Beethoven: Piano Trios Op. 1, Nos. 1 And 2

Description

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)Piano Trio in E Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1, No. 2Beethoven was born in Bonn in 1770, the son of a singer in the musical establishment of the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and grandson of the old music director. The latter's fame was stressed in the family by Beethoven's mother, whose husband could never reach the standards so set, leading the composer to take charge of the family after her death, a responsibility that he took all too seriously. In 1792 he settled in Vienna with the encouragement of the Archbishop of Cologne, his patron, an ecclesiastic whose choice of profession was dictated in part by his parentage, as son of the Empress, and in part by weakness in his legs, which had ruled out a military career. In Vienna it was proposed that Beethoven take lessons from Haydn, a procedure from which he later claimed to have learned nothing. Lessons in counterpoint followed from Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, with lessons in Italian word setting from the Court Composer Antonio Salieri, both of whom found their pupil headstrong.Having arrived in Vienna armed with introductions to the best families, Beethoven soon established himself there as a remarkable pianist and a composer of startling originality. His career as a performer, however, was brought to an end by increasing deafness, the first evidence of which appeared at the turn of the century. This disability had the effect of developing already existing eccentricities of character, while allowing the continuing composition of music that impressed the conoscenti by its unusual qualities, if occasionally proving too academic for contemporary critics, who took exception to the contrapuntal elements that assumed greater importance as time went on.The three piano trios that form Beethoven's Opus 1 were published in 1795 and dedicated to Prince Carl Lichnowsky, who had welcomed the composer into his house and offered continuing and remarkably patient and tolerant support. The first of the set, at least, seems to have been written some time earlier, perhaps in Bonn, but all three were first performed, presumably in an unrevised form, at Prince Lichnowsky's in the presence of Haydn, who had good things to say about them, but advised against the publication of the third of the set. Beethoven took exception to the implied criticism of a work by which he set greater store, suspecting jealousy, although Haydn later explained to others that he had advised against the publication of the C minor Trio for fear that it would not be understood by a wider public.The Piano Trio in E flat Major, Opus 1, No. 1, opens with a first subject of innocent clarity, entrusted primarily to the piano, leading to a secondary theme in which the string instruments assume greater importance. The central development section of the movement opens with references to the first subject, with its ascending arpeggios and includes other elements from the preceding sect