Danses Hongroises Valses

Abstract

Ever since Liszt had returned covered in glory from his native Hungary in that famous spring of 1 840, Europe had often turned its gaze towards this tiny composite kingdom, subject through the play of complex political alliances, to the authority of Habsburg Austria. This na¬tion, with its unusual combination of ethnic groups, chaf¬ed under the yoke of its neighbour whenever the threat of a Turkish invasion receded. It was to attempt to throw off this yoke in the insurrection of 1848, but in vain. Liszt was immensely successful in his own country in playing on the patriotic sentiments of his fellow citizens : having become the darling of the land, he had proceeded to con¬quer his public to the heroic strains of the Rakoczy March and had won it over once and for all by littering his im-provizations with the tunes engraved in the hearts and minds of the people. This pacific show of force, along with powerful shows of autonomy, was gradually to bring Emperor Franz-Josef to reconsider Austrian hegemony over Hungary, while the defeat at Sadowa was to force him to adopt a dualistic constitution in 1867 granting Hungary real administrative independence, to the great satisfaction of its leaders. This was the time Johannes Brahms chose to publish his first Dances "in Hungarian fashion" and their immediate success was to win him international fame and the gratitude of the Hungarians. Being a North German, Brahms could hardly be taxed with opportunism. He had in fact long been interested in this earthy music and had been playing it from an early age on, in Hamburg's beer houses and cabarets, endless¬ly churning out on the piano waltzes and sentimental tunes from Central Europe and Russia in order to earn a living. Later, under pressure from his violinist partner Hoffmann, alias Eduard Remenyi, he agreed against his artistic judgement to play up a rather dubious "Hungarianism" which nevertheless delighted his au¬diences. To make amends for these minor sins, he started to adapt fashionable dances composed, little did he know, by such minor Hungarian composers as Sarkozy, Windt, Merty, Keler, Rizner, Travnik, etc. The object, for this young man of twenty, was to please. And to please, one had to write simple, attractive music accessible to the greatest number of people. This was why the four hand piano formula, much in vogue at the time, was perfectly suited to his purpose while also making the most of the piano's wealth of sound without requiring in¬ordinate acrobatics. Before handing these Dances to his publisher, Simrock, Brahms, had tried them out just as he had his Waltzes Op. 39: from 1858 onwards, he general¬ly played them as encores at his own recitals and was thus able to assess their impact. His friend Clara Schumann did likewisel.