Piano Trio in A major (Hob.XV:35)

Of Haydn’s last fourteen piano trios - all of them written in the 1790s - twelve were written for women: the first two sets are dedicated to the two Esterházy princess and the next two to admirers in London. All these dedicatees were pianists, whose personalities are reflected in the parts he wrote for them. In the Trio No.18 in A major, the first of the set of three dedicated to Princess Anton Esterházy, the pianist chooses the subjects for discussion and takes an elegant and imaginative lead in developing them. The most interesting is the opening theme, which not only dominates the first movement but which also, represented by at least its first three notes, echoes through much of the rest of the work. The three notes have a prominent part in the A minor first theme of the Andante and they are incorporated in the zestfully syncopated main theme of the last Allegro: the Princess clearly had a taste for the Hungarian-Gypsy bands that visited Esterháza from time to time.

haydn: piano trio in A major

Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)

Piano Trio in A major (H.XV/18)

Allegro moderato

Andante -

Allegro

Of Haydn’s last fourteen piano trios - all of them written in the 1790s - twelve of them were written for women: the first two sets are dedicated to the two Esterhazy princess and the next two sets to admirers in London. All these dedicatees were pianists and their personalities are reflected in the parts he wrote for them - at the expense, it might be added, of the string players. The cellist, who has little more to do in all these works than double the bass line, is particularly underprivileged: a desirable precaution when Haydn started writing piano trios in the middle of the 1760s, with the further development of the piano it was no longer necessary, as Mozart had already demonstrated.

In the Trio No.18 in A major, the first of the set of three dedicated to Princess Anton Esterhazy in 1793, the pianist chooses the subjects for discussion and takes an elegant and imaginative lead in developing them. The most interesting is the opening theme, which not only dominates the first movement but which also echoes through much of the rest of the work. It reappears in its original form transposed to E major as the second subject, and its first three notes, in descending thirds, are scarcely ever absent from the development .

The same three notes also have a prominent part in the A minor first theme - introduced by the piano of course - of the Andante. They are absent from the A major middle section, where the violin is at last allowed a certain amount of melodic enterprise, but they return once more with the reprise of the first section. They are also incorporated in the wittily syncopated main theme of the last Allegro - an ingeniously constructed rondo with a surprisingly long and dramatic coda.

Of Haydn’s last fourteen piano trios – all composed in the 1790s –    twelve of them were written for women:    the first two sets are dedicated to the two Esterházy princesses and the next two sets to admirers in London. All these dedicatees were pianists and their personalities are reflected in the parts he wrote for them – at the expense, it might be added, of the string players. Particularly underprivileged, the cellist has little more to do here, as in all these works, than double the piano bass line: a desirable precaution when Haydn started writing piano trios in the middle of the 1760s, with the further development of the piano it was no longer necessary, as Mozart had already clearly demonstrated.

In the Trio No.18 in A major, the first of the set of three dedicated to Princess Anton Esterházy in 1793, the pianist chooses the subjects for discussion and takes an elegant and imaginative lead in developing them. The most interesting is the opening theme, which not only dominates the first movement but which also echoes through much of the rest of the work. It reappears in its original form transposed to E major as the second subject, and its first three notes, in descending thirds, are scarcely ever absent from the development .

The same three notes also have a prominent part in the A minor first theme, introduced by the piano of course, of the Andante. They are absent from the A major middle section, where the violin is at last allowed a certain amount of melodic enterprise, but they return once more with the reprise of the first section. They are also incorporated in the wittily syncopated main theme of the last Allegro, an ingeniously constructed rondo with a surprisingly long and dramatic coda.

Traditionally, there are 31 Haydn piano trios - just as there are 104 Haydn symphonies, 83 Haydn string quartets and 52 Haydn keyboard sonatas. These numbers do not always coincide with the facts, however. The Hoboken Haydn catalogue, which is the authority in these matters, does indeed list 31 piano trios, more or less in the order in which they were written, but not all of them are by Haydn and not all of them are for the same three instruments. Besides, appended to that list, are several other trios including nine early ones which, in defiance of all chronological logic, are numbered between 33 and 41.

So, having got that quite clear, we can follow H.C. Robbins Landon, the other major Haydn authority, in attributing the Piano Trio No.35 in A major, which he lists as the tenth in a total of 45 such works, to a date somewhere between 1755 and 1760. If he’s right about that, it would mean that the work was written at about the same time as the earliest string quartets, before Haydn was appointed Kapellmeister to Prince Esterházy. The most obvious difference between it and the mature piano trios is that, in company with several others from this early period, it includes a minuet rather than an Andante or Adagio between the two quicker outer movements. Texturally, however, it has much in common with the later works in that the piano is awarded the starring role while the violin engages in intelligent conversation with it and the cello, on the other hand, is limited to doubling the bass line of the piano.

In the opening Allegretto - which, presumably because of its entertainingly playful personality, is entitled Capriccio in some old copies - the piano keeps up its bravura figuration almost throughout, the violin sharing the thematic interest from time to time and most effectively drawing a sustained melodic line in counterpoint to the virtuoso keyboard activity. Favours are more evenly distributed in the Menuet. The violin and the right hand of the piano are linked in unison in the outer sections, while in the minor-key middle section the piano is actually reduced to offering a few bars of accompaniment to the violin and even the cello is allowed a modicum of melodic participation. If the piano leads the way through the brief closing Allegro, it is clearly not without the approval of the violin, which cheerfully adds its imitative comments, or the cello, which lends its unfailingly consistent harmonic support.