The three popular Intermezzi op. 117 can be seen as the epitome of Brahms’ late work for piano. Clara Schumann confessed: ''In these pieces I at last feel musical life stir once again in my soul''. Brahms reacted, as he often did, in a rather brusque manner. Although he sometimes described the three Intermezzi as being ''Wiegenlieder'' (lullabies), he formally rejected this title: ''It should then say, lullaby of an unhappy mother or of a disconsolate bachelor.''