James Zehm wrote:

>I don't know how you are thinking Brahms knew Hungarian Gypsy music
>well...Brahms had a for his time great knowledge of other composers works
>right, but I didn't know of that he was particualry interested in Hungarian
>Gypsy folk music.

If you are talking about the real folk repertoire studied by Bartok and
Kodaly in the 20th century, this is certainly true.  That is why I put
"gypsy" in quotation marks.  Brahms learned this urban cabaret style (which
has only the most tenuous relation to real Hungarian folk music) through
his association with the violinist Remenyi, who liked to include music in
that style on his recitals.  This ersatz-gypsy style was the inspiration
for his "Hungarian dances." Its echoes can be heard in some of his other
music even to the end of his life--for example the slow movement of his
Clarinet Quintet.

Reference:  Swafford, J.  (1997).  Johannes Brahms:  A biography.  New
York:  Alfred A Knopf.  pp.  61-62.

Chris Bonds