Piano Trio in E flat major (H.XV/30)

Of Haydn’s thirty-nine surviving piano trios, all but one of the last fourteen were dedicated to women - all of them pianists he knew well enough to reflect something of their personalities in the piano parts intended for them. He was particularly fond of Magdalene von Kurzböck, a Viennese pupil of Muzio Clementi and, to judge by the E flat major Piano Trio he wrote for her in 1796, a considerable musician.

The piano assumes its starring role at the expense of the violin and cello - particularly the latter which is restricted, as in most of Haydn’s piano trios, to doubling the bass line of the piano. Even so, while the piano is awarded the responsibility of introducing the most interesting material in the thematically abundant first movement, Haydn achieves a true three-part intimacy here, above all in the extraordinary harmonic adventures in the exposition. Much the same kind of texture prevails in the highly melodious Andante con moto. But in the Presto finale, a scherzo in all but name, the middle section is so emphatically set in motion by the violin that the piano has no choice but meekly to comply.