 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Rob Bell
Date: 2002-04-20 08:40
What do u people think to the Beethoven Trio in Bb Major for Clarinet, Cello and Piano? Any advice or info on the piece would be extremely appreciated!
Thanks
Rob
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Author: Katfish
Date: 2002-04-20 13:14
I think there are 2 trios. The Opus 11 is the one I'm familiar with. My only bit of advice is that the last movement is variations on an old drinKing song, so have fun with it and make it light and happy. Beethoven light? Seems like a contradition in terms. Sort of like army intelligence.
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Author: Rob Bell
Date: 2002-04-20 16:01
Thanks! Yes it is the opus 11. Any help with program notes would be gratefully received!
Thanks,
Rob
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-04-20 18:26
Rob...Information concerning the Beethoven Trio, opus 11 is very easy to locate. You should, in your writing of the program notes, mention the clarinetist for whom it was most likely composed: Josef Bähr. The trio, as most know, was composed in 1798 and was well received by both the general public and critics.
Interestingly, Beethoven's Quintet in Eb, opus 16 was composed in 1797, but since the Trio was published first (in 1798) it has the lower opus number...GBK
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Author: Suzanne
Date: 2002-04-20 21:53
Actually,
the third movement is an especially jolly set of variations based on a popular tune from Joseph Weigl's opera L'amour mariano (premired in Vienna on October 15, 1797), "Pria ch'io l'impegno", which can be translated loosely as "Before I work, I must have something to eat!"
(Plagiarized from the program notes in the CD I have of the piece)
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-04-20 22:27
Suzanne...
More actually,
The name of the opera was "L'Amor Marinaro" (not 'mariano') which loosely translates to: "Love Among Seafarers" ...GBK
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Author: diz
Date: 2002-04-21 23:22
GBK - there is a nice line in The Mikado that Ko-Ko says to Pooh-Bah - "But that's so like you! You must put in your oar!" - I don't know why, but I think of you!!
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-04-22 00:15
diz...Thanks
Misinformation bothers me and should always be corrected. (Believe me, I've made my share of errors).
If someone (the original poster) is looking for accurate information, fixing errors of established facts is the responsible thing to do.
By the way, I haven't listened to The Mikado in ages. Thanks for the reminder. It is now on my "to do" list..GBK
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-04-22 17:41
Rob -
Here's what I wrote 3 years ago on the Klarinet board:
The last movement of the Beethoven Trio is variations on a theme from an aria in the comic opera "L'amor marinaro" or "The Corsair" by Joseph Weigl. The text means "Before I begin work," which is incomplete -- It's actually "Before I begin work, I must have something to eat."
According to Weigl's bio in Baker's, the opera premiered on October 15, 1797. I have read (I don't remember where - on a record jacket, I think) that the opera was enormously popular, and this tune was whistled all over Vienna. Thus, everyone who heard the Beethoven trio would get the joke. My forgotten source went on to say that when the tune faded from popularity, Beethoven's papers showed he intended to write another finale, but never got around to it.
When you play the variations, remember that they're done on a comic tune and are meant to be funny. Beethoven really rings the changes - angry, heroic, sweet, impossibly sad (in the minor variation, you can hear the tears running down the cheek) and finally a learned fugue. In the fugue, Beethoven carries it to extremes at the end, with the 3 clarinet solo descending notes, followed by the same 3 pizzicato on the cello, and then staccato on the piano, which is then overwhelmed by the final rush to the end.
When I played this on a reproduction of an old clarinet, with fortepiano and a gut-string cello with no end pin, I realized what was going on. The lighter voiced clarinet can play those 3 notes like pizzicatos, and the fortepiano can do the same. We prepared the audience by playing the minor key variation with silent movie style swoons and got audible laughter (admittedly from an audience of musicians) with the fugue, pizzicatos and coda.
Have fun performing it.
Ken Shaw
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Author: GBK
Date: 2002-04-22 18:21
Ken...I seem to remember reading that Beethoven actually had second thoughts on using the theme from "L'amor marinaro" for the last movement of the Trio, as he had felt he was conceeding to the tastes of the "lower class" by using a "popular tune".
Any recollection of this? Or am I thinking of another work?
Thanks...GBK
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2002-04-23 13:53
Hmmm. "Before I work, I must have something to eat"? Pizzacattos? Are you sure it wasn't "L'amor marinara"?
Best regards,
jnk
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