At the age of just 19 years old, Brahms traveled Germany to follow Hungarian cellist Ede Reményi, who taught him the folk music of his own country. The result of this apprenticeship can be found in the pages of his Hungarian Dances! This suite of 21 pieces, inspired by popular Hungarian arias and influenced by gypsy themes, is characterized by abrupt tempo changes, jumping from a slow pace to a suddenly faster tempo. The Hungarian Dances have been a tremendous success since their initial release, producing many transcriptions and inspiring others composers including Dvořák. But the most famous among them all is without a doubt the Hungarian Dance No. 5, having earned a place of honor in an early cinematic masterpiece: Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Such is the timeless charm of the Hungarian Dances!
Browse recordings of Hungarian Dances
Stream Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances on medici.tv!
medici.tv is the best online platform for streaming Brahms’ Hungarian Dances live, on replay or VOD, offering you a virtual ticket to the most exciting concerts with the world’s best artists and orchestras captured in HD video. At the age of only 19 years old, Brahms started writing down folk songs that he heard in the street while he was traveling the country to earn a living playing the bass. 17 years later, these sheets of music became his famous Hungarian Dances, and they witnessed universal success, inspiring other composers to take an interest in popular music. Most notably, they helped to bring about Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances! On medici.tv, you can find both of these sensational works! Take a stroll through their fascinating musical world: they are not to be missed!
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The greatest artists of our time perform Brahms’ Hungarian Dances on medici.tv, your #1 classical streaming platform
Gypsies are also called the “sons of the wind,” and together with their nomadism, it is their culture that travels and adapts to different countries and ages. It was 1852 when the wind blew these ancient songs in the direction of Johannes Brahms. Inspiration came suddenly, and the Hungarian Dances thus saw the light of day! Like other German composers, such as Joseph Haydn or Franz Liszt, Brahms was greatly inspired by the folkloric word, as we can retrace the original melodies of each of his 21 dances. In the style of a musicological study, Brahms sketched the vestiges of a distant world and its success was immediate: the Hungarian Dances produced many transcriptions, including some by Brahms himself. On medici.tv, you can find a vast choice of interpretations of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, whenever you want, wherever you like!