Beethoven: Piano Trio in B-flat major, Op. 97 ("Archduke")

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) composed his “Archduke” Trio for piano, violin and cello in Vienna in early 1811, about a year before his Seventh Symphony. It is the last and longest of the six full-length piano trios he published, and it was dedicated to his friend and patron Archduke Rudolph (1788–1831)—hence its nickname.

Introduction

The piano trio was one of the most common types of chamber music in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and there are many examples by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ignaz Pleyel, and others. Three of Beethoven’s six main contributions to the genre appeared as Op. 1, two as Op. 70, and the last as Op. 97. Five of the six, including the “Archduke,” have four movements, although those by his predecessors usually had only three. Beethoven wrote several shorter works, such as sets of variations, for the same combination, and he also used these three instruments as the solo group in his Triple Concerto, as well as the accompaniment in his many folksong settings.

History

Archduke Rudolph was an excellent pianist and one of the three sponsors who set up a lifetime annuity for Beethoven in 1809. Due to the French invasion of Vienna later that year, he left the city, but returned in January 1810 and became Beethoven’s only composition pupil. Altogether he received more Beethoven dedications than anyone else, but only this trio has acquired the nickname “Archduke.” He may actually have commissioned it. In any case, Beethoven began working on it towards the end of 1810, shortly after finishing his “Serioso” String Quartet, Op. 95. Work continued into the following year, and the autograph score is dated March 3, 1811. Unusually, it also bears a completion date: March 26, 1811. It received its first performance at a little-known private event at the palace of Prince Franz Lobkowitz (1772–1816) on June 2 that same year, with the archduke taking the piano part. One member of the audience, not expecting such a substantial work, described it as “langweilig” (“longwinded”), which is understandable but hardly fair for such an imposing work. Its first public performance took place on April 11, 1814, with Beethoven at the piano.

Beethoven: Trio in B-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 97, "Archduke"

For reasons not entirely clear, Beethoven did not make haste to publish the trio but held it back, along with several other major works, such as his String Quartet Op. 95 and his Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Eventually he sold them all to the publisher Sigmund Anton Steiner (1773–1838) in 1815, as repayment for a debt he had incurred. Steiner finally published the trio in September 1816. Beethoven also sold a copy to the London publisher Robert Birchall (c. 1750–1819), whose authentic edition appeared a few months after Steiner’s.

Form and Analysis

The “Archduke” Trio follows a regular four-movement pattern, except that the scherzo is placed second and the slow movement third. They are usually the other way round, but when the first movement is grand, majestic, and not particularly fast (as here), the scherzo is more effective if placed second. (Another example is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.) The first movement is, as usual, in sonata form, with the main theme in B-flat major announced by the piano right at the start. The secondary theme is usually in the key a fifth higher (the “dominant”), which would here be F major, but Beethoven instead places it in the remote key of G major, providing a strong harmonic—as well as emotional—contrast with the main theme. The exposition is repeated, followed by a development based mainly on fragments of the opening theme, and the recapitulation places both themes in the home key before an extended coda closes the movement.

The Scherzo, full of wit and humor that listeners can readily appreciate, begins with a playful theme on unaccompanied cello. Its second main section (generally, but confusingly, referred to as the “trio”), begins with a dark, mysterious theme in B-flat minor—sounding almost like a piece by the 20th-century composer Béla Bartók—with each instrument in turn entering with the theme, as in a fugue. This somber material alternates with a lively, Frédéric-Chopin-like waltz theme that appears three times in different keys. The whole combination of scherzo and trio contains such farcical contrasts that it deserves to be heard twice, and Beethoven duly marks a repeat (which is unfortunately omitted in some performances) before a final return to the scherzo music.

The third movement is in another remote key, D major, and consists of a rich and profoundly expressive theme, followed by five variations which exhibit gradually increasing elaboration: in the first variation, the figuration divides each beat into 3 (triplets); in the second, it is divided into 4; in the third, into 6; and in the fourth, into 8 (necessitating a slightly slower beat). The final variation, however, returns to a version of the original slow theme, but with some strange modifications that take it into remote keys before returning to D major for the coda. This leads into the finale, without a break. The finale is essentially in sonata-rondo form (with a sectional scheme of A–B–A–C–A–B–A), but each return of the A section is decorated differently, and the final return comes as a sped-up version in 6/8 meter and the remote key of A major. The new key soon disappears, but the 6/8 meter persists to the very end.

Critical Thoughts

The “Archduke” Trio is characteristic of Beethoven’s late-middle period. Built on a grand scale, it is full of sophistication and subtlety beneath its apparently conventional structure. Notice, for example, how the second phrase of the first movement consists of a rising scale, foreshadowing the opening theme of the next movement; and how the phrase ends unexpectedly on a G, hinting at the key of the second theme (G major). The last motive (short series of notes) heard at the end of the slow movement, played by violin and echoed by cello, has the same melodic outline as the opening motive in the finale, though the character is completely transformed. Touches like this, coupled with an unending flow of richly harmonized melody, place this work so far above the many piano trios of Beethoven’s contemporaries.

Legacy

Any initial misgivings from the first audience soon gave way to a recognition of the work for what it is: a sublime masterpiece of the highest order. The earliest review, in 1819, pointed to its favorable reception and the universal agreement about its merits by all connoisseurs. It has retained this preeminence to the present day: it has been widely recorded, and a live performance can always be guaranteed to attract an audience.

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Article by Barry Cooper