Three Intermezzi op. 117 – Brahms

The three popular Intermezzi op. 117 can be seen as the epitome of Brahms’ late work for piano. Clara Schumann confessed: “In these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul”. Brahms reacted, as he often did, in a rather brusque manner. Although he sometimes described the three Intermezzi as being “Wiegenlieder” (lullabies), he formally rejected this title: “It should then say, lullaby of an unhappy mother or of a disconsolate bachelor.” The new edition of these moderately difficult Intermezzi (level of difficulty 5/6) has now been revised following the musical text of the Brahms Complete Edition, and has fingerings by Andreas Boyde.