Notes for: August 9, 2005
Archduke Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainer was the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II and a half-brother of Emperor Franz I. He had two main interests in life – the church and music. To pursue the former, he joined the clergy, and in 1819 he was elevated to the position of Cardinal and Archbishop of Olmütz in Moravia. As for the latter interest, in 1803, while a youth of 15, he selected Beethoven as his piano teacher, and remained his friend, patron and confidant until the composer’s death.
It was not easy for a member of the Austrian royal family to put up with Beethoven’s temperament. Their correspondence is full of Beethoven’s excuses for cancelling or postponing lessons or not showing up when scheduled. When Beethoven did appear, he repeatedly violated court etiquette – on one occasion he rapped his royal pupil on the knuckles and on another he had a tantrum over the formalities required to enter the royal apartments. From all accounts, Rudolph took all of this without complaint, and in 1809 he pledged a lifetime stipend to Beethoven to keep him from accepting a court appointment from Napoleon’s brother Joseph, who had been made King of Westphalia.
The Archduke clearly appreciated his teacher’s importance as a composer. He maintained a complete library of Beethoven’s music, for which Beethoven donated manuscript copies. He also made it known that he expected Beethoven to dedicate some of the best works to him. Beethoven responded by dedicating to Rudolph the Fourth and “Emperor” Piano Concertos, the opera Fidelio, the Les Adieux and Hammerklavier Piano Sonatas, the Violin Sonata Op. 96, the Missa Solemnis and the Grosse Fugue, and the Piano Trio we hear this evening It is not known why only the trio bears the nickname “the Archduke.”
The trio was sketched in 1810 and composed during a three-week period the following March. Apparently Beethoven recognized its worth since, in sending the manuscript to Rudolph in April, he asked that its parts be copied at the palace to prevent its being pirated. For some reason, however, the trio was not performed until 1814 and not published until 1816.
Beethoven played the piano at the first performance, and we have two revealing accounts of the impact of his deafness on his playing skill. The composer Louis Spohr attended a rehearsal in Beethoven’s rooms and wrote:
“It was not a treat, for, in the first place, the piano was badly out of tune, which Beethoven minded little since he did not hear it; and secondly, on account of his deafness there was scarcely anything left of the virtuosity of the artist which had formerly been so greatly admired. In forte passages the poor deaf man pounded on the keys until the strings jangled; and in piano he played so softly that whole groups of tones were omitted, so that the music was unintelligible unless one could look into the pianoforte part.
“I was deeply saddened at so hard a fate. If it is a great misfortune for anyone to be deaf, how shall a musician endure it without giving way to despair. Beethoven’s continual melancholy was no longer a riddle to me.”
The pianist Ignaz Moscheles attended the concert and wrote in his diary:
“In the case of how many compositions is the word ‘new’ misapplied? But never in Beethoven’s, and least of all in this, which is again full of originality. His playing, aside from its intellectual element, satisfied me less, being wanting in clarity and precision; but I observed many traces of the grand style of playing which I had long recognized in his compositions.”
Significantly, a repeat performance of the trio a few weeks later was Beethoven’s final public appearance as a pianist.
The qualities most frequently ascribed to the trio are “nobility” and “grandeur”, and these qualities are readily apparent in the piano’s opening statement of the main theme of the first movement. Equally striking are the trio’s repeated departures from the expected. After the piano statement, for example, the theme is restated twice, not as a continuation of the initial mood but each time with a different texture and emotional connotation.
Again, the development of the first movement consists mainly of two sections, each introduced by the cello. The first section explores the first phrase of the main theme; the second, the rest of the theme. The second section then moves into a remarkable passage in which pizzicato notes in the strings are balanced against trills and staccato notes in the piano. This leads to a piano fanfare, a thinning out of the sound, and the hushed return of the main theme.
The second movement is the scherzo, the main section of which is in Beethoven’s usual energetic style. But the middle section is again a departure, consisting of two interlaced elements with nothing in common. The first element is a mysterious strain, syncopated, heavily colored by chromatics (half-steps) and played in fugal style. The second is a thumping waltz!
The slow movement, which comes third, is a set of exquisite variations on a hymn-like theme stated initially by the piano. The first three variations restate the theme in successively smaller note values -- triplet 8ths, 16ths and triplet 16ths. The fourth variation takes the theme at a slower pace, but in a syncopated rhythm and against agitated 32nd notes in the piano. The piano then seems about to return to a simple repetition of the theme, but the cello takes over the second phrase, changing the expected F sharp to F natural. There follows a long fantasia, which transports the theme through a series of remote keys back to the proper key and, without a break, mezzo voce, into the finale.
The finale is a characteristic Beethoven rondo – lively, humorous, folkish – but again with certain differences. First, the violin part generally avoids the instrument’s higher, more brilliant range, while the cello has an unexpected number of passages in its higher register. Second, the main theme appears five times, but in the last two instances in altered form and in a speeded-up 6/8 rhythm instead of the preceding 2/4. The resulting increase in momentum brings the work to a joyous end.
Notes for: August 4, 2015
Archduke Rudolph Johann Joseph Rainer was the youngest son of Emperor Leopold II and a half-brother of Emperor Franz I. He had two main interests in life – the church and music. To pursue the former, he joined the clergy, and in 1819 he was elevated to the position of Cardinal and Archbishop of Olmütz in Moravia. As for the latter interest, in 1803, while a youth of 15, he selected Beethoven as his piano teacher, and remained his friend, patron and confidant until the composer’s death.
It was not easy for a member of the Austrian royal family to put up with Beethoven’s temperament. Their correspondence is full of Beethoven’s excuses for canceling or postponing lessons or not showing up when scheduled. When Beethoven did appear, moreover he repeatedly violated court etiquette – on one occasion he rapped his royal pupil on the knuckles and on another he had a tantrum over the formalities required to enter the royal apartments. From all accounts, Rudolph took all of this without complaint, and in 1809 he pledged a lifetime stipend to Beethoven to keep him from accepting a court appointment from Napoleon’s brother Joseph, who had been made king of Westphalia.
The archduke clearly appreciated his teacher’s importance as a composer. He maintained a complete library of Beethoven’s music, for which Beethoven donated manuscript copies. He also made it known that he expected Beethoven to dedicate some of the best works to him. Beethoven responded with these dedications: the Fourth and “Emperor” Piano Concertos, the opera Fidelio, the Les Adieux and Hammerklavier Piano Sonatas, the Violin Sonata Op. 96, the Missa Solemnis, the Grosse Fugue, and the Piano Trio we hear this evening. It is not known why only the trio bears the nickname “The Archduke”.
The trio was sketched in the autumn of 1810 and composed during a three-week period the following March. Apparently Beethoven recognized its worth since, in sending the manuscript to Rudolph in April, he asked that its parts be copied at the palace to prevent its being pirated. For some unexplained reason, the trio was not performed until 1814 and not published until 1816.
Beethoven played the piano at the first performance, and we have two revealing accounts of the impact of his deafness on his playing skill. The composer Louis Spohr attended a rehearsal in Beethoven’s rooms and wrote:
It was not a treat, for, in the first place, the piano was badly out of tune, which Beethoven minded little since he did not hear it; and secondly, on account of his deafness there was scarcely anything left of the virtuosity of the artist which had formerly been so greatly admired. In forte passages the poor deaf man pounded on the keys until the strings jangled; and in piano he played so softly that whole groups of tones were omitted, so that the music was unintelligible unless one could look into the pianoforte part.
I was deeply saddened at so hard a fate. If it is a great misfortune for anyone to be deaf, how shall a musician endure it without giving way to despair. Beethoven’s continual melancholy was no longer a riddle to me.
The pianist Ignaz Moscheles attended the concert and wrote in his diary:
In the case of how many compositions is the word ‘new’ misapplied? But never in Beethoven’s, and least of all in this, which is again full of originality. His playing, aside from its intellectual element, satisfied me less, being wanting in clarity and precision, but I observed many traces of the grand style of playing which I had long recognized in his compositions.
Significantly, a repeat performance of the trio a few weeks later was Beethoven’s final public appearance as a pianist.
The qualities most frequently ascribed to the trio are “nobility” and “grandeur”, and these qualities are readily apparent in the piano’s opening statement of the main theme of the first movement, allegro moderato. Equally striking are the trio’s repeated departures from the expected. After the piano statement, for example, the theme is restated twice, not as a continuation of the initial mood but each time with a different texture and emotional connotation.
Again, the development of the first movement consists mainly of two sections, each introduced by the cello. The first section explores the first phrase of the main theme; the second, the rest of the theme. The second section then moves into a remarkable passage in which pizzicato notes in the strings are balanced against trills and staccato notes in the piano. This leads to a piano fanfare, a thinning out of the sound, and the hushed return of the main theme.
The second movement, allegro, is the scherzo, the main section of which is in Beethoven’s usual energetic style. But the middle section is again a departure, consisting of two interlaced elements with nothing in common. The first element is a mysterious strain, syncopated, heavily colored by chromatics (half-steps) and played in fugal style. The second is a thumping waltz!
The slow movement, andante cantabile, ma pèro con moto, is a set of exquisite variations on a hymn-like theme stated initially by the piano. The first three variations restate the theme in successively smaller note values – triplet 8ths, 16ths and triplet 16ths. The fourth variation takes the theme at a slower pace, but in a syncopated rhythm against agitated 32nd notes in the piano. The piano then seems about to return to a simple repetition of the theme, but the cello takes over the second phrase, changing the expected F sharp to F natural. There follows a long fantasia, which transports the theme through a series of remote keys back to the proper key and, without a break, mezzo voce, into the finale.
The finale, allegro moderato, is a characteristic Beethoven rondo – lively, humorous, folkish – but again with a few departures. First, the violin part generally avoids the instrument’s higher, more brilliant, range, while the cello has an unexpected number of passages in its higher register. Second, the main theme appears five times, but in the last two instances in altered form and in a speeded-up 6/8 rhythm instead of the preceding 2/4. The resulting increase in momentum brings the work to a joyous end.
Notes for: July 20, 2021
With the Piano Trio in B-Flat Major, Beethoven arrived at another pinnacle. For several years, starting with the massive “Eroica” Symphony, he had been composing tempestuous, conflict-ridden works in what has been called his heroic period. Just as revolutionary, however, were several compositions that were distinguished by spaciousness, serenity, and lyric breadth. Among this group was the great Piano Trio that he dedicated to one of his most important patrons, Archduke Rudolph.
Like the Archduke to whom it is dedicated, the B-Flat Major Trio is a noble work, dramatic in scope and in the richness of its harmonies. The Trio’s first movement – a gracious, easy-paced Allegro moderato – begins with one of Beethoven’s most beguiling melodies, a broad, flowing legato theme that is first introduced by the piano alone, then repeated with the cello and violin joining in. Beethoven quickly establishes that the cello will range widely, that modulations will be surprising, and that textures and sonorities will be lush. Among the many delights of the complex movement are the ingenious way Beethoven develops his opening theme, phrase by phrase; the extended pizzicatos in the development section; the quiet trills that, after some teasing, lead back to the recapitulation; and a brief but imposing coda.
After tranquility comes impishness. The Scherzo begins humorously with a rising scale, then continues on its lighthearted way to an extended trio with two themes, the first a mysterious fugato, the second a flashy Viennese-like waltz. Unusually, Beethoven repeats the sections before ending with the Scherzo proper and a coda that brings back the fugato. Serenity returns with the Andante cantabile, whose chorale-like theme is followed by a set of exquisitely ornamented variations. Then, as he so enjoys doing, Beethoven jolts the listener again with another abrupt change of mood. Donald Francis Tovey has a wonderful description of the last movement: “When the finale of the B-Flat Trio shocks us with unseemly conviviality before the slow movement has finished dying away, Beethoven has no apologies to offer. The outrageous jocularity continues unabashed, until not only the proportions, but the actual mysterious quality, of the finale develop a sublimity of their own. It is a marvelous study in Bacchanalian indolence.” Over the course of four movements, Beethoven the alchemist has melded transcendent beauty with bravura wit to create musical gold. Not surprisingly, Beethoven himself thought the “Archduke” was one of his finest creations.