A formidable challenge to the study of Roma (Gypsy) music is the muddle of fact and fiction in determining identity. This book investigates 'Gypsy music' as a bridge between the real Roma and the idealized Gypsies of the Western imagination. David Malvinni studies specific composers - including Liszt, Brahams, Rachmaninov, Janacek, and Bartok - whose work takes up contested and varied configurations of Gypsy music, and considers them alongside contemporary debates over popular music and film.