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.
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 Franz Liszt with his Hungarian rhapsodies who was an inspiration to Brahms, both artistically and financially. In 1850 Brahms met the Hungarian violinist Ede Remenyi and accompanied him in a number of recitals over the next few years. This was his introduction to “gypsy-style” music such as the csardas, which was later to prove the foundation of his most lucrative and popular compositions, the two sets of Hungarian Dances (published 1869 and 1880).
Only numbers 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 csardas “Bártfai emlék” (Memories of Bartfa) by Hungarian composer Bela Keler, 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.”
Brahms wrote orchestral arrangements for Nos. 1, 3 and 10. Other composers have orchestrated the other dances. These composers include Antonin Dvorak (Nos. 17 to 21), Andreas Hallen (Nos. 2, 4 and 7), Paul Juon (No. 4), Martin Schmeling (1864–1943) (Nos. 5 to 7), Hans Gal (Nos. 8 and 9), Albert Parlow (Nos. 5, 6 in 1876 and 11 to 16 in 1885) and Robert Schollum (Nos. 4, 8 and 9). More recently, Ivan Fischer has orchestrated the complete set. The first ten dances were arranged for solo piano by Brahms himself. The remaining dances (Nos. 11-21) were arranged for solo piano by Theodor Kirchner. Nos. 11-16 are also arranged for simplified piano by Robert Keller. Hungarian Dances have also been arranged for violin and piano, most notably by Paul Klengel (Nos. 1-3, 5-8, 13, 17, 19-21) and Fritz Kreisler (No. 17).
Brahms’s Hungarian Dances were influential in the development of ragtime. See, for example, the role of German-American piano teacher Julius Weiss in ragtime composer Scott Joplin’s early life and career. Hungarian Dance No. 4 in F♯ minor was used by composer John Morris as the main theme in his score for Mel Brooks’ comedy film, The Twelve Chairs (1970), set in In 1920s Soviet Russia. This included both the film’s instrumental score and a song, Hope for the Best, Expect the Worst, with lyrics by Mel Brooks, all based on the Johannes Brahms composition.
