Starting after 1848, Hungarian refugees frequently came through Hamburg following a suppressed revolution in Hungary. Brahms encountered and absorbed the style hongrois, a combination of Hungarian and Romani (“gypsy”) musical idioms.1 In particular, Brahms experienced this style by collaborating multiple times with Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi (1828-1898)2
Most of the 21 Hungarian Dances are based on actual Romani (“gypsy”) folk tunes,3 or on “gypsy” style tunes by little-known composers which Brahms thought were folk tunes. Some composers accused him of stealing their tunes after the Hungarian Dances were published.4
Originally published for piano four-hands, Brahms’s Hungarian Dances were popular for amateur home music making.5
