Piano Trio in F minor Op.65 (1883)

The Piano Trio No.3 in F minor occupies much the same position in Dvorak’s chamber music as the Symphony No.7 in D minor in his orchestral music. It is the result of an effort not only to acknowledge Brahms’s achievements in the same area of the repertoire – which meant expanding the scope and adjusting the style of his own music to accommodate them – but also to equal them or perhaps even surpass them in quality. It is true that the death of the composer’s mother in December 1882, only a few weeks before he started work on it, must be one reason for the sustained seriousness of the Piano Trio in F minor, which is dedicated to her. But the example of Brahms’s chamber music, including the Piano Quintet in F minor and the recently published Piano Trio in C major, is certainly another.

That Dvorak was thinking of the Brahms Piano Quintet when he was working on his Piano Trio in F minor is suggested not only by the choice of key but also by the severely classical shape of the opening theme. One Dvorak authority describes this as “as fine or even finer than any of his main themes” – which seems an extravagant claim to make when the next main theme in this same movement, the melodious second subject introduced by the cello and repeated by violin in D flat major, is so much more personal a creation. It is true that the opening theme is very useful in holding together the extensive construction of this movement. It dominates the dramatically articulated development, for example, whereas the second subject appears only at a late stage, at first in an expressive augmentation on the cello and then in an urgent diminution on all three instruments to lead on a crescendo into the recapitulation. But it is the second subject, with its major-key implications, which has more to say about the ultimate destination of the work.

    In accordance no doubt with his sombre mood at the time, Dvorak originally intended the slow movement to come next. On reflection, however, he decided that the bright contrast offered by the relatively brief Allegro grazioso – a scherzo with a Bohemian-style dance in C sharp minor in the outer sections and a lyrical middle section in D flat major – would be more effective at this point.

Although the Poco adagio in A flat major is not a fundamentally tragic conception, it is both profoundly thoughtful and deeply poignant. The opening theme, intoned by cello over dark piano harmonies and taken up by the violin with a cello counterpoint, is an immediate indication of its mood. The B major melody which first appears high on the E-string of the violin at the very centre of the of the movement, after a brief but salutary exercise in counterpoint, is perhaps an even more eloquent expression of nostalgia. The broadly palindromic shape of the construction is complemented by a short coda.

    The brisk furiant presented in F minor as the main theme of the rondo Finale gives no indication of how the emotional ambiguity of the work will be resolved. It seems unlikely, however, from the composer’s adherence to minor keys in both the episodes - one based on a gently lilting waltz-like melody in C sharp, the other on a more expressive theme in E flat - that he has a happy ending in mind. But then a playful intervention by the piano in the second episode lightens the atmosphere, and towards the end of the recapitulation the furiant spends so long in F major that it seems to be moving into a coda in that key.

    But that would be too easy: Dvorak must give the matter more thought and it is only after making up his mind in favour of F minor…and then F major…and thinking again in a tender little passage comparable to that at the end of the Cello Concerto…that he quickly ends it in F major before he can change his mind again.                         

The Piano Trio No.3 in F minor occupies much the same position in Dvorak’s chamber music as the Symphony No.7 in D minor in his orchestral music. It is the result of an effort not only to acknowledge Brahms’s achievements in the same area of the repertoire – which meant expanding the scope and adjusting the style of his own music to accommodate them – but also to equal them or perhaps even surpass them in quality. Although the death of the composer’s mother in December 1882, only a few weeks before he started work on it, must be one reason for the sustained seriousness of the Piano Trio in F minor, the example of Brahms’s chamber music, including the Piano Quintet in F minor and the recently published Piano Trio in C major, is certainly another.

That Dvorak was thinking of the Brahms Piano Quintet when he was working on his Piano Trio in F minor is suggested not only by the choice of key but also by the severely classical shape of the opening theme. One Dvorak authority describes this as “as fine or even finer than any of his main themes” – which seems an extravagant claim to make when the next main theme in this same movement, the melodious second subject introduced by the cello and repeated by violin in D flat major, is so much more personal a creation (and all the more welcome among so many stylistic allusions to the composer’s admired German contemporary). It is true that the opening theme is very useful in holding together the extensive construction of this movement. It dominates the dramatically articulated development, for example, whereas the second subject appears only at a late stage, at first in an expressive augmentation on the cello and then in an urgent diminution on all three instruments to lead on a crescendo into the recapitulation. But it is the second subject, with its major-key implications, which has more to say about the ultimate destination of the work.

In accordance no doubt with his sombre mood at the time, Dvorak originally intended the slow movement to come next. On reflection, however, he decided that the bright contrast offered by the relatively brief Allegro grazioso – a scherzo with a Bohemian-style dance in C sharp minor in the outer sections and a lyrical middle section in D flat major – would be more effective at this point.

If there is a memorial element in the work it is the Poco adagio. Although, cast as it is in A flat major, it is not a fundamentally tragic conception, it is both profoundly thoughtful and deeply poignant. The opening theme, intoned by cello over dark piano harmonies and taken up by the violin with a cello counterpoint, is an immediate indication of its mood. Following after a short pause, the little tune introduced pianissimo by the violin alone has a disproportionately touching simplicity to it. An even more eloquent expression of nostalgia is the B major melody which first appears high on the E-string of the violin at the very centre of the of the movement after a brief but salutary exercise in counterpoint. The broadly palindromic shape of the construction is complemented by a short coda.

The brisk furiant presented in F minor as the main theme of the rondo Finale gives no indication of how the emotional ambiguity of the work will be resolved. It seems unlikely, however, from the composer’s adherence to minor keys in both the episodes – one based on a gently lilting waltz-like melody in C sharp, the other on a more expressive theme in E flat – that he has a happy ending in mind. But then a playful intervention by the piano in the second episode lightens the atmosphere, and towards the end of the recapitulation the furiant spends so long in F major that it seems to be moving into a coda in that key.

But that would be too easy: Dvorak must give the matter more thought and it is only after making up his mind in favour of F minor…and then F major…and thinking again in a tender little passage comparable to that at the end of the Cello Concerto…that he quickly ends it in F major before he can change his mind again.