HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''Kegelstatt Trio'', K. 498, is a
piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...
for
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
,
viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
and
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
in
E-flat major E-flat major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically D minor). The E-fla ...
by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
.


History

Mozart wrote the
piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...
on 10 sheets (19 pages) in Vienna and dated the
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
on 5 August 1786. According to Mozart's 17-year-old student
Karoline Pichler Caroline Pichler, also spelled Karoline, (7 September 1769 – 9 July 1843) was an Austrian historical novelist. Life She was born in Vienna to Hofrat Franz Sales von Greiner (1730–1798) and his wife Charlotte, Married and maiden names, née H ...
, the work was dedicated to another student of Mozart's, Franziska von Jacquin; Mozart and the von Jacquin family – father
Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin (16 February 172726 October 1817) was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany. Biography Born in Leiden in the Netherlands, he studied medicine at Leiden University, then moved first to Par ...
and his youngest son Gottfried – were quite close friends. They performed house concerts together, where Nikolaus played the flute and Franziska the piano. In a letter to Gottfried from 15 January 1787, Mozart praises Franziska's studiousness and diligence. Mozart dedicated a number of works to the von Jacquin family. One year later, Mozart wrote two
Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...
er, "" (K. 520) and "" (K. 530) explicitly for Gottfried von Jacquin to use under his own name. The German word ' means "a place where skittles are played", akin to a
duckpin bowling Duckpin bowling is a variation of the sport of bowling. Duckpin balls are in diameter, weigh between each, and lack finger holes. They are thus significantly smaller than those used in ten-pin bowling but are slightly larger and heavier than th ...
alley. Mozart wrote that he composed 12 Duos for Two
Horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...
s (not 2 violins as once thought, or basset horns as was commonly thought), K. 487, "while playing skittles"; on the first page of the autograph manuscript of K. 487, Mozart inscribed the following: "" (Vienna, 27 July 1786 while playing skittles). A week and a half later, Mozart composed and dated the trio E K. 498. He entered this work into his list of compositions simply as: ""''
Neue Mozart-Ausgabe The ''Neue Mozart-Ausgabe'' (''NMA''; English: ''New Mozart Edition'') is the second complete works edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A longer and more formal title for the edition is ''Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): Neue ...
'', KV 498, Critical Report
p. 43
(A trio for piano, clarinet and viola). There is no evidence that Mozart gave any nickname to the K. 498 trio; the moniker ''Kegelstatt'' first appears ascribed to the K. 498 trio in Ludwig von Köchel's 1862 thematic catalogue of Mozart's music. This clarinet–viola–piano trio was first played in the von Jacquin's house;
Anton Stadler Anton Paul Stadler (28 June 1753, in Bruck an der Leitha – 15 June 1812, in Vienna) was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote, amongst others, both his Clarinet Quintet (Mozart), Clarinet Quintet (K ...
played clarinet, Mozart the viola, and Franziska von Jacquin the piano. The clarinet was still a relatively new instrument in Mozart's time, and this trio, along with his Clarinet Quintet and
Clarinet Concerto A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...
(the latter two for basset clarinets in A), helped increase the instrument's popularity. The trio was published in 1788 by Artaria, transcribed – probably with Mozart's consent – for violin, viola and piano, and the original clarinet part was described as an "alternative part": '. Due to this unusual scoring, the piece is sometimes adapted to fit other types of trios; e.g. a clarinet–violin–piano trio, a violin–cello–piano trio, a clarinet–cello–piano trio, or a violin–viola–piano trio, as in that first publication by Artaria. No composer before Mozart had written for this combination of instruments. In the 19th century
Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...
wrote '' Märchenerzählungen'' ( Op. 132),
Max Bruch Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic Music, Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin ...
in 1910 "Eight pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano" (Op. 83) and Carl Reinecke "Trio for piano, clarinet and viola" (Op. 246). In the 20th century, the following works were written in the Kegelstatt trio formation: Jean Francaix "Trio" (1990),
Bertold Hummel Bertold Hummel (27 November 1925 – 9 August 2002) was a German composer of modern classical music. Life Bertold Hummel was born in Hüfingen, Baden. He studied at the Academy of Music in Freiburg from 1947 to 1954, taking composition with H ...
"Trio" op. 76a (1981), György Kurtág "Hommage à R. Sch." op. 15/d (1990). In March 1894 the manuscript came into the possession of the musicologist and composer Charles Théodore Malherbe when he bought it from Leo Sachs, a banker in Paris, who had bought it from Johann Anton André who bought it as part of a large purchase of manuscripts from Mozart's widow Constanze (the ') in 1841. In 1912 it was donated to the
Bibliothèque nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
, Département de la Musique, Malherbe collection, Ms 222.


Analysis

The manuscript notes the clarinet part as "Clarinetto in B" and uses the written pitch. The viola part uses the C-
clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical staff. Placing a clef on a staff assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines or four spaces, whic ...
in the alto position. The labelling of the piano part shows a correction by Mozart where he started to write "Ce" (for "cembalo", the Italian word for the
harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...
) and then replaced it with "Piano forte". However, this part is labelled "Cembalo" for the second and third movements. The
key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the cl ...
of
E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...
in Mozart's late chamber music indicates close friendship. The trio consists of three
movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...
: The first movement is not the more traditional Allegro as an opening movement, but a more contemplative Andante. Following on from this, the second movement is of course not the traditional slow movement, but a moderate Menuetto, and the last movement, while lively, is not the standard Allegro. In short, the contrasts in tempo in this trio are not as stark as in most piano trios.


I. Andante

The Andante is written in the
time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...
of time and consists of 129 bars; a typical performance would last just over six minutes. It repeats neither its exposition nor the remainder of the movement, which is unusual for Mozart's mature chamber music. A particularly recognizable feature of this movement's principal theme is the gruppetto (turn) which appears 67 times.


II. Menuetto

The second movement is written in time and consists of 158 bars, almost all of which are repeated; a typical performance would last about six minutes. The key signature of this movement is
B major B major is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its enharmonic equi ...
, the dominant key to E from the first movement. The opening menuetto of this movement consists of the exposition of a four-bar theme (bars 1–12, repeated), and its development (bars 13–41, also repeated). The piano's pounding bass line and sharp dynamic contrasts set the mood of this theme apart from any conventional light and frilly notions of a Minuet. During the development, the dialogue between the instruments becomes intensified, and Mozart shows his grasp of
counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...
without ever sounding academic or "learned". The following trio opens with a
chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...
four-note phrase, to which the viola responds with a run of lively
triplets A multiple birth is the culmination of a multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such births ...
, accompanied by chromatic chords from the piano (bars 42–62, repeated). In the development of that theme, the four-note phrase and the lively triplets are then taken up by the piano, and clarinet and viola present some chromatically rising lines, before all three instruments start a
concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...
-like conversation where the 4-note phrase is only heard twice in the piano left hand (bars 63–94, repeated). The final part of the trio starts with a variation of the trio's four-note phrase, which is briefly developed (bars 95–102) before returning to the brighter theme of the Menuetto whose treatment ends the movement without repeats.


III. Rondeaux: Allegretto

The last movement is written in the time signature of ''cut common time'' (or ''alla breve'', similar to ) and consists of 222 bars; a typical performance would last eight and a half minutes. The key signature, as is conventional, is the same as the opening movement, E-flat major. The musical format of this movement is a seven-part rondo, a rarity in Mozart's work; this seven-part structure also explains the title ''Rondeaux'', the French plural form of ''Rondeau''. The structure is AB–AC–AD–A. Theme A is an eight-bar
cantabile Cantabile is a term in music meaning to perform in a singing style. The word is taken from the Italian language and literally means "singable" or "songlike". In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human ...
melody in two parts, drawn from the first movement and presented first by the clarinet, then taken up as a variation by the piano (bars 1–16). The melody of theme B – in B major – is played once by the clarinet (bars 17–24) before the piano plays an intermezzo of several bars. From bar 36 onwards, all three instruments play short phrases of that theme in turn, followed by a piano solo until bar 50. Theme C – in
C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: Cha ...
– is presented by the viola and repeated (bars 67–76); all three instruments develop that theme in bars 77–90 (repeated). This development visits the
subdominant In music, the subdominant is the fourth tonal degree () of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance ''below'' the tonic as the dominant is ''above'' the tonicin other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdomina ...
minor scale In Classical_music, Western classical music theory, the minor scale refers to three Scale (music), scale patterns – the natural minor scale (or Aeolian mode), the harmonic minor scale, and the melodic minor scale (ascending or descending). ...
( vi) of
F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp ...
before ending in the
relative key In music, 'relative keys' are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures ( enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all of the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair ...
of C minor. Theme D – in A major – is introduced in bar 116 by all three instruments almost in
unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...
, and elaborately developed in bars 132–153 (repeated). In contrast to the previous development, this goes through the subdominant
major scale The major scale (or Ionian mode) is one of the most commonly used musical scales, especially in Western music. It is one of the diatonic scales. Like many musical scales, it is made up of seven notes: the eighth duplicates the first at doubl ...
(VI) of
A-flat major A-flat major is a major scale based on A♭ (musical note), A, with the pitches A, B♭ (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D♭ (musical note), D, E♭ (musical note), E, F (musical note), F, and G (musical note), G. Its key signature has fou ...
. With the playful coda of bars 191 to 222, Mozart concludes the composition, "that does not merely satisfy the listener, but leaves him enchanted!"


References


External links

* * *
Andante (4.4 MB)Menuetto (4.1 MB)Rondeaux (5.9 MB)
mozart-archiv.de * Analysis by Edward Klorman
annotated score
an
video version
{{italic title Piano trios by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1786 compositions Compositions for clarinet trio Compositions for viola Music dedicated to students or teachers Compositions in E-flat major