Piano Trio in C minor, Op.1, No.3

No fewer than twenty-two years after completing his Piano Trio in C minor, Beethoven gave his approval to an arrangement for string quintet by an otherwise unknown composer called Kaufmann. Indeed, he went further and had it published as his Op.104. It could be that it meant no more to him than an opportunity to make a quick ducat. Even so, it is not at all improbable that, in correcting Kaufmann’s work, he was reminded of the extraordinary quality of the original piano trio score. Apart from the fact that the three Piano Trios Op.1 had secured him his first major success in Vienna, they represented a considerable step forward in his development. As he might have reflected in 1817, the Trio in C minor was particularly significant in that it was the first in a series of works – including by then the Third Piano Concerto and the Fifth Symphony – in a key that inspired a special response in him.

The introduction to the Allegro con brio first movement might not seem to be characteristic Beethoven C minor material. But the urgent first subject itself certainly is and, anyway, it is not long before the introductory material is taken up by the same impulse. The second subject secures lyrical respite in the relative (E flat) major but, after being rigorously excluded from the development section, it is deprived of its amiability when it is recapitulated in C minor.

If the E flat major theme and five variations of the Andante cantabile restore melodic amiability – though with the valuable contrast of a serious-minded dialogue for cello and violin in the central third variation in E flat minor – the Menuetto neatly reverses the situation. More a dynamic scherzo than a minuet, the third movement offsets tense C minor outer sections with a lyrical cello solo in C major in the middle.

So it is up to the finale, a hard-driven Prestissimo in C minor, to resolve the issue. The tension is relieved to some extent by the E flat major second subject which, however, goes through such a traumatic development that it seems unlikely that it will ever see a major key again. In fact, contrary to precedence established at the equivalent point in the first movement, it is triumphantly recapitulated in C major – an event so much against the odds that the movement seems to be unable to recover its initial impetus. After a dramatic fall in the dynamic level and an evasive series of modulations, the harmonies very quietly and almost as if by chance settle on C major.