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The Hungarian Dances (German: Ungarische Tänze) by Johannes Brahms (WoO 1), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1869.[1]
They vary from about a minute to five minutes in length. They are among Brahms’s most popular works, and were certainly 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 10 dances for solo piano.[2]
Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions. The better-known Hungarian Dances include No. 1 and 5, the latter which was based on the csárdás by Béla Kéler titled “Bártfai emlék” which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong.[3]
The Hungarian Dances bear many resemblances to, and may have influenced, the Slavonic Dances of Antonín Dvořák.
I wish CBC would make more of these music history videos, they are informative and entertaining. :) Let’s take a closer look at the fabric of Brahms’s famous tune.
Andantino in D major, in common time evolving into Presto non assai, ma con sentimento in B minor in 2:4 time
The shortest of all four, the movement begins sweetly being one of the composition’s few uplifting passages. In measure twenty-three, the clarinet and violin play as if they were talking in a conversation. It modulates back from its heart-warming D major into the darker B minor. This section is highly influenced by the first part and even ends the same except being in a 2/4 meter
Music and music history? Could things get any more “awesomer” here on the Friday Interlude? :)
The Piano Quintet in F minor, opus 34, by Johannes Brahms was completed during the summer of 1864[1] and published in 1865.[2]It was dedicated to Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne of Hesse. Like most piano quintets, it is written for piano and string quartet (two violins, viola and cello).
The piece is in four movements:
- Allegro non troppo (F Minor)
- Andante, un poco adagio (A♭ Major)
- Scherzo: Allegro (C Minor – C Major)
- Finale: Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo (F Minor)
The work began life as a string quintet (completed in 1862 and scored for two violins, viola and two cellos). Brahms transcribed the quintet into a sonata for two pianos (in which form Brahms and Carl Tausig performed it) before taking its final form. Brahms destroyed the original version for string quintet, but published the Sonata as opus 34 bis. The outer movements are more adventurous than usual in terms of harmony and are unsettling in effect. The introduction to the finale, with its rising figure in semitones, is especially remarkable. Both piano and strings play an equally important role throughout this work.
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