In the last of his three Opus 1 trios for piano, violin and cello, Beethoven wrote a work in C minor that ruffled Haydn’s feathers so much that he suggested that Lou suppress the piece. As it turned out, old Papa Joe was wrong, and the third trio was the big hit of the series. It forced Beethoven’s listeners to expand their horizons beyond sensible music for sensible people and hear a genuinely radical voice. Lou was to spend his mature years rattling his listeners’ cages and pushing them into the Romantic Era.
In the third of his Opus 9 trios for violin, viola and cello, Lou once again wrote in C minor and rattled his listeners’ cages.
The first movement in sonata format is marked “allegro con spirito”, which needs no translation. The first subject is in C minor and triple time, and is succeeded by a second subject with an A-flat transition leading to a theme in E-flat with the occasional twitch into the dark key of E-flat minor. At 2:28 the exposition repeats. At 4:25 development begins in G minor, and this is Beethoven’s basic “struggle” development, something he was to turn into an art form over time. At 5:39 he recaps and re-composes his recapitulation. The second subject appears in C minor, not major, as you might expect. His coda at 7;26 goes into remote keys before resolving in C minor in a decisive moment.
The slow movement in ternary format is marked “adagio con espressione”, which again needs no translation. This is a warm movement in C Major with a turn to a more turbulent E-flat in the middle.
The scherzo is marked “allegro molto e vivace”, which is seriously fast! It’s in the usual AABBCCDDAB format. Here, Beethoven returns to the spirit of the opening movement. The end is deceptively quiet.
The finale in sonata format is marked “presto”. You know the format by now. Where Beethoven ended the last of his Opus 1 trios quietly in C minor, this time he opts to end quietly in C Major. The ending sneaks up on you in a playful way.
This 1990 video is of two members of the Kosher Nostra (Perlman & Zuckerman) with Lynn Harrell on cello back when Lynn didn’t look so much like Bruce Willis.
Next week it’s the Opus 11 Trio for Piano, Clarinet and Cello, plus the first of the Opus 12 violin sonatas.
Listening to Beethoven now....