Classical Music | Violin Music

Ludwig van Beethoven

String Trio in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3   Play

Tessa Lark Violin
Yura Lee Viola
Michael Nicolas Cello

Recorded on 07/11/2007, uploaded on 01/10/2012

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though the three trios of opus may not be among Ludwig van Beethoven’s most remembered works today, they are perhaps one of the most important in his development as a composer. At the time of their composition in 1797-98, Beethoven had yet to attempt the composition of a symphony or string quartet, genres which had come into their own at the hands of Mozart and Haydn. Still a young man of twenty-eight, he was still forming his own principles of development and the trios can be viewed as a means of putting them to the test. They are youthful works, but nonetheless foreshadow the intensity and stylistic traits of many of the composer’s most beloved works. However, once Beethoven composed his first string quartets in the final years of the 18th century, he never returned to the trio.

The last of the opus 9 trios is certainly the most dramatic, sharing with Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony, the fateful key of C minor. Alongside the G major trio which opens the set, it is also the most symphonic in proportions.  A powerful descending motif through the C minor scale from tonic to dominant is the central idea of the sonata form first movement, in which the three instruments take equal parts in developing the thematic material. Though shifting to the key of C major, the second is far from optimistic, and is pervaded by a sense of melancholy and internal struggle. The following third movement is a harbinger of the scherzo form Beethoven would make entirely his own, and would only be truly matched by in the works of Johannes Brahms. Its furious tone is contrasted sharply by the casual manner of the trio, and in the coda dissipates into three quiet tones given in octaves by the ensemble. Lastly, the Presto finale is a vigorous and driving rondo. Yet, for all its energetic and strife-filled measures, it comes to a sprightly, pianissimo close in the key of C major.     Joseph DuBose

Allegro con spirito
Adagio con espressione
Scherzo: Allegro molto e vivace

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