Johannes Brahms wrote his Three Intermezzi, Op. 117 during a short stay in the Austrian resort town of Bad Ischl in 1892.
Upon completion, Brahms sent the intermezzi to his lifelong friend, Clara Schumann, who exclaimed, “in these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul.”
All three are around five minutes in length and are filled with melancholy, perhaps even grief.
Brahms called them, “three lullabies for my sorrows,” and from the moment one opens the score it is easy to see the intent of this music.
Here is pianist Grigory Sokolov ho will play the Intermezzo Opus 117, #2 for you:
