Dance No.1 in C major, Op. 46; Dance No.2 in E minor, Op. 46; Dance No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 46; Dance No.8 in G minor, Op. 46; Dance No. 72

Johannes Brahms - Hungarian Dances:

Dance I in G minor; Dance II in D minor; Dance IV in F minor; Dance V in F sharp minor; Dance X in E-flat major; Dance XIV in D minor; Dance XVIII in D major

 Zoltán Kodály - "Dances of Galanta"

Dance styles were always developed in professional music, and they can be found in the very first collections of instrumental works of the Renaissance. They became particularly popular in the Baroque era (a suite is nothing more than a series of stylised dances), but in the 19th century they returned to the repertoire with even greater vigour. The popularity of dance music with links to folk dances can be explained not only by the Romantics' interest in folklore, but also by the fashion for dance music that was prevalent in bourgeois salons. Probably all the composers of the Romantic era, including the most eminent ones, succumbed to this fashion. Alongside Chopin's mazurkas and waltzes, the most popular examples of dance styles are Brahms' Hungarian Dances and their counterparts in Dvořák's Slavic works.

 Johannes Brahms' Hungarian Dances is a collection of 21 works published (though not in opus numbers) in four volumes in 1869 and 1880. Not much. In fact, Brahms's melodies are primarily from gypsy musicians from various parts of central Europe, whom the composer listened to in Vienna, and Dances 11, 14 and 16 are completely original pieces. The Hungarian dances are therefore a reception of popular urban folklore rather than arrangements of real folk tunes, but this in no way detracts from their artistic value. Although Brahms is described as a 'salon' composer, in his compositions for ladies in good behaviour, one can detect the Brahmsian duality - a mysterious interweaving of the dramatic and the banal - even in these compositions. The difference between the temporary and the eternal. You can also hear the fine, rich instrumentation and admire - apart from the sonorous melodies - the iron form. 

 Brahms's miniatures were originally written for four-hand piano, and were therefore usually entertainment repertoire played by amateur musicians. The works quickly gained a great deal of popularity, which their publisher Fritz Simrock was keen to exploit. To this end, he commissioned a series of Slavonic dances by Antonin Dvořák, then a rising star in European composition, which could serve as a kind of counterpoint to Brahms's works. The Czech composer accepted the commission and composed a cycle of eight works (1878), which he added eight more almost a decade later. Like the German composer's Dances, they were originally intended for the piano, but eventually a brilliant, colourful orchestral version became more popular. However, Dvořák did not follow in Brahms's footsteps and devised all the themes himself, stylising them only with folk melodies. Galánta is a small town in Hungary, known to travellers from Vienna to Budapest, where the composer spent seven years of his childhood. At that time, the town was home to a famous gypsy group whose music was the first 'orchestral sound' to reach the young composer's ear. The ancestors of these Gypsies had been known for more than a hundred years. Around 1800, several books of Hungarian dances were published in Vienna, one of which included music 'based on a few gypsies from Galánta'. This music preserved the old Hungarian traditions. In order to continue them, the composer took the main themes from these old editions. 

 These old 18th-century dances, chosen by Kodály, are known as the verbunkos, the "recruitment dances". The dance was performed by a group of hussars, starting with a slow introduction and ending with fast, virtuosic elements. The spectacular performance was probably designed to arouse people's curiosity and encourage them to join in the fun. The music that accompanied these events was usually played by gypsy bands, who often performed breathtakingly elaborate improvisations to essentially simple melodies.