Beethoven’s very first opus is comprised of three piano trios in which we can hear the seeds of the playfulness, heroism and grim passion to come.  In his C minor trio in particular, the listener can experience both the legacy of Haydn and specific elements that would become the trademark of Beethoven’s later style.  Similarly, Chopin and Debussy were innovators of musical language, but both of their piano trios were composed in the styles of their predecessors.  Chopin grew up during the ‘brillante’ period, and accordingly his trio is filled with gorgeous melodies for the strings and virtuoso passage-work for the piano.  A young Debussy was encouraged by Mme. Von Meck, Tchaikovsky’s famous correspondent, to compose a piano trio; for 100 years the piece was unknown and the only evidence of this work was in one of Von Meck’s letters.  The trio was discovered in the 1980s, and is representative of Debussy’s approach to late French Romanticism.

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Works to be performed on the “Before They Were Famous” program include:

Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1 #3
Claude Debussy, Piano Trio in G Major
Frédéric Chopin, Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 8