The Kegelstatt Trio also referred to as the Trio for Clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, Viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

 and Piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 in E-flat, is a classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

.

History

Mozart wrote the trio

Trio (music)

Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

 on 10 sheets (19 pages) in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and dated the manuscript on 5 August 1786

1786 in music

-Events:*November 7 – America's oldest singing society is founded as the Stoughton Musical Society.*In Britain, William Parsons succeeds John Stanley as Master of the King's Musick....

. According to Karoline Pichler

Karoline Pichler

Karoline Pichler, also spelled Caroline Pichler, was an Austrian novelist. She was born in Vienna to Hofrat Franz Sales von Greiner and his wife Charlotte, née Hieronimus ....

, a 17 year old student of Mozart at this time, the work was dedicated to Franziska Jacquin (1769–1850), another student of his. In fact, Mozart and the Jacquin family —father Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin

Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin

Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....

 and his youngest son, Gottfried Jacquin— were quite close friends. They performed house concerts together where Nikolaus played the flute and Franziska the piano. In a letter to Gottfried from 15 January 1787 Mozart praises Franziska's studiousness and diligence, and he dedicated a considerable number of works to the Jacquin family, most notably this trio. His friendship went even further when one year later he wrote two songs, Als Luise …

Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte

"Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte" , K...

(K. 520) and Das Traumbild (K. 530) for the explicit purpose of Gottfried using them under his own name.

The German word Kegelstatt means a place where skittles

Skittles (sport)

Skittles is an old European lawn game, a variety of bowling, from which ten-pin bowling, duckpin bowling, and candlepin bowling in the United States, and five-pin bowling in Canada are descended. In the United Kingdom, the game remains a popular pub game in England and Wales, though it tends to be...

 are being played, a bowling alley. Mozart did write that he composed the 12 duos for basset horns (K. 487) while playing skittles; he noted on the first page of that autograph

Autograph

An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...

: "Vienna, 27 July 1786 while playing skittles" ("Wien, den 27ten Jullius 1786 untern Kegelscheiben") – only about a week before he dated this trio. However, there is no evidence that there was a similar situation with this work; the title was added by later publishers. Mozart entered this work into his own list of works as "Ein Terzett für klavier, Clarinett und Viola".

This clarinet-viola-piano trio

Clarinet-viola-piano trio

A clarinet-viola-piano trio is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, one viola, and one piano, or the name of a piece written for such a group....

 was first played in the Jacquin's house; Anton Stadler

Anton Stadler

Anton Stadler was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote both his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings and Clarinet Concerto....

 played the clarinet, Mozart the viola, Franziska Jacquin the piano. In Mozart's time, the clarinet was a relatively new instrument, and the Kegelstatt Trio (along with the Clarinet Quintet

Clarinet Quintet (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581, was written in 1789 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler. A clarinet quintet is a work for one clarinet and a string quartet . Although originally written for basset clarinet, it is almost always played on a clarinet in A or B-flat...

 and Concerto

Clarinet Concerto (Mozart)

Mozart's Clarinet concerto in A major, K. 622 was written in 1791 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler.It consists of the usual three movements, in a fast–slow–fast form:# Allegro# Adagio# Rondo: Allegro...

 of Mozart) helped increase the instrument's popularity.

The trio was published in 1788 by Artaria

Artaria

Artaria and company was one of the most important music publishing firms of the late 18th and 19th century. Founded in the 18th century in Vienna, the company is associated with many leading names of the classical era.- History :...

, arranged —probably with Mozart's consent— for violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, viola and piano, and the original clarinet part was described as "alternative part": La parte del Violino si può eseguire anche con un Clarinetto. Due to this unusual scoring, the piece is sometimes adapted to fit other types of trios; e.g. a clarinet-violin-piano trio

Clarinet-violin-piano trio

A clarinet-violin-piano trio is a standardized chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, one violin, and one piano participating in relatively equal roles, or the name of a piece written for such a group....

, a violin-cello-piano trio

Piano trio

A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...

 or a violin-viola-piano trio as in that first publication by Artaria.

No composer before Mozart had written for this combination of instruments; in the 19th century Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

 wrote Märchenerzählungen (Op. 132), Max Bruch

Max Bruch

Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...

 in 1910 "Eight pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano" (Op. 83) and Carl Reinecke

Carl Reinecke

Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...

 "Trio for piano, clarinet and viola" (Op. 246).

In March 1894 the manuscript came into the possession of the musicologist and composer Charles Théodore Malherbe (1853–1911) when he bought it from Leo Sachs, a banker in Paris, who had bought it from Johann Anton André

Johann Anton André

Johann Anton André was a German composer and music publisher.André wrote operas, symphonies, masses, and lieder, as well as a still unfinished Lehrbuch der Tonsetzkunst in two volumes...

 who bought it as part of a large purchase of manuscripts from Mozart's widow Constanze

Constanze Mozart

Constanze Mozart was the wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-Early years:Constanze Weber was born in Zell im Wiesental. Her mother was Cäcilia Weber, née Stamm. Her father Fridolin Weber worked as a "double bass player, prompter and music copyist." Fridolin's half-brother was the father of composer...

 (the Mozart Nachlass) in 1841. In 1912 it was donated to the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Bibliothèque nationale de France

The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...

, Département de la Musique, Malherbe collection, Ms 222.

Analysis

The manuscript notes the clarinet part as "Clarinetto in B" and uses the written pitch

Transposing instrument

A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which written notes are read at a pitch different from the corresponding concert pitch, which a non-transposing instrument, such as a piano, would play. Playing a written C on a transposing instrument will produce a note other than concert C...

. The viola part uses the C-clef

Clef

A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the staff, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the staff...

 in the alto position. The labelling of the piano part shows a correction by Mozart where he started to write "Ce" (for Cembalo

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

) and then replaced it with "Piano forte". However, this part is labelled "Cembalo" for the second and third movements. The key signature

Key signature

In musical notation, a key signature is a series of sharp or flat symbols placed on the staff, designating notes that are to be consistently played one semitone higher or lower than the equivalent natural notes unless otherwise altered with an accidental...

 of E-flat major in Mozart's late chamber music indicates close friendship.

The trio consists of three movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

:

• I. Andante
• II. Menuetto
  Minuet
  A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
  
  
• III. Rondeaux
  Rondo
  Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
  
  : Allegretto

I. Andante

The first movement is not the more traditional Allegro as an opening movement, but a more contemplative Andante. Following on from this, the second movement is of course not the traditional slow movement, but a moderate Menuetto, and the last movement, while lively, is not the standard Allegro. In short, the contrasts in this trio are not as stark as in most classical sonata

Sonata

Sonata , in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata , a piece sung. The term, being vague, naturally evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms prior to the Classical era...

s.

The Andante is written in the time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

 of 6/8 time and consists of 129 bars

Bar (music)

In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...

; a typical performance would last just over 6 minutes. It does not contain any repeats

Repetition (music)

Repetition is important in music, where sounds or sequences are often repeated. One often stated idea is that repetition should be in balance with the initial statements and variations in a piece. It may be called restatement, such as the restatement of a theme...

, which is unusual for chamber music; among Mozart's mature works other than symphonies, only the "Posthornserenade"

Serenade No. 9 (Mozart)

The Serenade for Orchestra No. 9 in D major K. 320, Posthorn, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, in 1779. The manuscript is dated 3 August 1779 and was intended for the university "finalmusik" ceremony that year....

 (K. 320) doesn't have any repeats in the opening movement. The most recognisable phrase of this movement's principal theme is a grupetto

Schleifer

A schleifer is a musical ornament used by a.o. Bach in such baroque works as the Notebook for Anna Magdelena. It instructs the performer to begin one or two scale steps below the marked note and slide upward. The schleifer usually includes a prall trill or mordent trill at the end.Willard A...

 which appears throughout.

II. Menuetto

The second movement is written in the time signature of 3/4 time

Triple metre

Triple metre is a musical metre characterized by a primary division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 or 9 in the upper figure of the time signature, with 3/4, 3/2, and 3/8 being the most common examples...

 and consists of 158 bars, almost all of which are repeated; a typical performance would last about 6 minutes. The key signature of this movement is B-flat major, the dominant

Dominant (music)

In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree of the diatonic scale, called "dominant" because it is next in importance to the tonic,and a dominant chord is any chord built upon that pitch, using the notes of the same diatonic scale...

 key

Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

 to E-flat from the first movement.

The opening menuetto of this movement consists of the exposition of a 4-bar theme (bars 1–12, repeated), and its development (bars 13–41, also repeated). The piano's pounding bass line and sharp dynamic contrasts set the mood of this theme apart from any conventional light and frilly notions of a Minuet. During the development, the dialogue between the instruments becomes intensified, and Mozart shows his grasp of counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 without ever sounding academic or "learned".

The following Trio opens with a chromatic

Diatonic and chromatic

Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...

 4-note phrase, to which the viola responds with a run of lively triplets

Tuplet

In music a tuplet is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat into a different number of equal subdivisions from that usually permitted by the...

, accompanied by chromatic chords from the piano (bars 42–62, repeated). In the development of that theme, the 4-note phrase and the lively triplets are then taken up by the piano, and clarinet and viola present some chromatically rising lines, before all three instruments start a concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

-like conversation where the 4-note phrase is only heard twice in the piano left hand (bars 63–94, repeated).

The final part of the Trio starts with a variation of the trio's 4-note phrase, which is briefly developed (bars 95–102) before returning to the brighter theme of the Menuetto whose treatment ends the movement without repeats.

III. Rondeaux: Allegretto

The last movement is written in the time signature of cut common time (or alla breve, similar to 2/2) and consists of 222 bars; a typical performance would last about 8½ minutes. The key signature, as is conventional, is the same as the opening movement, E-flat major. The musical format of this movement is a 7-part rondo, a rarity in Mozart's work; this 7-part structure also explains the title Rondeaux, the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 plural

Plural

In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

 form of Rondeau.

The structure is AB–AC–AD–A. Theme A is an 8-bar cantabile

Cantabile

Cantabile is a musical term meaning literally "singable" or "songlike" . It has several meanings in different contexts. In instrumental music, it indicates a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th century composers, the term is often used synonymously with...

 melody in two parts, drawn from the first movement and presented first by the clarinet, then taken up as a variation

Variation (music)

In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...

 by the piano (bars 1–16). The melody of theme B - in B-flat major - is played once by the clarinet (bars 17–24) before the piano plays an intermezzo of several bars. From bar 36 onwards, all three instruments play short phrases of that theme in turn, followed by a piano solo until bar 50. Theme C - in c minor - is presented by the viola and repeated (bars 67–76); all three instruments develop that theme in bars 77–90 (repeated). This development visits the subdominant

Subdominant

In music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...

 minor scale

Minor scale

A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...

 (vi

Diatonic function

In tonal music theory, a diatonic function is the specific, recognized role of each of the 7 notes and their chords in relation to the diatonic key...

) of F minor

F minor

F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....

 before ending in the relative key

Relative key

In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures. A major and minor scale sharing the same key signature are said to be in a relative relationship...

 of C minor

C minor

C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...

. Theme D - in A-flat major - is introduced in bar 116 by all three instruments almost in unison

Unison

In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...

, and elaborately developed in bars 132–153 (repeated). In contrast to the previous development, this goes through the subdominant major scale

Major scale

In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...

 (VI) of A-flat major. The movement ends with a flowery, operatic coda (bars 185-222).

External links

• Autograph at the Bibliothèque nationale de France
  Bibliothèque nationale de France
  The is the National Library of France, located in Paris. It is intended to be the repository of all that is published in France. The current president of the library is Bruno Racine.-History:...
  
  , (Gallica)
• Recording from mozart-archiv.de: Andante (4.4 MB), Menuetto (4.1 MB), Rondeaux (5.9 MB)
• Trio for clarinet, viola & piano in E-flat major ("Kegelstatt"), K. 498. Classical Work Reviews. All Media Guide, 2006. Answers.com