The Story Behind "Hungarian Dances" by Brahms

The Story Behind "Hungarian Dances" by Brahms

The Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms, are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1879. They vary from about a minute to five minutes in length. They are among Brahms's most popular works and were the most profitable for him.

Each dance has been arranged for a wide variety of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano four hands and later arranged the first ten dances for solo piano.

Both Hungarian-style music and piano four-hands music made early entrances into Brahms’s life. He discovered the excitement of Central European folk music as a youth and began writing piano duets while still in his 20s. One important influence was the Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi, whom Brahms had heard in concert at age 17.

Three years later Brahms served as Reményi’s accompanist at the piano. Brahms’s familiarity with piano four-hands music and his exposure to authentic Hungarian dances led him to try his hand at composing Hungarian-style pieces, for which he knew there would be a ready-made audience.

Most of the dances are rapid, energetic pieces. Imitating the mercurial spirit of Hungarian folk music, some of the dances change tempo midway, as in the fourth dance, where a languid, melancholy introduction gives way to exuberance. The fifth dance begins with a quick tempo, then becomes even more frenzied.

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