Piano Trios Band 3

Beethoven Piano Trios Vol 3 Study score

In the classical era, and far into the 19th century, piano trios were what we might call fashion accessories. It is thus no coincidence that Beethoven, following in the footsteps of Haydn and Mozart, took up this genre and wrote 13 piano trios himself.

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  Op. 44 is also not a complete trio, for instance, but consists of only one single variation movement! WoO 37, written while Beethoven was still in Bonn, is striking for its scoring (piano, flute and bassoon).
• He wrote WoO39 for Maximiliane, youngest daughter of the Brentano family, “to encourage her piano playing".
• Op. 38 is an arrangement of the Septet op. 20 for piano, clarinet and violoncello, and the last piece has come down to us only in one sketchbook from Beethoven's Bonn period.