The Big Foto

Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897), German composer and pianist, was one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene. In his lifetime, Brahms’ popularity and influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the Three Bs.

Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. An accomplished pianist, he gave the first performance of many of his own works; he also worked with the leading performers of his time, including the virtuoso pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed many works and left some unpublished. [Johannes Brahms]

The Hungarian Dances (German: Ungarische Tänze) by Johannes Brahms (WoO 1), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes. Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions. In fact, number 5 was based on the csárdás by Kéler Béla titled “Bartfai emlek” which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong.They vary from about a minute to four minutes in length. They are among Brahms’ 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. The most famous Hungarian Dance is No. 5 in F# minor (G minor in the orchestral version). [The Hungarian Dances].

You can listen the hungarian dance no.5 in the following video from The Great Dictator where Chaplin seems to be playing this masterpiece.

Enjoy this weekend.

1 Dictator Adenoid Hynkel of Tomania. Credit: IMDb The Great Dictator by Charles Chaplin #