Brahms Hungarian Dance No 5 with Skiing

Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 with Skiing

Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor
Joseph Sandor Conducting Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra

In composing the music for his Hungarian dances, Johannes Brahms made use of the Hungarian folk songs he had heard. These are based on the Hungarian dance Czardas, which usually consists of two parts, the one melancholy, the other wild and passionate, reflecting respectively the Magyar and Gypsy spirit.

I have used the rhythmic movements of downhill, slalom, freestyle, and moguls skiing to express the contrasting moods reflected in the composition.

Brahms composed a set of 21 lively dance tunes, based mostly on Hungarian themes, which were completed in 1869. They are among Brahms's 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.

While numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions, Brahms was inspired by the traditional Hungarian folk melodies in composing the other dances. The most famous, No. 5 in F♯ minor (G minor in the orchestral version), which Brahms mistakenly thought was a traditional folksong, was based on the csárdás by Béla Kéler titled "Bártfai emlék" (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI-8QGIYN_s at 1:29).

Video scenes taken from a variety of skiing videos on YouTube:
World Cup Ski Racing, Beaver Creek, CO 2011
Tina Maze wins Cortina Downhill - January 25, 2014
Highlights from the ladies' dual moguls at the 2013 Voss -Oslo FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships
Tina Maze winner - Lenzerheide 2013 GS
Men's Supercombination - Wengen, Switzerland
Ski World Cup Giant Slalom Men 1st Run - Soelden 2012
Tina Maze - Slalom, Levi, 2012
Highlights from the Men's Dual Moguls FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships - Voss-Oslo 2013
FIS Calgary Ski Moguls Final - 2013-14
Men's Ski Cross Finals Voss-Oslo FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships 2013
World Cup Jump Mixed Groups Japan Reverse V - 2013
Men's Ski Slopestyle Final X Games Aspen 2014
Ski World Cup Giant Slalom Ladies - Soelden 2012

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