Page 5 - UM0038-pianotrio-F-major-Beethoven

Preface

Unclear numbering of the piano trios

Beethoven composed many more piano trios than the eleven pieces that were published by Breitkopf und Härtel. The
Gesamtausgabe, which appeared between 1862 and 1865, consisted of 24 groups of the various works that had been
published in Beethovenꞌs life time, which means that they were the pieces with opus numbers usually given by Beethoven
himself and many pieces that had not been published with an opus number. However, the Gesamtausgabe by Breitkopf
und Härtel turned out to be far from complete. Many pieces, including quite a few piano trios, were only rediscovered in
th
the 20 century and published recently. In 1862, publishers Breitkopf und Härtel could not have known that many more
pieces had been written with this instrumentation. Group 11 included all the known piano trios that had been printed so
far and that had been numbered more or less randomly by the publisher. For instance, the Piano Trios Opus 1 in 1795
appeared as trio no.1 in E-flat major, no.2 in G major and no.3 in C minor as the first three piano trios. However, Beethoven
had already composed three piano trios before that, namely the Piano Trio for Flute, Bassoon and Piano in G major WoO
37 from 1786-1787, the small unfinished Piano Trio for Violin, Cello and Piano in E-flat major Hess 48 Unv 9 and, for the
same instrumentation, the Piano Trio in E-flat major WoO 38 from 1790-1791. The latter of these three trios appeared in
Breitkopf und Härtelꞌs reprint as trio no.9! The next Piano Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in B-flat major from 1797-1798,
which appeared in 1798 as Opus 11, was reprinted as trio no.4. It is interesting to note that the re-publisher did not use
the opus numbers that Beethoven himself had given to various pieces, like the fourteen variations for Piano Trio in E-flat
major Opus 44, but includes the two Piano Trios in D major and E-flat major from 1808, printed as Opus 70 in 1809, as
numbers 5 and 6. The famous Erzherzogtrio from 1810-1811, published as Opus 97 in 1816, became trio no.7 in Breitkopf
und Härtel, while the eighth Piano Trio in B-flat major WoO 39 from 1812 became trio no.8 and the Piano Trio in E-flat
major WoO 38 trio no.9. The 14 Variations in E-flat major, probably from 1792, published as Opus 44, in Breitkopf und
Härtel's Gesamtausgabe were numbered as trio no.10, and the last Piano Trio in G major from 1801-1803, directed by the
composer in 1816 and printed in 1824 as Opus 121A, appeared as trio no.11. Nowadays, the other trios are numbered
consecutively, although not in chronological order. For instance, the small Trio in E-flat major Hess 48 Unv 9 from 1790-
1792 is usually listed as trio no.12.

The following pieces are numbered randomly:

- trio no.13 Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano in E-flat major Opus 38 from 1802, adaptation of the Septet in E-flat
major Opus 20;
- trio no.14 Piano Trio in D major Opus 36A, adaptation of the Second Symphony in D major Opus 36 by the
composer, although the name Ferdinand Ries has also been mentioned;
- trio no.15 Piano Trio in E-flat major Opus 63, adaptation of the String Quintet No.1 in E-flat major Opus 4;
- trio no.16 Piano Trio in G major for Flute, Bassoon and Piano WoO 37;
- trio no.17 Piano Trio in E-flat major Hess 47, adaptation of the first part of the String Trio No.1 in E-flat major Opus
3 from 1794-1795;
- And then there is the Piano Trio in D major Anhang 3, which nowadays is attributed to his brother Kaspar Karl van
Beethoven and probably dates from 1800 or before. This would then be trio no.18.
- Trio no.19 Piano Trio in B-flat major Hess 50 and unfinished, probably from 1790.
- And finally, the Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10 from 1816, which, for the sake of convenience, we will call trio no.20.
The whole piano trio story is a 'messꞌ, unfortunately created by the erroneous sequence in the Breitkopf und Härtel
Gesamtausgabe. However, the sequence listed above continues to be used, because, over time, it has become so accepted
that we will never be able to change the sequence. We see that writing piano trios was an important musical form that
Beethoven continued to practice a lot.

My Dear Sir Vienna 1. Oct ꞌ1816

…….
I offer you of my works the following new ones. A Grand Sonata for the Pianoforte alone 40 £s. A Trio for the Piano with
1
accomp. of Violin and Violoncello for 50 £s. It is possible that somebody will offer you other works of mine to purchase,
for ex. the score of the Grand Symphony in A. ……

1 Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10

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