The most famous of these dances is the fifth in F-sharp minor, its passionate, uninhibited dance melody released at once by the strings against a strong rhythm.
The following are some other popular dances.
No. 1, in G minor. A slow and languorous dance unfolds in strings, and then is contrasted by a slight, tripping theme in woodwind; a second languorous dance melody follows in the strings.
No. 6 in D-flat major. A slow syncopated melody begins sensually but soon gains in tempo and volume; a second arresting dance tune is then offered by strings against strong chords in the rest of the orchestra.
No. 7 in A major. This dance opens with a vivacious melody in strings, but through most of the piece a comparatively restrained mood is maintained.
No. 12 in D minor. The first dance melody is presented in a halting rhythm by the woodwind against decorative figures in the strings. This is followed by two other dance tunes, the first in strings with trimmings in the woodwind, and the second in full orchestra.
No. 19 in B minor and No. 21 in E minor. Both are fleet and graceful both in melody and rhythm.
The Waltz in A-flat major, a graceful dance which is given without any introduction or coda, originated as a piece for piano duet: the fifteenth of a set of sixteen such waltzes op. 39 (1865). All of Brahms’ waltzes reveal their Viennese identity in their charm and lightness of heart. Some are derivative from the waltzes of Johann Strauss II, but the one in A-major is more in the character of a Schubert Laendler than a Strauss waltz, though it does boast more delicacy and refinement than we usually find in peasant dances. David Hochstein’s transcription for violin and piano is in the concert violin repertory.
Charles Wakefield Cadman
Charles Wakefield Cadman was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1881. As a boy he played the organ in a church near Pittsburgh, and wrote a march that was published. His main music study took place with private teachers: Leo Oehmler, Luigi von Kunits, and Emil Paur. From 1908 to 1910 he was the music critic of the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Meanwhile, a meeting in 1902 with the lyric writer Nellie Richmond Eberhart, turned him to the writing of songs in which he achieved his initial outstanding successes as composer. Some of these were inspired by the American Indian. Later researches in the field of American-Indian ceremonials and music led him to write his opera Shanewis, produced by the Metropolitan Opera in 1918, as well as several significant instrumental works including the Thunderbird Suite and To a Vanishing Race. From 1917 until his death he lived in California where he wrote several major orchestral and chamber-music works, but none in the American-Indian idiom with which he became famous. He died in Los Angeles on December 30, 1946.