2018, Term 4, Week 3: While we are in Hungary . . .

This week we are learning about Brahms Hungarian Dance Number 2. 

Following on from listening to and viewing List over the past two weeks,  we will continue our Hungarian music theme with Brahms Hungarian Dance Number 5. 

Johannes Brahms was born in Germany in 1833 and died in Vienna in 1897.

His father was a musician and played the double bass. Johannes learned the piano when he was young, and he was a talented musician and composer. When he was growing up in  Germany there were many Hungarian musicians in his home town of Hamburg. Brahms liked their folk music and it influenced a lot of his own compositions.

Brahms was close friends with many other famous musicians of the time: Franz Liszt , Robert Schumann and his wife Clara, and Johann Strauss II. (Brahms said that he wished that he had written The Blue Danube which was composed by Strauss.) He eventually moved to Vienna and lived there until he died from cancer in 1897. Wagner, another famous German musician, also met Brahms in Vienna and did not like him, saying he was a bad conductor. Wagner was afraid that Brahms might compose better operas than his, but Brahms didn't write operas, anyway. It was true that Brahms was not a very good conductor, so he got someone else to conduct the music he composed.

Here's some easy-to-read information about Brahms and a listening map for Hungarian Dance #2. 

Here's Charlie Chaplin    -  one of the first movie stars  in a scene in a barber's  shop. Watch how he makes all his movements fit the music. 

Here's a Looney Tunes cartoon of the Three Little Pigs, using Brahms Hungarian Dances #5, #7, #6  and #17 in that order.  What changes do you think were made to make the music fit the story and soundtrack?

And how about having a go at dancing to it?  (Skip to 38 seconds into the video). 

If you enjoy playing the drums  - ore electric guitar - listen and look at this version .

Here's a listening map to help you follow the structure and form of the music. How would you imagine a listening map to look? 

Here's an orchestra performing Hungarian Dance #5. How does the conductor show fast and slow, soft and loud? Look at the different ways she communicates with the musicians. 

Probably the most well known of Brahms music is his lullaby.