JOHANNES BRAHMS The German composer Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg on 7 May 1833 and died in Vienna on 3 April 1897. He venerated Beethoven, perhaps even more than other Romantic composers did. In the composer's home, a marble bust of Beethoven looked down on the spot where he composed. His works contain a number of apparent imitations of Beethoven. Thus, the beginning of Brahms's First Piano Sonata is very close to the opening of Beethoven's Hammerklavier sonata; and the main theme of the finale of Brahms's First Symphony is reminiscent of the main theme of the finale of Beethoven's Ninth. (When the latter resemblance was pointed out to Brahms, he replied that any ass � jeder Esel � could see that.) The Hungarian Dances (German: Ungarische T�nze), are a set of 21 lively dance tunes based mostly on Hungarian themes. (Only numbers 11, 14 and 16 are entirely original compositions.) They vary from about a minute to four minutes in length. They are among Brahms' most popular works, and were certainly the most profitable for him. Each dance has been arranged for a plethora of instruments and ensembles. Brahms originally wrote the version for piano 4 hands and later arranged the first 10 dances for solo piano. He wrote orchestral arrangements for No. 1, No. 3 and No. 10. Other composers, including Antonin Dvorak, orchestrated the other dances. The most famous Hungarian Dance is No. 5 in F-sharp minor (g minor in the orchestral version).