Posted by P. V. Nasby on October 05, 19103 at 02:59:18:

In Reply to: Info about opus 117 and 118 posted by Cindy Huang on September 29, 19103 at 00:11:01:

: I need information such as books, links about these
: two pieces regarding the form, harmony, interpretation
: and rhythm. If anyone knows that, please help me.I am playing these pieces and need to write a paper on it.
: Thanks

Hi Cindy: The following is an excerpt from the liner notes of "Brahms Solo Works for Piano," written by Jeremy Siepmann. Hope you find it helpful.

The three intermezzos, op. 117, were composed and published in 1892, and are so intimate in character that their appearance in concert can seem like an unwarranted intrusion into private grief. Their polyphonic and polyrhythmic features pose real challenges to the interpreter but they are utterly without bravura. Unusually for Brahms, the first piece is headed by a quotation: "Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft und schon/Mich dauert's sehr, dich weinen sehen ("Sleep , my child, sleep and deep. It pains me so to see you weep"). The middle number is the most popular and has long been enshrined as a beautiful and silencing encore. The distinction between melody and harmony here is both fine and irregular, but Brahms makes his intentions crystal clear through the use of so-called double stemming.

The final intermezzo is far and away the darkest, and despite its great beauty is the least popular of the set. Its ravishing middle section is an eloquent example of sorrow expressed in the major mode, enhanced by a typically Brahmsian rhythmic ambiguity. It also carries the expressive use of pianistic tone-colour to heights unsurped by any composer before or since.

The six pieces of Op. 118 begin with an Intermezzo--a characteristically Brahmsian contradiction in terms--which serves as a prelude to the set as a whole. Alone among Brahms's shorter pieces, it would be nothing but perplexing if played on its own. In its proper context it leads beautifully into the second intermezzo, one of Brahms's most poignantly eloquent pieces (which CAN stand on its own). The third piece takes us back to Brahms's more 'heroic' phase and may indeed date from an earlier period. No such suion, however, accrues to the great E-flat minor intermezzo which crowns the set. Prophetic in its sonorities and profound in its combination of the pathetic and the tragic, it is one of Brahms's most artfully organised and emotionally powerful compositions.

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: : I need information such as books, links about these : : two pieces regarding the form, harmony, interpretation : : and rhythm. If anyone knows that, please help me.I am playing these pieces and need to write a paper on it. : : Thanks : Hi Cindy: The following is an excerpt from the liner notes of "Brahms Solo Works for Piano," written by Jeremy Siepmann. Hope you find it helpful. : The three intermezzos, op. 117, were composed and published in 1892, and are so intimate in character that their appearance in concert can seem like an unwarranted intrusion into private grief. Their polyphonic and polyrhythmic features pose real challenges to the interpreter but they are utterly without bravura. Unusually for Brahms, the first piece is headed by a quotation: "Schlaf sanft, mein Kind, schlaf sanft und schon/Mich dauert's sehr, dich weinen sehen ("Sleep , my child, sleep and deep. It pains me so to see you weep"). The middle number is the most popular and has long been enshrined as a beautiful and silencing encore. The distinction between melody and harmony here is both fine and irregular, but Brahms makes his intentions crystal clear through the use of so-called double stemming. : The final intermezzo is far and away the darkest, and despite its great beauty is the least popular of the set. Its ravishing middle section is an eloquent example of sorrow expressed in the major mode, enhanced by a typically Brahmsian rhythmic ambiguity. It also carries the expressive use of pianistic tone-colour to heights unsurped by any composer before or since. : The six pieces of Op. 118 begin with an Intermezzo--a characteristically Brahmsian contradiction in terms--which serves as a prelude to the set as a whole. Alone among Brahms's shorter pieces, it would be nothing but perplexing if played on its own. In its proper context it leads beautifully into the second intermezzo, one of Brahms's most poignantly eloquent pieces (which CAN stand on its own). The third piece takes us back to Brahms's more 'heroic' phase and may indeed date from an earlier period. No such suion, however, accrues to the great E-flat minor intermezzo which crowns the set. Prophetic in its sonorities and profound in its combination of the pathetic and the tragic, it is one of Brahms's most artfully organised and emotionally powerful compositions.

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