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Johannes Brahms

Three Intermezzi for piano, Op. 117 (Brahms)

The Three Intermezzi for piano, Op. 117, are a set of solo piano pieces composed by Johannes Brahms in 1892. They show Brahms's interest in lullaby; in particular, Brahms told a friend that they were

History#

Brahms composed the three Intermezzi of Opus 117 in the summer of 1892 while staying in Bad Ischl. In June of that year he asked his friend, the musicologist Eusebius Mandyczewski, to send him manuscript paper so that Brahms could “properly sketch” the three pieces. In September 1892 Clara Schumann learned of the pieces’ existence from her student Ilona Eibenschütz and wrote to Brahms requesting he send them to her. He sent her the completed pieces on 14 October 1892.

Reception#

These character pieces were described by the critic Eduard Hanslick as “monologues”. Brahms’s biographer Walter Niemann calls them “thoroughly personal and subjective”, striking a “pensive, graceful, dreamy, resigned, and elegiac note”.

  • , performed by Hélène Grimaud
  • , Pianist: Radu Lupu
  • Detailed Listening Guide using the recording by Martin Jones
Composer
Johannes Brahms