Concert April 6, 2003

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Piano trio in c minor, Op. 1, No. 3

In early 1794 Beethoven made a diary entry: “Courage. Despite all weaknesses of the body, my spirit shall rule.” He had spent the last two years studying with Haydn in Vienna and was preparing himself to burst onto the city’s musical scene. His piano trios, Op. 1, were composed the same year and are of an ambitious scope and grand length not normally used in such a genre. According to the reminiscences of Beethoven’s friend Ferdinand Ries, Haydn advised Beethoven against publishing the third trio of the set, for it “would not be so quickly and easily understood and so favorably received by the public.”

The piano trio was an outgrowth of the earlier genre of the accompanied sonata—essentially keyboard sonatas with optional string parts to double the melody or play sustained tones. In the hands of Mozart and Haydn, the violin and violoncello gradually took a more involved role until they became conversational equals with the piano. Beethoven expanded his trios to four movements instead of the usual three, and gave the violoncello even more independence and lyrical moments. The third trio is widely considered today the best of the set, and is the first representative of Beethoven’s many works in the key of c minor. The key would often come to represent for him struggle and resolution through stormy contrasts of dynamics and character, relentless working out of themes, and clash between major and minor.

The first movement is notable for its tight construction. The first group of themes contain two main ideas: a declamatory, arpeggiated motive introduced by all three instruments, and a nervous, dance-like melody introduced by the piano, marked by descending scalar motion. A sense of struggle is already evident from the opening: after the trio reaches a first half cadence, they need to repeat the opening and give a more involved treatment of the second idea to reach a half cadence in the new key of the mediant major. The piano then introduces a more lyrical theme that is closely related to the previous transition. After this theme reaches its resolute conclusion, the violin and ‘cello play a vigorous figure that gradually disintegrates the opening declamatory motive until the cello ushers in a playful version of the dance figure, which the other two instruments take up to close the exposition. In the development all three instruments exchange fragments of the opening two motives. At the close of the movement the piano, rather than the cello, makes a slower restatement of the dance-like melody in the home key of c minor, and the motion toward the final cadence is extended through particularly turgid chromatic harmonies to give a tragic conclusion.

The second movement, an Andante theme with five variations, takes a lighter tone. After increasingly florid variations, a brief coda follows in which the piano and ‘cello exchange fragments of the opening of the theme in its original form. The opening of the third movement, a scherzo in c minor, shows the composer’s ability to create an entire section out of a single opening motive. In the first strain the motive is gradually fragmented, resulting in an unsettling syncopation; in the second strain it becomes a point of imitation between all three instruments. The trio in the parallel major features a lyrical solo for the ‘cello.

The finale revisits the sense of large-scale struggle found in the first movement and finds a peaceful conclusion. After a forceful introductory statement by all three instruments, the violin opens with a taut c minor melody. After a more relaxed second theme in the mediant major, all three instruments give a long closing section that brings back and gradually fragments and dissipates the opening melody. The following development section is based completely on the gentler second theme, it ends with a restless, sequential dialogue between the strings and piano that leads to a drawn-out and stormy retransition back to the main melody. After a condensed recapitulation, the piano begins an extended version of the closing theme that becomes a brief coda. It completely dissipates the tension in the original theme and reaches a hushed conclusion in the tonic major.

Robert Schumann (1810–1856)
Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47

Two years after Beethoven’s death, the composer and critic Robert Schumann published his first work, a series of variations for piano based on the name “Abegg”. Over the following ten years he found his compositional voice through collections of lyrical and highly individual pieces for piano that often attempted to explore new levels of inner feeling and poetic meaning in music.

In 1841 Schumann found a burst of confidence and creative energy, no doubt partly due to his long-awaited marriage to virtuoso pianist Clara Wieck the previous year. He began to write works for larger ensembles and at a greater scale, and in 1842 made several valuable contributions to the field of chamber music, including the Piano Quartet. As Schumann wrote for larger ensembles, he united his impulsive and lyrical nature with older and more controlled forms. The Quartet is one of the most felicitous of these attempts, from the first movement to its end it maintains an exuberant mood and is full of fresh and lively ideas.

The first movement opens with a brief and tender slow introduction in which the strings introduce the main motive of the movement. The piano introduces an energetic theme at a new tempo, based on the same motive, and the strings take it as a starting point for a longer and more lyrical statement. The quartet reaches an exuberant cadence on the tonic, and a second theme in the mediant minor immediately follows, characterized by canonic imitation between the strings and piano of a sharply marked rising scale. After a number of restless sequences all four instruments reach a breathless cadence in the dominant. The strings and piano return to the slow opening gesture, but cut it off shortly before its end to present the opening theme in d minor. The following development section is based completely on material from the opening material, and through a piquant chromatic sequence the quartet reaches the original key. The movement ends with a shortened repeat of the slow opening that dissolves into a series of closing statements.

The second movement is a scherzo with two trio sections. The opening scherzo displays Schumann’s imaginative use of the piano; it achieves a ghostly effect and constant tension through a perpetual stream of staccato notes whose melodic contour is never quite predictable. The two trios provide a brief lessening of the tension before the scherzo returns and reaches a terse conclusion. The third movement shows the composer in his most lyrical vein. It opens with a tender melody in the ‘cello repeated by the violin and piano, each time with slight variation. The middle section features a more subdued chorale-like melody in the flat submediant major. By avoiding resolution on the strong beat the melody takes a half-formed quality, as if the pianist were dreamily extemporizing at the keyboard. The end of the movement is particularly unusual: the ‘cello makes a final restatement of the opening melody over a tonic pedal to reach a very relaxed resting point. Instead of concluding with the ‘cello, the violin, viola, and piano quietly add a handful of completely new melodic ideas as a brief afterthought or postscript. These ideas turn out to be the main motives used in the opening of the finale.

The finale is an energetic sonata rondo. The opening theme is contrasted with two others, the first a lyrical melody introduced by the ‘cello, the second a tense staccato theme set in imitation among all four instruments. The piano opens the central episode with a lighter, more relaxed melody in the subdominant. After a shortened restatement of the opening ideas, the entire quartet present a fugato of the opening theme combined with running passages to give a jubilant coda.

Walter Piston (1894–1976)
Duo for Viola and Violoncello (1949)

Walter Piston was self-taught musician, and studied engineering before deciding to become composer. From 1924–1926 he studied with the great French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger; her influence is evident in the highly controlled counterpoint and masterful craftsmanship of his compositions. He composed his Duo for Viola and Violoncello in 1949; eighteen years later he called this pithy work one of his best.

The first movement’s exposition presents two main ideas: a resolute series of ascending fourths, and later a lighter waltz melody with chromatic inflections, introduced by the ‘cello. In the development ‘cello and viola take turns playing a brief solo line, and the viola reintroduces the motive of the ascending fourth to retransition back to the opening. The movement ends with a brief codetta. The viola opens the second movement with a gentle melody in 12/8. The melody is in C major, but several chromatically inflected tones give a darkened, modal flavor. The central section features sections of tighter imitation between the two instruments. The final movement transforms the opening motives of the first movement into a rollicking march.