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Ludwig van Beethoven “Ghost” Trio op 70 no 1 in D major
Beethoven's most famous piano student, the composer Carl Czerny, wrote
in 1842 that the second movement of the Piano Trio in D, the Largo assai,
reminded him of the ghost of Hamlet's father. He was close; evidence from
pages of Beethoven's notebook suggests that the composer was
discussing an opera of Shakespeare's Macbeth with the playwright Heinrich
von Collin at the time. The words "Macbett" and "Ende" appear near
sketches for the Largo. The "Ghost" movement was possibly meant for a
scene of the three Witches. Czerny's nickname stuck; today the work is
known as the "Ghost" Trio.
That middle movement is introduced with an eerie, sustained three notes in
the strings, after which the piano responds mournfully. The strings and
piano alternate this way through the introduction, thereby setting the
ominous mood of the Largo. The dark D-minor melodies of the exposition
become more forceful in its repeat. As the development begins, Beethoven
modulates briefly to C major, then quickly moves on through several keys
to re-establish the tense atmosphere. The end of the movement is
characterized by gripping pauses and abrupt and intermittent stops and
outbursts. With all its ghostly qualities, the movement's effects are achieved
quite simply, with slow crescendos and diminuendos, chromaticism and
silences, as well as impressionistic use of tremolando.
To set off the "Ghost" movement further, Beethoven made the outside
movements shorter (each about six minutes long) and much more direct in
style, giving the whole trio an arched shape. The first movement begins
with a fast-moving rhythmic figure played in a vigorous unison; the main
thematic material of the movement is played within the first several bars.
The third movement, after the disturbance or even near-upheaval the
listener has experienced in the center movement, is a return to more lucid
writing, and serves as bright, warm relief. The music leaves out the sharp
contrasts of both preceding movements, and instead flows serenely and
seamlessly to the end.
Although Beethoven never actually abandoned the Classical harmonic
language, the works of his second ("middle") period, including the "Ghost"
Trio, gradually moved away from Classical models in terms of their length
and intensity, as well as in their innovation. In addition, the music became
increasingly difficult for even the top players of the time. The middle period,
lasting roughly from 1802 to 1812, began as Beethoven was coming to
grips with his emerging deafness during a six-month stay under doctor's
orders in the village of Heiligenstadt, outside Vienna. The outcome of this
was, of course, not a cure for his deafness but the composer's resolution of
the crisis as laid out in the famous Heiligenstadt Testament. This letter,
addressed to his two brothers, and found only after the composer's death,
admits the extent of his hearing loss, and the resulting fear and shame
Beethoven suffered. The music written during these years is notable, not
surprisingly, for its expression of heroism and struggle, as well as its
monumental scale. The Op. 70 Trios, written in Heiligenstadt in 1808, fall
between the Fifth and Sixth symphonies and the Seventh and Eighth. As
every one of those symphonies raised the bar, so scholar Lewis Lockwood
says of the "Ghost" Trio: "(it) raises the genre to a level from which the later
piano trio literature could move forward." By the end of Beethoven's second
period, he was conceiving chamber music on an even more symphonic
scale.
Robert Schumann Piano Trio in D minor op 63
Despite his frustrated and aborted attempts to become a concert pianist –
he permanently injured his fingers in an overzealous attempt to practice
using mechanical invention of his own faulty design – Schumann retained
an instinctive and idiomatic genius as a composer for the instrument
making him one of the most important of the central romantic composers
for the piano.
Schumannʼs greatest music generally comprises his compositions involving
the piano: the vast array of distinctive music for solo piano, art songs and
the chamber works featuring the piano quintet, piano quartet and three
piano trios. Of the three piano trios all composed between 1847 and 1851,
the first in d minor is the most well known.
As Schumann was the quintessential romantic composer, so this
composition might well be regarded as one of the definitive romantic trios.
The musical language is brooding, idiosyncratic and frequently tangential in
the manner of Schumannʼs multi-character musical fairy tales. The piano
writing definitely occupies a mid-18th century fantastical niche with the
entire ensemble sometimes swelling into symphonic proportions. While
there is a definite classical structure to the work including a four-movement
plan and great deal of clever craftsmanship in the scherzo, the trio is quite
individualistic. It has been stated that Schumann was the first to interject
the formally established piano trio with a strongly personal style.
The massive opening movement is built from a searching chromatic theme,
restless and unresolved as it tumbles its way through canonic imitations,
rumbling figurations and rhythmic feints. This is music that follows a long,
subtle narrative without the strongly articulated cadences of the crisp
classical style. A turbulent passage of striding chords makes way into a
second, literally uplifting theme that still moves with indefinite, undulating
gestures, another leg in the romanticʼs unending wanderlust. The
exposition rounds out with the first theme briefly transformed into a major
tonality, a renewed sense that this probing journey might be making
progress after all.
Schumann free intermixes all these elements in the development along with
a brand new theme that appears at first like a strange apparition in distant
soft colors, draws briefly closer with greater majesty, but ultimately is
swallowed up by the prevailing, irresolute gloom.
The scherzo is deceptively simple in its musical means, captivating in its
effect. The strings join in unison to play a game of follow-the-leader with the
piano moving up and down simple scale passages in canonic imitation. A
dotted rhythm with an intermittent delirious swirl maintains the momentum
of music that is less than monothematic, it is essentially non-thematic: a
narrative of vectors and gestures. The entertainment intensifies through
imitations in contrary motion and the delightful irony that while the strings
join as one, the lone pianist splits in two with each hand becoming a
separate, divergent part. Astonishingly, the trio only continues this
minimalist play providing a contrast through a smooth rather than dotted
rhythm and the split of the string unison into separate musical threads.
The third, slow movement is the definite center of gravity. Intimate, lonely,
vulnerable, a protracted lament gives the appearance of a violin sonata.
Entering in its higher register, the cello softly joins in aching reply then
intertwining conversation with gentle, long lines, a pervasive aspect of the
entire trio. The music gains momentum as the duet soars to brighter
prospects which, alas, prove only fleeting. The lament returns, darkening
into tragedy, dirge and devastation. The music hangs, dejected on an
unresolved cadence.
Schumann resolves this lugubrious standstill with a bright, high-spirited
romp of colorful characters in a bold march of courage, triumph and
orchestral textures. This multi-faceted parade is a Schumann specialty. In
this case, he is particularly effective in crafting an organic whole using rich
thematic variations that all derive from the initial material. In spite of (or
precisely because of) the erstwhile angst, the music steadily builds to a
glorious ending that, like other Schumann conclusions, may propel you to
your feet with an energetic shout of glory. The composite work is a
definitive study in bi-polarity, perhaps a personal reflection of Schumannʼs
own soul.