1st piano trio (Mendelssohn)

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The 1st Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49 ( MWV Q 29 ) is a chamber music work for piano , violin and cello by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . It was composed in 1839 and is one of the most famous piano trios of the Romantic period .

Emergence

The first plans for a piano trio - a chamber music genre that was comparatively unpopular at the time - were made as early as 1831. Sketches for a piano trio in D minor have survived from 1833, but it is unclear whether these actually belong to the later op. Mendelssohn completed the first version of the work in the summer of 1839. His friend Ferdinand Hiller was clearly impressed, but criticized the antiquity of the accompanying figures, especially the piano arpeggios in the first movement. At his suggestion in particular, Mendelssohn fundamentally revised the work in the autumn of the same year, and later he made several changes. The first German print was published on April 9, 1840 by Breitkopf & Härtel ; the premiere took place on February 1st in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig .

After the premiere, Mendelssohn tried to have the work published abroad. In France in particular he ran into difficulties; finally he came to an agreement with the London publisher Edward Buxton, for whom he made a version for piano, cello and the flute , which is more popular in England . The requests for changes that Mendelssohn brought in after the German first printing could hardly be taken into account during the printing process abroad, so that there are a large number of different versions of Op. 49, both from the early and late phases.

construction

  • 1st movement: Molto Allegro agitato , D minor, 3/4 time
  • 2nd movement: Andante con moto tranquillo , B flat major, 4/4 time
  • 3rd movement: Scherzo. Leggero e vivace , D major, 6/8 time
  • 4th movement: Finale. Allegro assai appassionato , D minor, 4/4 time

1 sentence

\ relative {\ key d \ minor \ time 3/4 \ clef bass \ partial 4 a, 4 \ p d2. ~ d4 cis d f2. d2 d4 d2. ~ d4 cis d a'2. ~ a4 r4 \ bar "|"}

The first movement is based on a sonata main clause form . The first theme in D minor develops from the fourth jump Ad and comprises a total of 39 bars (above the first 8 bars in the cello). This contrasts with a second, softer theme in A major. The instrumentation is similar for both themes: the cello performs the first phrase and is replaced by the violin, which concludes the theme together with the piano. In the recapitulation , the main theme is supplemented by a descending counterpart in the violin.

2nd movement

The slow second movement corresponds to a three-part song form ( ABA ) and with its clear, vocal melody is reminiscent of the style of songs without words . The first 8 bars are played solo by the piano and repeated in a duet by the violin and cello; the melody changes between these two vocal groups. A middle section in B flat minor creates not only a harmonic, but also a rhythmic opposite pole through eighth note triplets and dotted eighth notes. The shortened repetition of the main part underlines the melody - now performed by the violin - with triad breaks in the piano.

3rd movement

\ relative {\ key d \ major \ time 6/8 \ partial 8 a'8 \ staccato \ p a'8 \ staccato d, 16 (e fis8 \ staccato) g \ staccato e \ staccato cis \ staccato d16}

Although the title of the third movement is Scherzo , the third movement is more like a rondo form with the ABACABCA scheme , although it can also be called a sonata movement form, in which the form parts A and B correspond to the main theme and secondary theme . The main rhythmic impulse is provided by the above starting motif, which gives the movement a light, playful character. There are also scale excerpts and frequent forte - piano changes .

4th movement

The finale is pervaded by a rhythmic motif similar to the third movement (quarter-eighth-eighth note). The opening theme in D minor is followed by a rhythmically identical secondary theme in F major, which quickly disappears in favor of the opening theme. A third, contrasting theme in B flat major takes up the song without words - the character of the Andante . The movement has the same rondo structure as the Scherzo , with the opening theme sounding towards the end in D major and ending in a furious coda in fortissimo .

reception

The piano trio was received very positively by contemporaries. Gottfried Wilhelm Fink highlighted the “enthusiasm” that emanated from the piece in the Allgemeine Musikischen Zeitung . In a review in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Robert Schumann called it the “master trio of the present” and used it as an opportunity to refer to Mendelssohn as the “Mozart of the 19th century”, “who saw through the contradictions of the time most clearly, and first reconciled. "

A comparison with other romantic piano trios by Robert Schumann, Fanny Hensel and Franz Berwald , also composed in D minor, reveals some stylistic similarities and suggests that Mendelssohn's work was seen as a “prototype of a romantic piano trio”.

literature

  • Wolfgang Grandjean: Trio No. 1 (Grand Trio) in D minor op.49 for violin, violin cello and piano . In: Matthias Geuting (Ed.): Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Interpretations of his works . Vol. 2. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2016, ISBN 978-3-89007-718-5 , pp. 78-85.
  • Salome Reiser: "Mendelssohn doesn't work here at all". Unknown to the well-known Piano Trio in D minor Op. 49 by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy . In: The Tonkunst. Magazine for classical music and musicology . Volume 3, No. 2, 2009, pp. 148-161.
  • R. Larry Todd: The Chamber Music of Mendelssohn . In: Stephen E. Hefling (Ed.): Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music. 2nd ed. Taylor and Francis, Florence 2014, ISBN 978-0203493083 , pp. 170-207.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reiser: "Mendelssohn doesn't go here at all" . P. 150.
  2. ↑ See Todd: The Chamber Music of Mendelssohn . P. 192.
  3. ↑ Reiser: "Mendelssohn doesn't go here at all" . P. 152.
  4. ↑ See Todd: The Chamber Music of Mendelssohn . P. 195.
  5. ^ Klaus Wolfgang Niemöller: Genre tradition and new expressive dramaturgy in the piano trios by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy . In: Wilhelm Seidel (Hrsg.): The pride and the ornament of our city: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Leipzig. Edition Peters, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-369-00275-2 , p. 264.
  6. ↑ Reiser: “Mendelssohn doesn't work here at all”. P. 148.
  7. ↑ Markus Waldura: Four romantic piano trios in D minor in comparison: Mendelssohn - Schumann - Hensel - Berwald. In: Bernhard R. Appel et al. (Ed.): Schumanniana Nova. Festschrift for Gerd Nauhaus on his 60th birthday. Studio Verlag, Sinzig 2002, ISBN 3-89564-085-9 , p. 787.