Hummel: Two Piano trios

Day 308

Hummel: Two Piano trios

Trio in E flat op 12

Trio in E flat op 96

Beaux Art Trio

Hummel was at the centre of musical life in Vienna in the transition from the classical to romantic eras. He seems to have know every important composer of his time and his music, particularly the works for piano (solo and orchestra) had an influence on the next generation of pianist composers such as Chopin and Schumann,

The only piece of his that I have played orchestral is the trumpet concerto, though I have attempted a few of his easier piano pieces. But he is not a composer whose music I know well.  He wrote seven piano trios and selected two of them at random. These are very much transitional works. For much of the time the cello takes a subsidiary part, as it does in the piano trios of Haydn, doubling the bass line of the piano and adding harmonic fill. But there are also some passages where the cello is given an independent voice with equal status to the violin. Both trios are extremely well crafted and show why Hummel was much admired in his day. Interestingly the earlier trio (op 12) seems a much more mature work that the later op 96, but as far as I can tell the opus numbers are chronological. Certainly the first movement of op 12 looks forward to Schumann - the main melodic material was reminiscent of the latter composer’s Piano Quintet. Buy contrast the final movement of op 96 - a spirited rondo - seemed a very close relation to Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca. So some highly civilised music here which shows the piano trio format at its most elegant and refined.