List of piano trios by Joseph Haydn - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This is a list of 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...

s by Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

, including the chronological number assigned by H. C. Robbins Landon

H. C. Robbins Landon

Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...

and the number they are given in Anthony van Hoboken

Anthony van Hoboken

Anthony van Hoboken was a collector and musicologist. He was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and died in Zürich, Switzerland.Hoboken trained as an engineer in Delft, before studying music in Frankfurt and Vienna...

's catalogue

Hoboken-Verzeichnis

The Hoboken-Verzeichnis is the catalogue of over 750 works by Joseph Haydn as compiled by Anthony van Hoboken.Unlike Ludwig von Köchel's catalogue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's works, or Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Franz Schubert's works, which are both arranged chronologically by date of...

of his works.

Haydn's early trios are considered minor works and are seldom played except in the context of complete editions. In contrast, the later trios, starting in the mid 1780's, reflect the composer's full musical maturity and are greatly admired by critics (see below).

The role of the instruments

The piano trios of Haydn are dominated by the piano part. The violin only plays the melody a certain amount of the time, and is often doubled by the piano when it does. The cello part is very much subordinated, usually just doubling the bass line in the piano. Charles Rosen

Charles Rosen

Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...

discusses and defends this asymmetry, relating it to the sonority of the instruments of Haydn's day: the piano was fairly weak and "tinkling" in tone, and benefited from the tonal strengthening of other instruments.

Assessment

The dominance of the piano part does not imply that the late trios are not of the highest quality. Rosen devotes an entire chapter of his well-known book The Classical Style to them, noting that Haydn's trios are "along with the Mozart concertos

Mozart piano concertos

The Mozart piano concertos refer to the 27 concertos for piano and orchestra written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These works, many of which Mozart composed for himself to play in the Vienna concert series of 1784–86, held a special place for him; indeed, Mozart's father apparently interrupted him...

the most brilliant piano works before Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

." Gretchen Wheelock refers to the trios as "incredible", adding "the late works especially are brilliantly virtuosic, exploiting the full idiomatic range of the instrument [i.e., the piano]. They are also among the most harmonically adventurous of his works in any genre, often reaching into remote keys via enharmonic modulations. As such they are challenging essays for both players and listeners."

Early trios

No. 1 in F major, Hoboken
Hoboken-Verzeichnis
The Hoboken-Verzeichnis is the catalogue of over 750 works by Joseph Haydn as compiled by Anthony van Hoboken.Unlike Ludwig von Köchel's catalogue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's works, or Otto Erich Deutsch's catalogue of Franz Schubert's works, which are both arranged chronologically by date of...

15/37 (composed by 1766; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 2 in C major, Hoboken 15/C1 (composed by 1766; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 3 in G major, Hoboken 14/6 (composed by 1767)
No. 4 in F major, Hoboken 15/39 (composed by 1767)
No. 5 in G minor, Hoboken 15/1 (composed by 1766; possibly dating as far back as ca. 1760-62)
No. 6 in F major, Hoboken 15/40 (exists with a different slow movement as the piano concerto Hob. 18/7) (composed by 1766; possibly dating as far back as ca. 1760)
No. 7 in G major, Hoboken 15/41 (composed by 1767; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 8 in D major, Hoboken 15/33 (lost) (composed by 1771; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 9 in D major, Hoboken 15/D1 (lost) (composed by 1771)
No. 10 in A major, Hoboken 15/35 (composed by 1771; possibly dating as far back as ca. 1764-65)
No. 11 in E major, Hoboken 15/34 (composed by 1771; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 12 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/36 (composed by 1774; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 13 in B flat major, Hoboken 15/38 (composed by 1769; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 14 in F minor, Hoboken 15/f1 (composed by 1760)
No. 15 in D major, Hoboken 15/deest
No. 16 in C major, Hoboken 14/C1 (composed by 1766; possibly dating as far back as 1760)
No. 17 in F major, Hoboken 15/2 (possibly composed in ca. 1767-71)

Later trios

No. 18 in G major, Hoboken 15/5 (1784)
No. 19 in F major, Hoboken 15/6 (1784)
No. 20 in D major, Hoboken 15/7 (1784)
No. 21 in B flat major, Hoboken 15/8 (1784)
No. 22 in A major, Hoboken 15/9 (1785)
No. 23 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/10 (1785)
No. 24 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/11 (1788)
No. 25 in E minor, Hoboken 15/12 (1788)
No. 26 in C minor, Hoboken 15/13 (1789)
No. 27 in A flat major, Hoboken 15/14 (1790)
No. 28 in D major, Hoboken 15/16 (1790)
No. 29 in G major, Hoboken 15/15 (1790)
No. 30 in F major, Hoboken 15/17 (1790)
No. 31 in G major, Hoboken 15/32 (1792)

Three trios (H. 18–20) dedicated to Princess Maria Anna, wife of Prince Anton Esterházy:

No. 32 in A major, Hoboken 15/18 (1793)
No. 33 in G minor, Hoboken 15/19 (1793)
No. 34 in B flat major, Hoboken 15/20 (1794)

Three trios (H. 21–23) dedicated to Princess Maria Josepha, wife of Prince Nicholas Esterházy:

No. 35 in C major, Hoboken 15/21 (1794)
No. 36 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/22 (1794)
No. 37 in D minor, Hoboken 15/23 (1794)

Three trios (H. 24–26) dedicated to Rebecca Schroeter

Rebecca Schroeter

Rebecca Schroeter was an amateur musician who lived in London during the 18th and early 19th centuries. She was the wife of the German composer Johann Samuel Schroeter, and later, during her years of widowhood, a love interest of Joseph Haydn.-Early life and marriage:She was born 1751 to Robert...

No. 38 in D major, Hoboken 15/24 (1795)
No. 39 in G major, Hoboken 15/25 (1795) "Gypsy"
Piano Trio No. 39 (Haydn)
Joseph Haydn's Piano Trio No. 39 in G major Hob. XV/25 was written in 1795. It is perhaps Haydn's most well-known piano trio and sometimes nicknamed the "Gypsy" or "Gypsy Rondo" trio because of its Rondo finale in 'Hungarian' style...
No. 40 in F sharp minor, Hoboken 15/26 (1795)

Two stand-alone trios (H. 31,30):

No. 41 in E flat minor, Hoboken 15/31 (1797)
No. 42 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/30 (1797)

Three trios (H. 27–29) "Bartolozzi Trios" dedicated to Theresa Jansen (Bartolozzi)

Theresa Jansen Bartolozzi

Therese Jansen Bartolozzi was an eminent pianist whose career flourished in London around the end of the 18th century. She was the dedicatee of piano works by a number of famous composers.-Life:...

No. 43 in C major, Hoboken 15/27 (1797)
No. 44 in E major, Hoboken 15/28 (1797)
No. 45 in E flat major, Hoboken 15/29 (1797)

The role of the instruments

Assessment

Early trios

Later trios

See also