Widmann's Intermezzi are influenced by the famous cycles of Johannes Brahms (Op. 116 - Op. 119) which are cited quite frequently. In the preface of the edition, Widmann hints at its 'unsettling reduction and succinct brevity': 'Latently menacing structures of melancholy beauty emerge from almost nothing here. I wish to listen to this tone of the later Brahms in my own Intermezzi which are naturally (and with regard to their age) totally different. And thus pay tribute to Brahms, the love of my youth, who was then overshadowed by Schumann for a long time but is now flaring up anew. The secret after the sound, even the anticipating pre-sound, the space of the in-between is what, to me, constitutes the essence of music. Therefore: Intermezzi.'