Serenade in D major, Op.8 (1796-7)

One reason why Beethoven turned to the string trio before the string quartet could be that he found a congenial model in Mozart’s Divertimento in E flat major for string trio. Certainly, it was not long after the publication of that work in 1792 that Beethoven wrote the first of his String Trios, which is also in E flat major and also in six movements including two minuets and two slow movements. He completed the Serenade in D major Op.8 and the three String Trios Op.9 in 1797 and 1798 respectively and only then - presumably when he had outgrown being intimidated by the epoch-making examples of Haydn and Mozart - got to work on the six String Quartets Op.18.

The major difference between the Serenade Op.8 and the String Trios Op.9 is that the latter works are all in four developed movements, in clear anticipation of the String Quartets Op.18, whereas the former appears to adhere to the old divertimento tradition. It is not, however, as simple as that. It begins innocently enough with a cheerful march in D major and, although the elaborately expressive first Adagio turns fairly serious with the minor harmonies in the middle section, the bouncy Menuetto restores the conventional situation. The fourth movement, on the other hand, is so eccentric as to alternate a D minor Adagio, where a sombre melodic line is drawn by violin and viola in octaves over a sustained background of cello arpeggios, with lively pre-Mendelssohn scherzo material in D major.

The Allegretto alla Polacca is a delightful inspiration in F major with the instrumental colouring to match its exotic rhythms and its mischievous ending. But then there is the Andante quasi allegretto which is not the symmetrical set of variation it apparently sets out to be: after a 6/8 Allegro intervention where the fifth variation ought to be and an uncertain return to the original theme in the wrong key, it seems to lose its way - to be rescued, in a brilliantly conclusive gesture, by a timely return of the opening march.

Gerald Larner©