Sophie Menter she became professor of piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory but left in 1886 to continue concertizing. Because of her popularity, Menter succeeded with music that no other pianist would touch. This included Liszt's First Piano Concerto, which she played in Vienna in 1869, 12 years after its disastrous premiere there. One of her recital specialties was a piece entitled "Rhapsodies". This was a composite of three of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies—Nos. 2, 6 and 12—along with fragments from several others. She also composed various pieces for piano, mainly in a brilliant style, yet referred to her own compositional talent as
Hungarian Dances (Brahms) 4 and 7), Paul Juon (No. 4), Martin Schmeling (1864–1943) (Nos. 5 to 7), Hans Gál (Nos. 8 and 9), (Nos. 5, 6 and 11 to 16) and (Nos. 4, 8 and 9). More recently, Iván Fischer has orchestrated the complete set. Brahms's "Hungarian Dances" were influential in the development of ragtime. See, for example, the role of German-American piano teacher Julius Weiss in ragtime composer Scott Joplin's early life and career. The earliest known recording of any movement of Hungarian Dances was a condensed piano-based rendition of Hungarian Dances No. 1, from 1890, played by Brahms himself, and was