Johannes Brahms

Brahms may have first become exposed to Hungarian gypsy music as early as 1850, thanks to his friend, the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi. The first two of the four books that contain the 21 Hungarian Dances were finished by 1868, when Brahms and Clara Schumann introduced them at a private concert. The remaining two books were completed the following year. While most have strong folk flavors, this G minor effort, the first piece in Book I, also manages to sound much like Brahms' more serious piano music, especially in its opening theme.

That melody is nervous and hasty, sounding somewhat dark and agitated. Subsidiary elements clearly divulge a gypsy character as the music turns more playful, seeming intentionally disjointed in its shifting tempos and colors. The main theme returns to close the piece, not veering from the anxious demeanor of the opening. Brahms may have placed this piece first because of its slightly less overtly folkish manner, as if in hopes of gradually introducing Germanic ears to the more alien and colorful sound world of the Hungarian gypsies.