Piano trio op.1.1 (Beethoven)

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The Piano Trio op.1.1 in E flat major is the first of three piano trios that Ludwig van Beethoven published in 1795 under opus number 1. The other two are the Piano Trio op.1.2 in G major and the Piano Trio op.1.3 in C minor.

Emergence

Even before the creation of the Piano Trios op. 1, Beethoven had approached the genre of the piano trio through the piano quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . In composing his piano quartets in E flat major, D major and C major WoO 36 Mozart's violin sonatas KV 379, 380 and 296 , Beethoven used as a model.

Most of the Piano Trios op. 1 were written in 1793 and 1794, with Beethoven writing the first of the three trios, which is also the oldest in the group, possibly as early as his time in Bonn. The dedicatee of the three trios is Beethoven's patron and patron Karl Lichnowsky , who made the first private performances of the works possible.

The piano trios were published in 1795 with the first edition financed by Prince Lichnowsky and edited by Artaria under the opus number 1, whereby the "Figaro Variations" (later WoO 40), previously designated with the same number, were downgraded. It is possible that Beethoven opted for this numbering because he saw the trios as his first works worthy of publication. The musicologist Konrad Küster is of the opinion, however, that the decision for opus number 1 goes back to Lichnowsky, who wanted a "symbolic number" for the work dedicated to him.

To the music

Already at the beginning of his piano trio composition, Beethoven broke new ground in the genre by writing piano trios with four instead of the previously usual three movements and in the final movement replaced the previously common rondo with the sonata movement . When designing this trio, Beethoven followed the example of Mozart's piano quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello in E flat major, K. 493, composed in 1785 .

First movement: Allegro

The first movement begins with a triad rising over two octaves, which led the musicologist and Beethoven researcher Lewis Lockwood to suspect that the overture to Mozart's opera The Magic Flute may have served as a model. The main theme of the movement, energetic in this way, is in contrast to the lyrical secondary theme performed by the violin in G minor. Although this second subject is only an interlude, this contrast is in the implementation complemented by a striking, third motive. The coda reaches the size of a development.

Second movement: Adagio cantabile

The adagio of the second movement, which is in the form of a rondo, has an intense effect through melodic variation. The lyrical theme is introduced by the piano and then taken up and varied by the violin. This is followed by a duet of violin and violoncello, which, with its piano accompaniment, reminds the musicologist Alexander L. Ringer "of the trio sonata of an earlier time." The middle section ends in C major in the recapitulation .

Third movement: Scherzo: Allegro assai

The third movement changes from C minor at the beginning of the movement to B flat major within a few bars and only reaches the tonic of its basic key in E flat major in bar 15 . The four-tone motif at the beginning of this movement can be heard again in the first movement of the G major piano trio op.1.2.

The joke character of the sentence is expressed in the suggestion figure, which initially sounds cautiously in the main theme and gains weight as the sentence progresses.

Fourth movement: Finale: Presto

The finale is given a lively character by the decimal leaps of the main theme, which, according to Ringer, sound like "quite ordinary street whistles" , while the secondary theme for wrestlers is kept in the manner of "a downright popular hit" . The movement contains some surprising moments, such as the secondary theme in the coda, which is a semitone too high. Thus, in the opinion of Lewis Lockwood, this theme is in the tradition of a quartet finale in the style of Joseph Haydn .

effect

Karl Lichnowsky enabled the first private performances of the trios around the turn of the year 1793/1794. On this occasion, Beethoven's teacher at the time in Vienna, Joseph Haydn, is said to have warned his pupil before the publication of the third trio in particular, which later became the most popular of the three, that the Viennese were not able to record such complex and spirited pieces . His fears turned out to be unfounded.

When publishing the works, the composer took a financial risk insofar as he partly bore the costs of the production himself and was therefore dependent on the good sales figures of the trios. The trios were sold around 250 times; and Beethoven earned over 700 guilders, enough to secure a living for a whole year.

The Allgemeine Musikischen Zeitung particularly liked Opus 1, "because in it, as in a few, the happy youth of the master is still unclouded, light and frivolous, mirrored, but the later, deep seriousness and the tender intimacy have already sometimes impressed the author ( and then, how beautiful!), even though one recognizes the models of Mozart's piano quartets, but B.'s peculiarity and independence shine out unmistakably and spray flickering, sparkling sparks around .

literature

supporting documents

further reading

  • Wolfgang Osthoff : The slow introductions to Beethoven's piano trios (op.1 no.2, op.121, op.70 no.2) . In: Rudolf Bockholdt and Petra Weber-Bockholdt (eds.): Beethoven's piano trios. Symposium Munich 1990. Munich 1992. pp. 119–129.
  • Alexander L. Ringer: 3 piano trios in E flat major, G major and C minor op.1 (together with the string quintet in C minor op.104) . In: Carl Dahlhaus , Albrecht Riethmüller and Alexander L. Ringer (eds.): Beethoven - interpretations of his works. , 1994, Vol. 1, pp. 1-20.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Konrad Küster: Beethoven , Stuttgart 1994
  2. ↑ Lewis Lockwood: Beethoven: His Music - His Life , Metzler 2009, p. 73
  3. ↑ Alexander L. Ringer: 3 piano trios in E flat major, G major and C minor op.1 (together with the string quintet in C minor op.104) . In: Carl Dahlhaus , Albrecht Riethmüller and Alexander L. Ringer (eds.): Beethoven - interpretations of his works. , 1994, volume 1, p. 4)
  4. ↑ Sven Hiemke (Ed.): Beethoven - Handbuch , Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, Kassel, 2009, p. 486.
  5. ↑ a b Alexander L. Ringer: 3 piano trios in E flat major, G major and C minor op.1 (together with the string quintet in C minor op.104) . In: Interpretations 1994 , Volume 1, p. 6
  6. ↑ Lewis Lockwood: Beethoven: His Music - His Life , Metzler 2009, p. 74
  7. ^ Brilliant Classics: Text / Libretti. In: Beethoven: Complete Works. 2008, p. 13.