1850-1894 Piano Trio Flashcards
Name 6 piano trios ca.1850-1894.
Johannes Brahms
- Piano Trio No.1 in B, Op.8 (two versions, Brahms made significant revisions much later, 1854 & 1891)
- Piano Trio No.2 in C, Op.87 (1882)
- Piano Trio No.3 in c, Op.101 (1886)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in a, Op.50 (1882)
- Sergei Rachmaninov: Trio elegiaque No. 1 in g (1892)
- Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio, No. 4 in e, Op.90 “Dumky” (1894)
Piece: Piano trio by Brahms, 1.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No.1 in B, Op.8 (two versions, Brahms made significant revisions much later, 1854 & 1891)
- The only work of Brahms to exist today in two published versions, although it is the revised version that is played more often.
- among the few multi-movement works to begin in a major key and end in the tonic minor
- The first movement is a sonata form movement in B major, with a broad theme that begins in the cello and piano and builds in intensity. It is counterpoised by a more delicate anacrustic second theme in G sharp minor. This theme appeared only in the second version of the trio, replacing a more complex group of themes and a fugal section in the first version.
- The second movement, a B minor scherzo, combines delicate filigree passages with fortissimo outbursts. The exuberant mood of the first movement returns in the trio section. A picardy third sets the scene for the Adagio. The only alterations Brahms applied to this movement in his revision of the work were a doubling of the climactic trio melody in the cello, and a reworking of the coda.
- The third movement, returning to B major, opens with a spacious chordal theme in the piano, counterpoised by a middle section in which the cello plays a poignant G sharp minor melody making use of chromaticism. In the first version, a different second theme was used, and an Allegro section was included near the end of the movement.
- The first theme of the fourth movement, back in B minor, is highly chromatic and slightly ambiguous tonally, with a very agitated dotted rhythm. This is perhaps the movement Brahms altered the most between the two versions, with the cello’s original smooth second theme in F sharp major—an apparent allusion to Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, also quoted in Schumann’s Fantasie Op. 17—being replaced by a more vigorous arpeggiated piano theme in D major. After a B major episode recalling the mood of the first movement, the music returns to minor and ends very turbulently. The original ending was even more overtly tragic, and it is worth recalling that 1854 was the year Brahms’s friend and mentor Schumann attempted suicide and was confined to an asylum.
Piece: Piano trio by Brahms, 2.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No.2 in C, Op.87 (1882)
- The principal theme of the first movement Allegro is stated by violin and cello in octaves, with the piano contributing chiefly to the second subject group, followed by the development of this material, marked animato to maintain its momentum and espressivo to signify the lyricism of the string melodic line.
The second movement Andante, in A minor, consists of a theme and five variations.
The third movement, a C minor Scherzo, has a more relaxed trio section in the tonic major.
The original key and mode is fully restored in the opening of the final Allegro giocoso, where, as so often in this work, violin and cello initially support each other in octaves. The structure is that of sonata form, with a variety of thematic material suggesting the contrasts inherent in a rondo.
Piece: Piano trio by Tchaikovsky.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in a, Op.50 (1882)
- It is subtitled In memory of a great artist, in reference to Nikolai Rubinstein, his close friend and mentor, who had died
- The only work Tchaikovsky ever wrote for the combination
- The first movement (Pezzo elegiaco) is a darkly brooding and rather conventional romantic first movement with a beautiful opening cello solo with a theme that returns for a final funeral march.
- The second movement is rather more unusual: it opens with an almost classical melody, much like Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme for cello, and then proceeds with an assured set of variations, also like the Rococo Variations. After working itself into more and more ecstatic heights culminating with the final variation, it suddenly goes through a surprising modulation to the original minor key, and the theme from the first movement returns with an even greater gravity, and the entire piece concludes with yet another death march.
- The work, and the second movement in particular, is arguably the most difficult piece Tchaikovsky wrote for piano, whether solo, with orchestra, or in a chamber group.
- Tchaikovsky sent it to his publishers asking that Sergei Taneyev appear as piano soloist at the first performance. Taneyev, the cellist Wilhelm Fitzenhagen and the violinist Jan Hřímalý were given access to the score, and they made a number of suggestions for improvement, which Tchaikovsky accepted.
Piece: Piano trio by Brahms, 3.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Trio No.3 in c, Op.101 (1886)
- Premiered by David Popper, Jenő Hubay, and Brahms.
- In the summer of 1886, he wrote his second violin sonata (Op.100) and second cello sonata (Op.99) in addition to the third piano trio.
- The first movement is in C minor, and is in sonata form. The first movement opens with strong energy, its intense principal subject followed by a subsidiary theme of equal intensity, marked Forte ma cantando, with violin and cello singing the theme together. The development combines both subjects, moving, in its course, to the unexpected key of C sharp minor and followed by a succinct recapitulation and coda.
- The second movement is in C minor, and is in ternary form. This movement takes the form of an intermezzo, in place of the traditional scherzo and trio. The violin and cello are muted as the Scherzo opens, with a central Trio section in F minor, where agitato piano chords are accompanied by plucked ascending arpeggios from the strings.
- The third movement is in C major, and is in ternary form. This movement involves the use of alternating time signatures - 3/4 and 2/4, as well as 9/8 and 6/8. Violin and cello start the C major slow movement with its curiously irregular rhythm, the former presenting the principal theme, then taken up by the piano, which alternates with the string instruments. Further rhythmic changes mark the central section of the movement, before the return of the principal theme.
- The fourth movement is in C minor, and is in sonata form. Ends in C major. The last movement starts with a vigorous return to the minor mode in a principal theme offered by the violin, relaxing into a secondary theme, material briefly developed before the return of the first theme. A repetition of the second theme leads gradually to the brighter key of C major, in which the movement swells to a conclusion.
Piece: Piano trio by Dvořák
Antonín Dvořák: Piano Trio, No. 4 in e, Op.90 “Dumky” (1894)
- Premiered by Dvořák at the piano, violinist Ferdinand Lachner, and cellist Hanuš Wihan.
- A prominent example for a piece of chamber music deviating strongly from the sonata form.
- As the basis for his works, Dvořák frequently used folk song forms of Slavic peoples, such as dumka. Dvořák used the dumka form in several other compositions, including his Dumka for Solo Piano, Op. 35; Slavonic Dance No. 2; String Sextet; and his Piano Quintet, Op. 81.
- During the nineteenth century, composers from other Slavic countries began using the duma as a classical form used to indicate a brooding, introspective composition with cheerful sections interspersed within.
- The trio was published while Dvořák was in America and was proofread by his friend Johannes Brahms.
- The piece is in six sections or six dumky episodes. The initial three dumky are connected together without interruption in the harmonically complementary keys given above, in effect forming a long first movement. The final three dumky are presented in unrelated keys, thus giving the overall impression of a four-movement structure.
- Considered essentially formless, at least by classical standards, it is more like a six movement dark fantasia—completely original and successful, a benchmark piece for the composer. Being completely free of the rigors of sonata form gave Dvořák license to take the movements to some dizzying, heavy, places, able to be both brooding and yet somehow, through it all, a little lighthearted.
- he allows each of the six dumky to stand fully realized on its own
Name 4 French piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
César Franck
- Piano Trio, Op.2 (1834)
- 3 piano trios, Op.1 (1843)
Édouard Lalo: 3 piano trios (1850, 1852, 1881)
Camille Saint-Saëns: 2 piano trios (1863, 1892)
Claude Debussy: Piano Trio in G (1880)
Name 2 Czech piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
Bedřich Smetana: Piano Trio in g (1880)
Antonín Dvořák
- Piano Trio, No.1 in B-flat (1880)
- Piano Trio, No.2 in g, Op. 26 (1880)
- Piano Trio, No.3 in f, Op.65 (once listed as Op. 64, 1883)
- Piano Trio, No. 4 in e, Op.90 “Dumky” (1894)
Name 1 Hungarian piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
Franz Liszt: 3 piano trios (1825, 1848, 1880?)
Name 2 Russian piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Piano Trio in a, Op.50 (1882)
Sergei Rachmaninoff: 2 Trio Elégiaque (in g 1892, in d 1893)
Name 1 Finnish piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
Jean Sibelius: 4 piano trios (1884, 1886, 1887, 1888) and 2 separate movements for piano trio (1886, 1887-9)
Name 3 German piano trio composers ca.1850-1894.
Johannes Brahms: 3 piano trios
- Piano Trio No.1 in B, Op.8 (two versions, Brahms made significant revisions much later, 1854 & 1891)
- Piano Trio No.2 in C, Op.87 (1882)
- Piano Trio No.3 in c, Op.101 (1886)
Richard Strauss: 2 piano trios (1877, 1878)
Robert Schumann: 3 numbered piano trios and 1 Fantasiestücke for piano trio.
- Op. 88, Fantasiestücke for piano trio (1842)
- Op. 63, Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor (1847) - most famous
- Op. 80, Piano Trio No. 2 in F (1847)
- Op. 110, Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor (1851)
Piece: piano trio by Rachmaninoff, 1.
Sergei Rachmaninov: Trio elegiaque No. 1 in g (1892)
- Rachmaninov was only 19 and still a student when he wrote his first Trio élégiaque in G minor, a work in a single, sonata-form movement that seems not to have been inspired by any particular melancholy event. Tchaikovsky, however, ten years earlier, had used his Piano Trio to mourn the death of Nikolay Rubinstein, perhaps suggesting to Rachmaninov a model for his own attempt at the form. The Trio élégiaque was first performed at a concert in Moscow at the end of January 1892, with the violinist David Sergeyevich Kreyn, concertmaster of the Bolshoy ballet orchestra, and the cellist Anatoly Brandukov, former pupil and protégé of Tchaikovsky.
- Marked Lento lugubre at the start, violin and cello provide a sparse accompaniment to the piano statement of the first subject, which is later allowed to the cello and then to the violin, before a transition to the piano statement of the second subject, marked Più vivo. There is considerable use of the opening figure of the first subject in the central development, and it is the cello that introduces the return of the theme in the recapitulation. The work ends with a solemn Alla marcia funebre, in which elements of the same theme return for the last time.
- It is natural that the piano, Rachmaninov’s own instrument, should occupy a leading place in the movement, while the writing for violin and cello lacks something of the idiomatic assurance of the piano part. Nevertheless the work is effective enough by any standards and still more remarkable when heard as the achievement of a 19-year-old, at the verge of a brilliant career.
- It waited until 1947 for the first edition to appear, and the trio has no designated opus number. Rachmaninoff wrote a second Elegiac piano trio in 1893 after the death of Tchaikovsky.
- This work is cast in only one movement, in contrast to most piano trios, which have three or four. This movement is in the classical form of a sonata, but the exposition is built on twelve episodes that are symmetrically represented in the recapitulation. The elegiac theme is presented in the first part Lento lugubre by the piano. In the following parts, the elegy is presented by the cello and violin, while the spirit is constantly evolving (più vivo - con anima - appassionato - tempo rubato - risoluto). The theme is ultimately recast as a funeral march.
- Despite his youth, Rachmaninoff shows in the virtuoso piano part his ability to cover a wide spectrum of sound colors. This trio has a distinctive connection to Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A minor, both in the unusual, expanded first movement, and in the funeral march as a conclusion.
- The suggestion often heard - that the first trio is an early elegy for Tchaikovsky - is doubtful: in 1892 the elder composer was in good health, and there was no premonition of the sudden illness that would kill him nearly two years later. Rather, the key to the connection with Tchaikovsky of this first trio is its repetitive opening theme, a four-note rising motif, that dominates the 15-minute work. Played backwards it has the same rhythm opening descending motif of Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto (written 1874-75), although now minor in the trio’s version, and the allusion would have been apparent to listeners and teachers at the university, as would the closing funeral march imitative of Tchaikovsky’s elegy to Nikolai Rubinstein. Rachmaninoff wrote this first trio while still a student and may well have intended it as an homage to his elder friend and mentor. The second trio, written two years later, was the true “elegiac” work mourning Tchaikovsky’s death.
