Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Performance Presentation
Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Max Pessoa (violin), Elias Roth (cello), and Amy A. Broadbent (piano)
Faculty Mentors: Dr. Moisés Molina and Dr. Tammie Walker
Music
This performance presentation will contain a short overview of Beethoven’s life, a
survey of his piano chamber music, and a discussion of the piano trio genre. A
complete performance of the first movement of the Op. 1, No. 1 piano trio will conclude
our presentation.
Beethoven’s Op. 1, No. 1 piano trio is the first of twelve piano trios (a piano trio consists
of piano, violin and cello). Beethoven also composed six sonatas for violin and piano,
six sonatas for cello and piano, two trios for piano, flute and bassoon, two trios for
piano, clarinet and cello, three piano quartets (piano, violin, viola and cello), one piano
quintet (piano, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn), one duo for piano and French horn
and three duos for piano and flute.
Beethoven is a composer from the late Classical period. Some consider Beethoven a
bridge composer between the Classical and Romantic periods because of the many
formal innovations he employed. His compositions are grouped into three distinct
periods (1770-1802, 1803-1814, 1815-1827). By his third style period, Beethoven was
completely deaf but still continued to compose.
Beethoven’s early compositions (which includes his Op. 1, No. 1 piano trio) were
strongly influenced by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn. This Trio
was first performed in 1793 at the home of Prince Lichnowsky to whom the trio is
dedicated. This performance presentation will give the audience an opportunity to
further understand and enjoy Beethoven’s chamber music.