Ludwig van Beethoven (German; 1770-1827)—Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70 No. 1 “Ghost” (1809)

1. Allegro
2. Largo 
3. Presto

In 1802, on doctor's orders, Beethoven summered at Countess Anna Maria Erdődy’s country estate in Heiligenstadt, quietly situated just north of Vienna on the Danube. The Countess was a friend to Beethoven as he battled with the emotional fallout related to his increasing deafness. Instead of despairing, he launched a new phase of creative output.

In 1808, he was staunchly in what is considered to be his middle period (1802-1808). He expanded the scope of the classical tradition with longer, more demanding, and formally experimental works that explored new bounds of emotional content. However, his financial situation was fraught, and he was considering the stability of a Kapelmeister position in Kassel, Germany. Again staying with Countess Erdődy at her Heiligenstadt estate, she was instrumental in securing an annual stipend from a consortium of aristocrats to ensure Beethoven could remain in Vienna. During this stay, he composed the two Piano Trios of Opus 70, which he dedicated to the Countess.

The Allegro offers two succinct themes—more fragments than melodies—that Beethoven exercises exhaustively. The first is the lively unison that opens the work, and the second follows immediately and flows lyrically. 

Decades later, Beethoven’s longtime student Carl Czerny remarked that the second movement evoked, for him, the ghost of Hamlet’s father. In coining the work’s nickname, “Ghost”, the Shakespearean allusion wasn’t far off, as Beethoven had been sketching an opera based on Macbeth, and notes in the Trio’s manuscripts confirm the connection. Although the opera never came to fruition, its more ghastly music was retained in the Largo. The emotional extremes of the trio can be felt as the ominously creeping second movement is launched into the joyfully buoyant finale. 

Ludwig van Beethoven (German; 1770-1827)—Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 “Spring” (1800)

1. Allegro
2. Adagio molto espressivo 
3. Scherzo: Allegro molto 
4. Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo 

Beethoven’s Enlightenment ideals were a mismatch for Vienna’s aristocracy, and yet he had no qualms befriending wealthy patrons to benefit from their financial support. One such patron was banking heir Count Moritz von Fries, who squandered his father's fortunes on a lavish lifestyle and an expensive love of the arts. Beethoven dedicated, among other works, his Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major to von Fries. Although the nickname “Spring” appeared after Beethoven’s death (probably a publisher’s marketing ploy), the name is apt for the spritely work.  

Beethoven wrote nine of his ten violin sonatas between 1797 and 1803, and expanded on Mozart’s model of treating both instruments as equal partners in the work. This can be heard immediately as both players trade melody and accompaniment duties with the first theme and throughout the big opening Allegro.

The tender Adagio features lyrical songlike melodies traded between the two voices who exchange flourishes. The brief scherzo is a lighthearted palette cleanser with cheeky echoes and a boisterous trio. The charismatic Rondo tightly combines elements of the whole work with a lyrical playfulness and adventurous digressions.

Beethoven—Cello Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 5 (1796)

1. Adagio sostenuto e espressivo – Allegro molto più tosto presto 
2. Rondo allegro 

Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792 to begin a career as a fiery pianist, quickly gaining support from the city’s aristocratic elite. Four years later, he set out on his only performance tour, traveling through Prague, Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin with Prince Lichnowsky, who funded the trip and made important introductions. During their two-month summer stay in Berlin, Beethoven socialized with King of Prussia and cello enthusiast Friedrich Wilhelm II, to whom he dedicated several new works for his favorite instrument, including the Opus 5 set of two cello sonatas.

Generally, the sonata would have featured the keyboard with the additional instrument offering harmonic support, often mimicking the left hand of the keyboard. This appears to be the case in the opening bars of the first Cello Sonata, until the cellist breaks away to present the first theme. In the novel treatment of the cellist as an independent operator, Beethoven composed perhaps the first modern cello sonata.

The cello’s capacity for lyrical range is on display in the introductory Adagio, seamlessly shifting from cheery to brooding. Beethoven performed the work with Wilhelm II’s court cellist at the palace, and one can imagine Beethoven at the keyboard performing acrobatics in the Allegro. The cellist carries less of the load here, yet provides singing, whimsical melodies with the occasional flourish, as with an electric Presto that launches into a final return of the theme. There is no shortage of viruosic excitement from both musicians in the Rondo finale that opens with the recurring theme that sways gently, and each alternating section more ebullient than the last, save for the hushed Adagio at the end, finally interrupted with fireworks.

-Chaz Stuart, 2025