The last compositions Brahms wrote for piano were those published as Opus 117, 118 and 119, principally the work of 1892, when he apparently wrote a number of other piano pieces that were never published. The first group, Opus 117, consists of three Intermezzi. The first, in the key of E flat, carries as a sub-title a quotation from Herder’s translation of a Scottish folk-song:
Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft und schön!
Mich dauert ‘s sehr, dich weinen sehn.
(Sleep well, my child, sleep well and peacefully; I worry much to see you cry)
Its beautiful melody, the basis of the whole piece, is concealed in an inner part.
The second Intermezzo, in B flat minor, makes expressive use of an arpeggiated texture and the group ends with a C sharp minor Intermezzo where the initial theme is presented in stark and recurrent octaves.
Opus 118 bears the simpler title “Klavierstücke” and includes four Intermezzi, a Ballade and a Romanze.
Opus 119 contains three Intermezzi and one Rhapsody. It opens with a B minor Intermezzo that Clara Schumann found sadly sweet, an appropriate description.
Here is the great pianist Radu Lupu to play some of this music for you:
