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Trio No. 1 in D minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 49
Felix Mendelssohn
  • Born February 3, 1809, in Hamburg
  • Died November 4, 1847, in Leipzig
  • Composed in 1839
  • First CMS performance on February 3, 1974, by pianist Richard Goode, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Leslie Parnas
  • Duration: 30 minutes

In early 1840, Robert Schumann wrote an effusive review of a new work by his friend Felix Mendelssohn in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. He thought the D-minor Piano Trio (Op. 49) was “the master trio of today as in their day were those of Beethoven in B-flat and D; as was that of Franz Schubert in E-flat; a lovely composition which years from hence will still delight grand- and great-grandchildren.” Schumann went on to insist that Mendelssohn “has raised himself so high that we can indeed say he is the Mozart of the Nineteenth Century.”

Mendelssohn certainly had the work of Beethoven and Schubert in mind when he entertained composing a trio for piano, violin, and cello in 1838. He wrote to his friend Ferdinand Hiller that this instrumentation, “a very important branch of pianoforte music which I am particularly fond of . . . is quite forgotten now, and I greatly feel the want of something new in that line.” He got around to writing his Trio in D minor in the first half of 1839, but he made substantial alterations to it after playing it for Hiller. His friend suggested “modernizing” the piano part, recommending to the composer that “an unusual form of arpeggio may not improve the harmony, but neither does it spoil it—and it becomes more interesting to the player.”

Such “unusual arpeggios” are the most distinctive textural feature of the first movement of the piece. The piano is in a near-constant state of accompanimental flare; running triplet figures traverse the keyboard in a span of a few beats while the strings present tune after tune that show off the composer’s Mozartian melodic gifts. The cello introduces the main themes in this movement: first a D-minor lament in the husky middle range of the instrument, and then an extroverted, tenor aria. When, after a diverting development section, the main theme of the movement returns in the cello for a recapitulation, the violin plays a sublime countermelody on top—a Mendelssohnian touch that occurs in many of his symphonies and string quartets.

The main tunes of the second movement, a Songs-Without-Words-style Andante, are first presented by the piano. When the strings repeat those melodies, they add harmonic coloration that hints at how theme-and-variation strategies permeate many of Mendelssohn’s more ambitious concert works. The light and angular Scherzo is a fabulously efficient mix of sonata and rondo forms, complete with a scampering main theme, a boisterous transitional tune, a skipping contrasting subject, and an aggressive developmental section with lots of minor-key jabs.

In the Finale, a rondo with a prickly refrain, we hear a frenzied effort to restore the lyricism of the first and second movements. The main tune is memorable more for its militaristic rhythmic character than for its melodic shape; a secondary theme is more linear in nature but doesn’t really go anywhere. It is only in a contrasting episode in the middle of the movement that we hear truly singable music, once again heralded by the cello. When the energy of the other themes is extinguished through a short recapitulation, that cello tune brings about a stunning modulation that brightens toward a coda and an uplifting close.

---

Cellist, writer, and music researcher Nicky Swett is a Gates Scholar and PhD Candidate in Music at the University of Cambridge. He is a regular program annotator for Music@Menlo and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Trio No. 1 in D minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 49
Felix Mendelssohn
  • Born February 3, 1809, in Hamburg
  • Died November 4, 1847, in Leipzig
  • Composed in 1839
  • First CMS performance on February 3, 1974, by pianist Richard Goode, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Leslie Parnas
  • Duration: 30 minutes

In early 1840, Robert Schumann wrote an effusive review of a new work by his friend Felix Mendelssohn in the journal Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. He thought the D-minor Piano Trio (Op. 49) was “the master trio of today as in their day were those of Beethoven in B-flat and D; as was that of Franz Schubert in E-flat; a lovely composition which years from hence will still delight grand- and great-grandchildren.” Schumann went on to insist that Mendelssohn “has raised himself so high that we can indeed say he is the Mozart of the Nineteenth Century.”

Mendelssohn certainly had the work of Beethoven and Schubert in mind when he entertained composing a trio for piano, violin, and cello in 1838. He wrote to his friend Ferdinand Hiller that this instrumentation, “a very important branch of pianoforte music which I am particularly fond of . . . is quite forgotten now, and I greatly feel the want of something new in that line.” He got around to writing his Trio in D minor in the first half of 1839, but he made substantial alterations to it after playing it for Hiller. His friend suggested “modernizing” the piano part, recommending to the composer that “an unusual form of arpeggio may not improve the harmony, but neither does it spoil it—and it becomes more interesting to the player.”

Such “unusual arpeggios” are the most distinctive textural feature of the first movement of the piece. The piano is in a near-constant state of accompanimental flare; running triplet figures traverse the keyboard in a span of a few beats while the strings present tune after tune that show off the composer’s Mozartian melodic gifts. The cello introduces the main themes in this movement: first a D-minor lament in the husky middle range of the instrument, and then an extroverted, tenor aria. When, after a diverting development section, the main theme of the movement returns in the cello for a recapitulation, the violin plays a sublime countermelody on top—a Mendelssohnian touch that occurs in many of his symphonies and string quartets.

The main tunes of the second movement, a Songs-Without-Words-style Andante, are first presented by the piano. When the strings repeat those melodies, they add harmonic coloration that hints at how theme-and-variation strategies permeate many of Mendelssohn’s more ambitious concert works. The light and angular Scherzo is a fabulously efficient mix of sonata and rondo forms, complete with a scampering main theme, a boisterous transitional tune, a skipping contrasting subject, and an aggressive developmental section with lots of minor-key jabs.

In the Finale, a rondo with a prickly refrain, we hear a frenzied effort to restore the lyricism of the first and second movements. The main tune is memorable more for its militaristic rhythmic character than for its melodic shape; a secondary theme is more linear in nature but doesn’t really go anywhere. It is only in a contrasting episode in the middle of the movement that we hear truly singable music, once again heralded by the cello. When the energy of the other themes is extinguished through a short recapitulation, that cello tune brings about a stunning modulation that brightens toward a coda and an uplifting close.

---

Cellist, writer, and music researcher Nicky Swett is a Gates Scholar and PhD Candidate in Music at the University of Cambridge. He is a regular program annotator for Music@Menlo and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.