String Trio in C minor, Op.9, No.3 (1797-98)

Although Beethoven considered his three String Trios Op.9 better than anything he had done before, they were the last works of their kind he was to write. By the time they were published he was probably already thinking in terms of the string quartet and, as far as chamber music for strings was concerned, that was the area that was to occupy his all but exclusive attention for the rest of his life. It would be wrong, however, to assume that the trios were just a preparation for the quartets. On the contrary: Beethoven realised that the most fruitful approach to the string trio was to forget the principles of string-quartet scoring and, as he demonstrated most consistently in the daringly liberated textures of the present work in C minor, to treat each of the three instruments as a soloist.

What would have been useful experience for Beethoven at this stage was his development of the string trio to a four-movement work of string-quartet proportions. The extent of his vision in this respect is vividly demonstrated by the first movement of the Trio in C minor, the first four notes of which anticipate by twenty-eight years one of the principal motifs of the Quartet in C sharp minor Op.131. It is not just a chance melodic resemblance: Beethoven uses it here in much the same way as in the later work, its structural function extending well beyond the routine duties of an Allegro first subject. It is no coincidence that the first phrase of the main theme of the Adagio con espressione is a variant of the four-note motif. The simulated string-quartet scoring here, achieved by double-stopped harmonies on the violin or viola, is not characteristic of the movement as a whole, which for the most part luxuriates in the opportunities offered by the three instruments without postulating a fourth. The impulsively agile Scherzo in C minor is followed by a Finale which also begins in a restless C minor. The revelatory moment, however, is in the recapitulation where the four-note theme emerges in the major on violin and cello in octaves. The C major ending, though evanescent rather than triumphant, is secure from that point on.

Although Beethoven considered his three String Trios Op.9 better than anything he had done before – and although he was exceptionally well paid for them – they were the last works of their kind he was to write. By the time they were published he was probably already thinking about his first set of string quartets and, as far as chamber music for strings was concerned, that was the area that was to occupy his all but exclusive attention for the rest of his life. It would be wrong, however, to assume that the trios were just a preparation for the quartets. On the contrary: what Beethoven would have learned from them was that the application of the principles of string-quartet scoring to the string trio was only likely to produce something sounding like an under-nourished string quartet. He found a consistently viable solution to the string-trio problem only in the C minor work where, in a daringly liberated texture, each of the three instruments is treated as a soloist.

What would have been useful experience for Beethoven at this stage was his development of the string trio to a four-movement work of string-quartet proportions. There was no Haydn precedent here and although there was Mozart’s great string-trio Divertimento in E flat – which, as is clear from his own String Trio in E flat Op.3, Beethoven certainly knew – it was still open to him to elevate the medium above its associations with the serenade or divertimento. The extent of his vision in this respect is vividly demonstrated by the first movement of the Trio in C minor, the first four notes of which – a descending phrase presented by all three instruments in unison – anticipate by twenty-eight years one of the principal motifs of the Quartet in C sharp minor Op.131. It is not just a chance melodic resemblance: Beethoven uses it here in much the same way as in the later work, its structural function extending well beyond the routine duties of an Allegro first subject. He is so intrigued by it, in fact, that he adds a coda to explore more of its potential.

It is surely no coincidence that the first phrase of the main theme of the Adagio con espressione is an inversion of a C major variant of the four-note motif. The simulated string-quartet scoring here, achieved by double-stopped harmonies on the violin or viola, is not characteristic of the movement as a whole, which for the most part luxuriates in the opportunities offered by the three instruments without postulating a fourth. It is true that only the violin is given star treatment but, once it has been indulged with a cadenza, viola and cello have a scarcely less prominent role to play – in the elaborate exchanges between violin and viola in the introduction of the second subject, in the bizarre E flat minor version of the first theme with its offbeat stabs on the cello and its obsessive viola figuration, and the passionately three-sided climax that leads into the recapitulation.

After such an extravagant demonstration of C major fecundity, it seems unlikely that the work will recover the earnest demeanour of the first movement. The impulsively agile Scherzo in C minor might suggest the opposite – but only until the tension is relaxed in a rather less resourceful middle section in C major. The Finale also begins in a restless C minor and, although the initial flourish of its opening theme has more in common with that of the equivalent movement of the Quartet in F major Op.18 No.1, its second phrase seems to refer back to the four-note theme with which the work began. And so the illusion is preserved until the revelatory moment in the recapitulation where that phrase emerges in C major on violin and cello in octaves. The C major ending, though evanescent rather than triumphant, is secure from that point on.

Although Beethoven considered his three String Trios Op.9 better than anything he had done before – and although was exceptionally well paid for them – they were the last works of their kind he was to write. By the time they were published he was probably already thinking about his first set of String Quartets and, as far as chamber music for strings was concerned, that was the area that was to occupy his all but exclusive attention for the rest of his life. It would be wrong, however, to assume that the String Trios were just a preparation for the String Quartets. On the contrary: what Beethoven would have learned from them was that the application of the principles of string-quartet textural integration to the string trio was only likely to produce something that sounded like an under-nourished string quartet. The Trios in G and D major Op.9 Nos.1 and 2 - with the exception of the brilliantly scored finale of No.1 and the richly coloured slow movement of No.2 - illustrate the point. No.3 in C minor, like so many of Beethoven’s works in that key, is different. It solves the string-trio problem by treating each of the three instruments as a soloist in a daringly liberated texture.

What would have been useful experience for Beethoven at this stage was his development of the string trio to a four-movement work of string-quartet proportions. There was no Haydn precedent here and although there was Mozart’s great string-trio Divertimento in E flat – which, as is clear from his own String Trio in E flat Op.3, Beethoven certainly knew – it was still open to him to elevate the medium above its associations with the serenade or divertimento. The extent of his vision in this respect is vividly demonstrated by the first movement of the Trio in C minor, the first four notes of which – a descending phrase presented by all three instruments in unison – anticipate by twenty-eight years one of the principal motifs of the Quartet in C sharp minor Op.131. It is not just a chance melodic resemblance: Beethoven uses it here in much the same way as in the later work, its structural function extending well beyond the routine duties of an Allegro first subject. He is so intrigued by it, in fact, that he adds a coda to explore more of its potential.

It is surely no coincidence that the first phrase of the main theme of the Adagio con espressione is an inversion of a C major variant of the four-note motif. The simulated string-quartet scoring here, achieved by double-stopped harmonies on the violin or viola, is not characteristic of the movement as a whole, which for the most part luxuriates in the opportunities offered by the three instruments without postulating a fourth. It is true that only the violin is given star treatment but, once it has been indulged with a cadenza, viola and cello have a scarcely less prominent role to play – in the elaborate exchanges between violin and viola in the introduction of the second subject, in the bizarre E flat minor version of the first theme with its offbeat stabs on the cello and its obsessive viola figuration, and the passionately three-sided climax that leads into the recapitulation.

After such an extravagant demonstration of C major fecundity, it seems unlikely that the work will recover the earnest demeanour of the first movement. The impulsively agile Scherzo in C minor might suggest the opposite – but only until the tension is relaxed in a rather less resourceful middle section in C major. The Finale also begins in a restless C minor and, although the initial flourish of its opening theme has more in common with that of the equivalent movement of the Quartet in F major Op.18 No.1, its second phrase seems to refer back to the four-note theme with which the work began. And so the illusion is preserved until the revelatory moment in the recapitulation where that phrase emerges in C major on violin and cello in octaves. The C major ending, though evanescent rather than triumphant, is secure from that point on.

When Beethoven dedicated his Wranitzky Variations to Countess von Browne in 1797 her husband - who was one of the composer’s most generous patrons during his early years in Vienna - demonstrated his gratitude by presenting him with a horse. It was presumably in the hope of receiving a more manageable form of acknowledgement that a year later he dedicated to Count von Browne his String Trios Op.9. While history does not record how the Brownes rewarded him in this case, we do know that he was exceptionally well paid by the publisher Johann Traeg, who bought the three works for fifty ducats (a sum equivalent, apparently, to the price of a good Viennese piano).

Successful though they were – Beethoven himself considered them the best of his works at the time – they were the last String Trios he was to write. By the time they were published he was probably already thinking about his first set of String Quartets and, as far as chamber music for strings was concerned, that was the area that was to occupy his exclusive attention for the rest of his life. It would be wrong, however, to assume that the String Trios were just a preparation for the String Quartets. On the contrary: what Beethoven would have learned from them was that the application of the principles of string-quartet integration to the string trio was only likely to produce something that sounded like an under-nourished string quartet. The Trios in G and D major Op.9 Nos.1 and 2 - with the exception of the brilliantly scored finale of No.1 and the richly coloured slow movement of No.2 - illustrate the point. No.3 in C minor, like so many of Beethoven’s works in that key, is different. It solves the string-trio problem by treating each of the three instruments as a soloist in a daringly liberated texture. The story that Leopold Kozeluch trampled the score underfoot, declaring to Haydn, “We would have done it diffently, Papa, wouldn’t we?” might well be apocryphal but it has a ring of truth about it.

What would have been useful experience for Beethoven at this stage was his development of the string trio to a four-movement work of string-quartet proportions. There was no Haydn precedent here and although there was Mozart’s great string-trio Divertimento in E flat – which, as is clear from his own String Trio in E flat Op.3, Beethoven certainly knew – it was still open to him to elevate the medium above its associations with the serenade or divertimento. The extent of his vision in this respect is vividly demonstrated by the first movement of the Trio in C minor, the first four notes of which – a descending phrase presented by all three instruments in unison – anticipate by twenty-eight years one of the principal motifs of the Quartet in C sharp minor Op.131. It is not just a chance melodic resemblance: Beethoven uses it here in much the same way as in the later work, its structural function extending well beyond the routine duties of an Allegro first subject. He is so intrigued by it, in fact, that he adds a coda to explore more of its potential.

It is surely no coincidence that the first phrase of the main theme of the Adagio con espressione is an inversion of a C major variant of the four-note motif. The simulated string-quartet scoring here, achieved by double-stopped harmonies on the violin or viola, is not characteristic of the movement as a whole, which for the most part luxuriates in the opportunities offered by the three instruments without postulating a fourth. It is true that only the violin is given star treatment but, once it has been indulged with a cadenza, viola and cello have a scarcely less prominent role to play – in the elaborate exchanges between violin and viola in the introduction of the second subject, in the bizarre E flat minor version of the first theme with its offbeat stabs on the cello and its obsessive viola figuration, and the passionately three-sided climax that leads into the recapitulation.

After such an extravagant demonstration of C major fecundity, it seems unlikely that the work will recover the earnest demeanour of the first movement. The impulsively agile Scherzo in C minor might suggest the opposite but only until the tension is relaxed in a rather less resourceful middle section in C major. The Finale also begins in a restless C minor and, although the initial flourish of its opening theme has more in common with that of the equivalent movement of the Quartet in F major Op.18 No.1, its second phrase seems to refer back to the four-note theme with which the work began. And so the illusion is preserved until the revelatory moment in the recapitulation where that phrase emerges in C major on violin and cello in octaves. The C major ending, though evanescent rather than triumphant, is secure from that point on.