Piano Trio No. 3 (Schumann)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor
by Robert Schumann
was written in 1851, and is his opus
110. It has four movements
:
The work was written in Düsseldorf
, and first rehearsed there in mid-November 1851. It was first performed publicly in Leipzig
in 1852 and dedicated to Niels Wilhelm Gade
. It was not given its first Carnegie Hall performance in New York City until 1958, by the Trio di Bolzano.
This year was a busy one for Schumann, in which he also revised his 1841 symphony in D minor, and wrote his first two violin sonatas, a number of songs and choral works including Der Rose Pilgerfahrt, and also composed his overtures Julius Caesar and Hermann und Dorothea.
Discography
G minor
G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major....
by 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....
was written in 1851, and is his opus
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
110. It has four 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...
:
- Bewegt, doch nicht zu rasch in G minor, in 6/8 timeTime signatureThe 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....
(with tempoTempoIn musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
dotted quarter noteQuarter noteA quarter note or crotchet is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note . Often people will say that a crotchet is one beat, however, this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a quarter note may or may not be the beat...
s 63 to the minute). In sonata formSonata formSonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
. - Ziemlich langsam in E-flat major, in 12/8 time and tempo 116 eighth noteEighth notethumb|180px|right|Figure 1. An eighth note with stem facing up, an eighth note with stem facing down, and an eighth rest.thumb|right|180px|Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together....
s to the minute. - Rasch in C minorC minorC 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...
, in 2/4 time and 138 quarter notes to the minute. A scherzoScherzoA scherzo is a piece of music, often a movement from a larger piece such as a symphony or a sonata. The scherzo's precise definition has varied over the years, but it often refers to a movement which replaces the minuet as the third movement in a four-movement work, such as a symphony, sonata, or...
with two trioTrio (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...
s, with a tempo marking of Etwas zurückhaltend bis zm langsameren Tempo leading into the first trio, in C majorC majorC major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
with an upward chromaticChromatic scaleThe chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
theme, and a second trio in A-flat major which is more markedly rhythmRhythmRhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic and diatonicDiatonic scaleIn music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven note, octave-repeating musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps for each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps...
in character. - Kräftig, mit Humor in G majorG majorG major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
, in common (4/4) time and 104 quarter notes to the minute. There is a prominent episode in this rondoRondoRondo, 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...
which quotes the C major trio from the scherzo (now in D majorD majorD major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....
).
The work was written in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, and first rehearsed there in mid-November 1851. It was first performed publicly in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
in 1852 and dedicated to Niels Wilhelm Gade
Niels Wilhelm Gade
Niels Wilhelm Gade was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. He is considered the most important Danish musician of his day.-Biography:...
. It was not given its first Carnegie Hall performance in New York City until 1958, by the Trio di Bolzano.
This year was a busy one for Schumann, in which he also revised his 1841 symphony in D minor, and wrote his first two violin sonatas, a number of songs and choral works including Der Rose Pilgerfahrt, and also composed his overtures Julius Caesar and Hermann und Dorothea.
Discography
- Schumann Piano Trios 1 & 3 (no. 1 Op. 63, no. 3 Op. 110); The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio; Avie Records, AV 2210, 2010.
External links
- Performance of Piano Trio No. 3 by the Claremont TrioClaremont TrioClaremont Trio is a piano trio composed of Juilliard School alumnae Emily Bruskin , Julia Bruskin , and Donna Kwong . The group was founded at Juilliard in 1999, and made its performance debut at the 92nd Street Y, on the Upper East Side...
from the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner MuseumThe Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum or Fenway Court, as the museum was known during Isabella Stewart Gardner's lifetime, is a museum in the Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located within walking distance of the Museum of Fine Arts and near the Back Bay Fens...
in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
format - Notes to the Florestan Trio recording
- Program notes from a concert at Carnegie Hall