by Frederick Stone
(From Belfast)
Intermezzos
Some critics consider that Brahms's last groups of piano pieces, the Intermezzos Op. 117 and 118, are the finest and most characteristic of his compositions. If this may seem to genuine Brahmsians a one-sided statement, at least it shows that all are agreed that these pieces represent the master at his greatest. For those who are interested in the poetic ideas that stimulate a great composer's imagination, it is interesting to note that the Intermezzo Op. 117 No. 1 is headed by a quotation from one of Herder's Folk Songs-a German form of the Scots cradle song known as ' Lady Anne Both-well's Lament ' (to be found in Percy's ' Relics of Ancient English Poetry'). The lines (in the original Scots) begin:
Balow, my babe, lye still and sleipe. It grieves me sair to see thee weipe.
Rhapsodies
Brahms's two Rhapsodies, Op. 79, No. 1 in B minor, and No. 2 in G minor, were written in 1879 and dedicated to Elizabeth von Herzogenberg. When Brahms sent the MSS. to her he wrote: Can you suggest a better title than Rhapsody? You cannot suggest a better dedication-that is, if you will allow me to put your dear and honoured name on this trash.' Elizabeth von Herzogenberg, however, agreed that Rhapsody would perhaps be the best title, ' although the clearly defined form of both pieces seems somewhat at variance with one's conception of a rhapsody '.