Hungarian Dance WoO 1 No. 5

The Anacrouse collection offers pianists, beginners and advanced alike, a wide choice of classical works from the Renaissance to the present day. It brings together major works of the repertoire as well as rarer pieces, and also offers transcriptions for piano solo or four hands, selected for their musical and educational interest. Each score, available individually, benefits from careful editorial work: a rigorously established musical text, clear and legible engraving, accompanied by a short biography of the composer and a note on the work.

The “Hungarian Dance WoO 1 No. 5” (in F sharp minor), presented here in a solo piano transcription by David Neyrolles, is a lively piece that allows work on contrasts of tempo and character. This title is taken from the reference songbook “9 Famous Classical Themes for Piano”, the third volume of the Anacrouse collection. This elementary-to-intermediate transcription offers fluid writing that makes it possible to approach the sudden changes of dynamics and the rubato typical of gypsy music, while preserving the infectious energy of the original work.

Originally composed for piano four hands by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) and published in 1869, the fifth Hungarian Dance is without doubt the most famous of the cycle. Drawing on the popular melodies of Central Europe, Brahms infuses it with irresistible passion and dynamism. Often used in cinema and popular culture, this work is here made accessible to solo pianists, allowing them to rediscover at the keyboard all the fire, brilliance and festive spirit of this emblematic page of Romantic music.