Piano Trio No. 3 (Brahms)

Piano Trio in C minor
No. 3
by Johannes Brahms
The composer in 1880
Key	C minor
Opus	101
Composed	1886
Published	1887
Movements	Four

The Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, by Johannes Brahms is scored for piano, violin and cello, and was written in the summer of 1886 while Brahms was on holiday in Hofstetten, Switzerland. It was premiered on 20 December of that year by Brahms, violinist Jenő Hubay, and cellist David Popper.[1]

Structure

The trio is in four movements:

1. Allegro energico

   C minor, sonata form. Orrin Howard calls this movement "unrelentingly compulsive,"[2] and James Keller say the first theme "springs into action with a furious outburst, rather in the mode of a Beethovenian eruption," which is balanced by the "aristocratic poise" of the second theme.[3] The entire movement is organized with terse economy. Brahms’s friend Heinrich von Herzogenberg wrote, "Smaller men will hardly trust themselves to proceed so laconically without forfeiting some of what they have to say."[4]

2. Presto non assai
   C minor, ternary form. This movement takes the form of an intermezzo, in place of the traditional scherzo and trio. Keller calls this a "mere will-o’-wisp of a scherzo."[5] Hoard writes: "It is a peculiar little movement, hypnotic as it continually reflects its motivic and rhythmic ideas, until we are almost shocked to discover that time has passed."[6]
3. Andante grazioso
   C major, ternary form. This movement involves the use of alternating time signatures: ^3
   ₄ and ^2
   ₄, as well as ^9
   ₈ and ^6
   ₈. Keller writes: "With the third movement we turn to an ultra-familiar Brahmsian landscape: an intermezzo, characteristically marked Andante grazioso. But where most Brahms intermezzos are calm and consoling, perhaps dreamy, this one may leave listeners feeling uneasy in a way that may seem hard to pin down."[7]
4. Allegro molto
   C minor, sonata form. Ends in C major. Howard calls this movement "rhythmically intense,"[8] and Keller writes, "By now we will understand that this piano trio is to a large extent “about” rhythmic variety, and the finale carries that idea through to the end through an abundance of hemiolas (i.e. brief passages of duple against triple meter), falsely placed accents, and cross-rhythms."[9]

References

1. Clive, Brahms and His World:A Biographical Dictionary, p. xxvii, xxviii,xxix
2. LA Phil, The Piano Trios
3. SF Symphony, Brahms: Trio in C minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 101
4. SF Symphony, Brahms: Trio in C minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 101
5. SF Symphony, Brahms: Trio in C minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 101
6. LA Phil, The Piano Trios
7. SF Symphony, Brahms: Trio in C minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 101
8. LA Phil, The Piano Trios
9. SF Symphony, Brahms: Trio in C minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, Opus 101

External links

• Piano Trio No. 3: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Performance of Piano Trio No. 3 by the Claremont Trio from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format
• Detailed Listening Guide using the recording by Trio Opus 8