The Piano Pieces Op. 119 are less a loose collection of pieces than a self-contained cycle. Johannes Brahms's piano work reach their conclusion and fulfilment in these pieces, and the forebodings of death in the E-flat minor Intermezzo Op. 118 No. 6 are metamorphosed into late-Romantic otherworldliness.
Johannes Brahms wrote to Clara Schumann about the Intermezzo Op. 119 No. 1: "I am tempted to copy out a little piano piece for you, since I would like to know how you find it. It is full of dissonances! They may be correct and legitimate - but perhaps not to your liking, in which case I wish they were less correct but more appealing and to your taste. The little piece is exceptionally melancholic, and it would be an understatement to say that it must 'be played very slowly'. Every bar and eyery note must sound ritard., as if one wanted to squeeze the melancholy with ecstasy and contentment out of every single one of those dissonances! Oh God, the description alone will make you eager!"
Ulrich Mahlert has revised this edition of the "Klavierstücke" Op. 119 on the basis of the author's copy of the composer, and wrote a detailed and informative preface to the new edition.