Page 6 - UM0038-pianotrio-F-major-Beethoven

In this letter , which Beethoven wrote to Robert Birchall in London, dated October 1 , 1816, he not only mentions the
st
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Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101 , which would not be published until February 1817, but also the Piano Trio in F minor,
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of which we know that the composer had hardly progressed beyond the beginning and the theme of the actual first part.
The piano sonata in question was written with considerable intervals in the summer of 1815 and the autumn of 1816 ,
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while the sketch of the piano trio was created in the spring and autumn of 1816. The composer probably stopped working
on the Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10 in favour of the Piano Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101, to focus on the sonata.
Beethoven probably returned to the piano trio in september 1816 to work out the score of the piano trio . Incidentally,
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Robert Birchall was no longer interested in the trio, as indicated in the letter by Christopher Lonsdale that Beethoven
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received in November 1816. Why Beethoven did not finish the piano trio is unclear. It could be because of the difficult
negotiations with the publishers, illness or the quarrel with his cousin Karl, which meant that Beethoven was a little pressed
for time and decided to focus on the Piano Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101, which was already closer to completion.

The last piano trio that the composer wrote was the so-called Erzherzogtrio, the Piano Trio No.7 in B-flat major Opus 97,
which was composed in March 1811 in Vienna. The sketches of that monumental trio were written in the second half of
1810 and it was originally published in 1816 by Steiner&Comp. The London edition was published in December 1816 by
Robert Birchall. That will also have been the reason to write to the same publisher about the new Piano Trio in F minor
Unv 10 that Beethoven was working on. The piano trio no.11 , which was published by Steiner&Comp. in May 1824 as
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Opus 121A , was composed between 1801-1803 and probably edited in 1816. Despite the high opus number, it was written
much earlier, making the Piano Trio in F minor Unv 10 the last trio on which the composer started working.

The similarities with the Piano Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101 are evident, and in particular the similarities with the
second part of this sonata. With many interruptions, the sonata was sketched in Vienna between the summer of 1815 and
the autumn of 1816. Ultimately, this composition was completed between November-December 1816 and was also printed
by Steiner&Comp. in February 1817 in Vienna. It is possible that Beethoven also worked with interruptions on the new
piano trio, because there are also some sketches of the other parts. However, of the first part, there is only an incomplete
score in which the composer has worked out the entire introduction. The introduction is of considerable size and has certain
similarities to the Poco sostenuto from the Seventh Symphony in A major Opus 92. It is predominantly the sketch and the
harmonic structure that show certain similarities, in addition to the size of the introduction. Because there were so many
interesting similarities, I used the same tempo indications as those of the symphony in question. The recurring rhythmic
figure in the piano trio, which we also see in the march from the Piano Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101, turns out to be
an important element in the entire first part. It first makes its appearance in the Poco sostenuto, but becomes ever more
important in the course of the introduction and Beethoven ultimately bases the entire Allegro con brio on this motif.
A large part of the sketches is included in the so-called Scheide sketchbook, which Beethoven used until about May 1816,
but he continued to work on the piano trio in the summer until the early autumn. In that period, the composer also designed
the score of the first part with a total of 151 bars. Nicholas Marston thinks it is possible that Beethoven set aside the trio
from June until August in favour of the Piano Sonata No.28 A major Opus 101, but that is not certain. Personally, I think
that the composer worked on both pieces at the same time, in light of the striking similarities, and in particular the similarity
in the second part of the Piano Sonata No.28 in A major Opus 101. The similarities in particular involve the motif that we
see from bar 19 onward and that is also harmonically reflected in the piano trio. Both in the piano sonata and the piano
trio, the motif is worked out rhythmically and harmonically in virtually the same way. In both cases, the way it is used
elsewhere is striking: in the piano sonata, the motif keeps recurring in the elaboration of the march theme, section B, and
in the piano trio, it is elaborated even further, while also playing an important role in the main theme of the exposition.

2 Letter number 982, p. 303, Ludwig van Beethoven Briefwechsel Gesamtausgabe, Volume 3, 1814-1816,
G. Henle Verlag, Munich
3 Edition Opus 101: February 1817 by Steiner&Comp, Wenen
4 December 1816 or January 1817
5 Partiturenwurf/Skizzen, 1. Satz, T. 1-129: D-B, Mus. ms. autogr. Beethoven Grasnick 29. T. 1-52 langsame
Einleitung, anschlieβend schneller Sonatensatz
6 Letter number 996, p. 319, Ludwig van Beethoven Briefwechsel Gesamtausgabe, Volume 3, 1814-1816,
G. Henle Verlag, Munich
7 The chronology of the numbering is incorrect, see start of this preface

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