The subject is portrayed broadly--there are no petty
details--and the music itself, to anyone with a sensitive imagination,
tells the story clearly. Hence a detailed poetic interpretation is out
of place, since only to the suggester would it have meaning.

[Footnote 267: It is to be understood that this is a purely personal
interpretation and if any one wishes to consider the piece merely as
absolute music with a strong masculine theme in the minor, a lyric
melody in the major for the natural contrast, and a coda referring in
a general way to the first theme, there is no way to disprove the
contention. That Brahms, however, was not entirely averse to out and
out programmistic treatment is seen from his two pieces on specific
poetic texts, _i.e._, the first number in op. 10 on the _Scottish
Ballads of Edward_ and the _Lullaby_ in op. 117 on the Scottish
Folk-song _Sleep Soft, My Child_.]

[Footnote 268: The same key that Wagner uses for the end of _Tristan
and Isolde_ and Cesar Franck for the gorgeous Finale of the _Prelude,
Chorale and Fugue_.]

[Footnote 269: The subject is the same as the story of the Sirens in
the _Odyssey_ or of the _Lorelei_ in German Legend.]

So many of Brahms's pianoforte compositions are of great beauty and
significance that, although space is lacking for further comment on
definite examples, we urge the music-lover to study the following: the
second Intermezzo[270] in B-flat minor of op. 117, perhaps the most
beautiful single piece Brahms has written--remarkable for its rhythmic
texture and for the equalization of both hands, which was one of his
chief contributions to pianoforte style; the second Intermezzo of op.
119, the middle part of which is significant for the extended arpeggio
grouping for the left hand (Brahms following Chopin's lead in this
respect); the sixth Intermezzo of op. 118, a superb piece for sonority
and color; the third Intermezzo in op. 119, (grazioso e giocoso) and
the B minor Capriccio op. 76--both in Brahms's happiest vein of
exuberant vitality; the sixth Intermezzo in op. 116, a beautiful
example, in its polyphonic texture, of modernized Schumann; and, above
all, the mighty Rhapsodies in E-flat major, op. 112 No. 4 and the one
in G minor op. 79--this latter, one of Brahms's most dramatic
conceptions, and an example, as well, of complete sonata-form used for
an independent composition.

[Footnote 270: For further comments on the phraseology see _The Rhythm
of Mo