Piano Trio in G major, K.496

After the Divertimento in B flat, his first piece for piano trio, Mozart did not complete another work for the same three instruments until ten years later. The reason why he returned to the medium in Vienna in 1786 is not clear but it seems likely that it was in response to a changing situation. The recent development of the piano, in both its technology and its popularity, had made the piano trio a newly attractive proposition. Certainly, the Piano Trio in G major was published within a few months and Mozart in the meantime had got to work on a companion piece in B flat. Three more piano trios followed two years later.

The manuscript of the Piano Trio in G, K.496, suggests that it was written first as a piano sonata and then adapted to include parts for violin and cello. However, even though it is not as well integrated in its scoring as its companion in B flat – which, with the later masterpiece in E major, became the starting point for Beethoven’s expansion of the medium – it represents a big advance on the Divertimento in B flat. The opening theme of the first movement, presented by piano alone and built on nothing more interesting than a rising scale, might not seem very promising material. The point is what Mozart makes of it. The rest of the exposition, including a second subject shared by violin and piano, is attractive but unexceptional from a textural point of view. The development, on the other hand, not only makes dramatic use of the scale figure but also involves the cello as an eloquent participant in an extended three-part exchange.

Mozart’s genius for making fruitful use of apparently unremarkable material is exemplified again in the Andante. This time it is a little semiquaver figure in the middle of the theme introduced by piano in C major and repeated by violin in the opening bars. Although there are other sources of melodic interest here, the movement is suffused with allusions to that little figure – variants on it, contrapuntal inventions on it, harmonic adventures with it, witty and expressive developments of it. If the piano dominates the exchanges, the cello is scarcely less active than the violin in motivating them.

Another advance made in this work towards the integrated piano trio is the frequent alliance of the cello with the violin, rather than with the bass line of the piano, to create an equal balance between the two sides. An even more interesting development occurs in the Allegretto, a theme-and-variations construction, the fourth variation of which (in G minor) consists of three distinct parts, each instrument with its own independent material. Mozart himself was so impressed by this that, after a delicately expressive Adagio in the fifth variation and a return to the Allegretto theme in the sixth, he recalls his three-part inspiration shortly before the end.

After the Divertimento in B flat, his first piece for piano trio, Mozart did not complete another work for the same three instruments until ten years later. The reason why he returned to the medium in Vienna in 1786 is not clear but it seems likely that it was in response to a changing situation. The recent development of the piano, in both its technology and its popularity, and the consequent development in both the artistic and commercial potential of chamber music led by that instrument, had made the piano trio a newly attractive proposition. Certainly, the Piano Trio in G major was published within a few months and Mozart in the meantime had got to work on a companion piece in B flat. Three more piano trios followed two years later.

The manuscript of the Piano Trio in G, K.496, suggests that it was written first as a piano sonata and then adapted to include parts for violin and cello. However, even though it is not as well integrated in its scoring as its companion in B flat - which, with the later masterpiece in E major, became the starting point for Beethoven’s expansion of the medium - it represents a big advance on the Divertimento in B flat. The opening theme of the first movement, presented by piano alone and built on nothing more interesting than a rising scale, might not seem very promising material. The point is what Mozart makes of it. The rest of the exposition, including a second subject shared by violin and piano, is attractive but unexceptional from a textural point of view. The development, on the other hand, not only makes dramatic use of the scale figure but also involves the cello as an eloquent participant in an extended three-part exchange.

Mozart’s genius for making fruitful use of apparently unremarkable material is exemplified again in the Andante. This time it is a little semiquaver figure in the middle of the theme introduced by piano in C major and repeated by violin in the opening bars. Although there are other sources of melodic interest here, the movement is suffused with allusions to that little figure - variants on it, contrapuntal inventions on it, harmonic adventures with it, witty and expressive developments of it. If the piano dominates the exchanges, the cello is scarcely less active than the violin in motivating them.

Another advance made in this work towards the integrated piano trio is the frequent alliance of the cello with the violin, rather than with the bass line of the piano, to create an equal balance between the two sides. An even more interesting development occurs in the Allegretto, a theme-and-variations construction, the fourth variation of which (in G minor) consists of three distinct parts, each instrument with its own independent material. Mozart himself was so impressed by this that, after a delicately expressive Adagio in the fifth variation and a return to the Allegretto theme in the sixth, he recalls his three-part inspiration shortly before the end.

Gerald Larner©