S.O.D. "Hungarian Dance No. 5" by Johannes Brahms

9/14/2015     This Hamburg born composer and pianist was one of the three B's, alongside Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven.  Considered a traditional composer and musician but also an innovator, he created brave new approaches to harmony and melody.  The counterpoint in music is the relationship between voices that are interdependent harmonically yet independent in rhythm and contour.  Along with very few others, Bach included, Brahms is a master of this.  In 1869 he completed his set of 21 dance tunes called the Hungarian Dances of which #5 is the most popular. At age 7 he was playing piano at dance halls to earn money for his family.