence of other documents, they are of historical importance.) After the record was made, certain tunes stuck ...