The Hungarian Dances, WoO 1, are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes, completed in 1879. They vary from about 1-5mins. in length. They are among Brahms' 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 ver. for piano 4 hands and later arranged the 1st 10 dances for solo piano. The remaining 11 dances were arranged for solo piano by Theodor Kirchner. Brahms' Hungarian Dances should be placed in the context of interest in folk music. Both Haydn and Boccherini refer frequently to gypsy music, but in Brahms' day it was Liszt with his Hungarian Rhapsodies who was an inspiration to Brahms, both artistically and financially (despite their differences in musical philosophy). In 1850 Brahms met the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi and accompanied him in a number of recitals over the next few yrs. This was his intro to "gypsy-style" music such as the csárdás, which was later to prove the foundation of his most lucrative and popular compositions, the 2 sets of Hungarian Dances (published 1869 and 1880). Only Nos. 11, 14, and 16 are entirely original compositions. The better-known Hungarian Dances include Nos. 1 and 5, the latter of which was based on the csárdás Bártfai emlék (Memories of Bártfa) by Hungarian composer Béla Kéler, which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong. A footnote on the Ludwig-Masters edition of a modern orchestration of Hungarian Dance No. 1 states: "The material for this dance is believed to have come from the Divine Csárdás (ca. 1850) of Hungarian composer and conductor Miska Borzó."
Henle difficulty: 8 difficult
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