Phone
Tablet - Portrait
Tablet - Landscape
Desktop
Toggle navigation
Performers
Steinway Performers
Albright, Charlie
Anderson, Greg
Arishima, Miyako
Benoit, David
Biegel, Jeffrey
Birnbaum, Adam
Braid, David
Brown, Deondra
Brown, Desirae
Brown, Gregory
Brown, Melody
Brown, Ryan
Caine, Uri
Chen, Sean
Chulochnikova, Tatiana
Deveau, David
Farkas, Gabor
Feinberg, Alan
Fung, David
Gagne, Chantale
Golan, Jeanne
Goodyear, Stewart
Graybil, Matthew
Gryaznov, Vyacheslav
Gugnin, Andrey
Han, Anna
Han, Yoonie
Iturrioz, Antonio
Khristenko, Stanislav
Kim, Daniel
Li, Zhenni
Lin, Jenny
Lo Bianco, Moira
Lu, Shen
Mahan, Katie
Mao, Weihui
Melemed, Mackenzie
Min, Klara
Mndoyants, Nikita
Moutouzkine, Alexandre
Mulligan, Simon
Myer, Spencer
O'Conor, John
O'Riley, Christopher
Osterkamp, Leann
Paremski, Natasha
Perez, Vanessa
Petersen, Drew
Polk, Joanne
Pompa-Baldi, Antonio
Rangell, Andrew
Roe, Elizabeth Joy
Rose, Earl
Russo, Sandro
Schepkin, Sergei
Scherbakov, Konstantin
Shin, ChangYong
Tak, Young-Ah
Ziegler, Pablo
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Back 1 step
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Trio for Piano and Strings no 9 in E flat major, WoO 38
Interpretations
About This Work
Controls
Cover
Artists
Label
Movements
×
Add To Playlist
Success
This selection has been added.
Playlist
Create
Cancel
Confirm
Cancel
About This Work
Among Beethoven's numerous works composed during his last two years in Bonn, those in the sonata style are generally the weakest. These include an unfinished movement for a symphony in C minor, a trio for piano, flute, and bassoon and the Trio for piano, violin, and cello in E flat major, WoO 38.
Discovered after the composer's death, the trio was published in 1830 in Frankfurt. According to Anton Gräffer's manuscript catalogue of Beethoven's works, begun in September 1827, WoO 38 was initially intended to be part of the Op. 1 set of trios. This is difficult to believe, if only because the work is in three movements, unlike the four of each trio in Op. 1. Furthermore, the compositional style is not nearly as advanced as that of the Op. 1 Trios. Throughout, the piano dominates the proceedings; later works in the genre show a more egalitarian approach.
Beethoven's understanding of the basics of sonata-form structure are clear in the opening Allegro moderato. Without introduction, the movement opens with rapid sixteenth-note figures that constitute the first part of the main theme. In a predictable manner, the transition to the dominant begins with a restatement of these first measures, followed by a new idea that pushes the rhythm forward. The secondary material, on the dominant, is exceptionally unmelodic, consisting of rapid scales and arpeggios. The development section focuses on the opening sixteenth-note figure, played in the strings against a harmonic background on the piano. In the recapitulation, Beethoven extends the first ten measures of the exposition, developing the material further.
The E flat major Scherzo departs slightly from tradition in that the second half is built entirely from the first, but the material is expanded almost in a developmental fashion. The trio section, also in E flat, is more relaxed and fluid than the Scherzo and its formal structure is very traditional.
Beethoven orchestrates the theme of the Rondo finale in such a way that all of the instruments play in the same range, creating a muddy, dense sound. Although there are a few chromatic inflections in melodic passages, the episodes never move away from E flat. Beethoven creates variety among the rondo theme appearances through surprisingly subtle moments of both variation and reassignment of the material to new instruments.
×
Add To Playlist
Success
This selection has been added.
Playlist
Create
Cancel
Confirm
Cancel
A74555D9441E995367B98794E59F1138