String trio

File:TrioBroz.jpg

The Trio Broz during a concert for the Harare Festival of Arts 2008

A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. The term is generally used with reference to works of chamber music from the Classical period to the present. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello (cf "string quartet", "piano trio" etc). This is how the term is used by major catalogs, including IMSLP.

History

The earliest string-trio form, found in the early Classical period, consisted of two violins and a cello, a grouping which had grown out of the Baroque trio sonata, while over the course of the 19th century the string trio scored for violin, viola, and cello came to be the predominant type (Tilmouth and Smallman 2001).

Beginning in the second half of the 18th century, although the trio configuration for two violins and cello was not wholly abandoned in classical chamber music (even during the 19th century), the scoring for violin, viola, and cello began to take precedence. Joseph Haydn appears to have been the first composer to use this combination (Tilmouth and Smallman 2001), though he was soon emulated by Luigi Boccherini (Kennedy 1994).

List of string trios

Violin, viola, cello

Composer	Composition
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809)	Divertimento in C major Divertimento in F major Sonata I in C major Sonata II in E♭ major Terzetto in C major, op. 9a, no. 1 Terzetto in A major, op. 9a, no. 2 Terzetto in F major, op. 9a, no. 3 Terzetto in D major, op. 9a, no. 4 Terzetto in B♭ major, op. 9a, no. 5 Terzetto in E♭ major, op. 9a, no. 6
Georges Aperghis (b. 1945)	Faux mouvement (1995)
Ludwig van Beethoven	String Trio in G major, op. 9, no. 1 String Trio in D major, op. 9, no. 2 String Trio in C minor, op. 9, no. 3 String Trio in E♭ major, op. 3 Serenade in D major, op. 8
Wilhelm Berger (1861–1911)	String Trio in G minor, op. 69
Lennox Berkeley (1903–1989)	Trio for strings, op. 19 (1944)
Howard Blake (b. 1938)	String Trio, op. 199
Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805)	String Trios, G 95–100 and G 107–112
Carlos Chávez (1899–1978)	Invención II (1965)
Matthew Davidson (b. 1964)	Music for String Trio (2006) (Davidson n.d.)
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799)	Divertimento in D major Sonatas a tre, op. 1, nos. 1–6, k. 200–205 Sonatas, op. 2, nos. 1–6, k. 212–217
Ernő Dohnányi (1877-1960)	Serenade in C major, op. 10
Gottfried von Einem (1918-1996)	String Trio, op. 74 String Trio (fragment without opus)
Anders Eliasson (1947-2013)	Trio per archi "Ahnungen" (2013)
George Enescu (1881–1955)	Aubade, for violin, viola, and cello (Allegretto grazioso)
Karlheinz Essl (b. 1960)	à trois/seul (1998)
Joseph Leopold Eybler (1765–1846)	String Trio Op. 2 in C major HV 197
Brian Ferneyhough (b. 1943)	String Trio (1995)
Jean Françaix (1912-1997)	String Trio in C major, op. 2
Robert Fuchs (1847–1927)	String Trio in A major, op. 94
Joseph Gehot (1756-1820)	String Trios, op. 2, nos. 1–6
Yefim Golyshev	String Trio, Zwölftondauer-Komplexe (twelve-tone-duration complex) (1925)
Jorge Grundman	String Trio No. 1 in A♭ major String Trio No. 2 in G major String Trio No. 3 in C major
Sofia Gubaidulina	String Trio
Joseph Haydn	String Trio in B major, Hob. V:8
Heinrich von Herzogenberg (1843–1900)	String Trios, Op. 27, Nos. 1 & 2
Paul Hindemith (1895–1963)	String Trio No. 1, op. 34 String Trio No. 2 Des kleinen Elektromusikers Lieblinge
Gilad Hochman	Brief Memories for String Trio (2004) (Hochman n.d.).
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812)	Terzetto Scholastico Streichtrio
Julius Hopfe	String Trio no. 1 in C major, op. 41 String Trio no. 2 in G minor, op. 69
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837)	String Trio no. 1 in E♭ major String Trio no. 2 in G major
Andre Jolivet (1905–1974)	Suite for String trio
Gideon Klein	String Trio (1944)
Zoltán Kodály	Intermezzo-Allegretto
Hans Krasa	TANEC, for string trio Passacaglia and Fugue, for string trio
Ernst Krenek	String Trio, op. 118 String Trio Parvula Corona Musicalis: ad honorem Johannis Sebastiani Bach, op. 122 String Trio in 12 Stations, op. 235
Frank Martin (1890–1974)	Trio (1936)
Donald Martino	String Trio (1954)
Bohuslav Martinů	String Trio No. 1, H. 136 (1923)
Siegfried Matthus	Windspiele, for string trio
Darius Milhaud (1892–1974)	Sonatine à trois, op. 221b (1940) String Trio, Op. 274 (1947)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Divertimento, in E♭ major, K. 563 (1788)
Ernst Naumann (1832–1910)	Trio in D major, op. 12
Krzysztof Penderecki	String Trio (1990–91)
Václav Pichl	String Trios, op. 4, nos. 1–6 Trios concertans, op. 7, nos. 1–6
Wayne Peterson	String Trio (2007)
Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831)	3 String Trios, B 401–403
Max Reger	String Trio no. 1 in A minor, op. 77b String Trio No. 2 in D minor, op. 141b
Carl Reinecke	String Trio in C minor, Op. 249
Alessandro Rolla (1757–1841)	String Trio in E♭ major, op. 11 String Trios, BI 341, 342, 343, 344, 346, 347, 348, 349, 351, 397, 405, 410
Guy Ropartz	Trio in A minor for Strings (1934–35)
Albert Roussel (1896–1937)	String Trio, op. 58
Ernest Sauter	Trio no. 1 (1999) Ballade (2001) Trio No. 3, Trois mouvements contrastés (2007)
Giacinto Scelsi	Trio for strings (1958)
Alfred Schnittke	String Trio (1985)
Arnold Schoenberg	String Trio, Op. 45 (1946)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)	String Trio in B♭ major, D 581 (Berger 2001, 373) String Trio in B♭ major, D 471 (in one movement) (Berger 2001, 373)
Jean Sibelius	Suite (Trio) in A major (1889, revised 1912) Trio in G minor (1893–94)
Nikos Skalkottas	String Trio No. 2 (1935)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007)	Hoffnung (2007) (Günther 2008)
Sergei Taneyev	String Trio in D major (1880)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)	Allegretto moderato (1863–64)
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959)	String Trio (1945)
Graham Waterhouse	Epitaphium (2007) Zeichenstaub (2010)
Anton Webern	Satz for String Trio, op. posth. String Trio (1927), his first instrumental work using the twelve tone technique
Egon Wellesz	String Trio, op. 86 (1962) Four Works for string trio, op. 105 (1969, second version 1971)
John Woolrich	String Trio (1996)
Charles Wuorinen	String Trio (1968)
Iannis Xenakis	Ikhoor {Ιχώρ} (1978)
LaMonte Young	Trio (1958)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970)	Trio (1944)

Two violins, cello

Composer	Composition
Ludwig van Beethoven	String Trio in E minor, Hess 29
Luigi Boccherini	String Trios, G 77–94, 101–106, 113–136, 577–578 (for some of the trios, authorship is uncertain) Divertimenti G 137–142 (authorship doubtful)
de:Siegfried Borris	Terzettino
Werner Egk	Trio in G minor
Joseph Gehot	String Trios, op. 5, nos. 1–6
Peter Hänsel	String Trio in D major String Trio in F major String Trio in C major Streichtrio in F major, op. 40, no. 1 Streichtrio in G minor, op. 40, no. 2 Streichtrio in E major, op. 40, no. 3
Joseph Haydn	String Trios, Hob. V:1–21 (except Hob. V:8) String Trios, Hob. V:F1, D1, B1, G1, D3, A2, C1, C4 (authorship doubtful)
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812)	6 String Trios, op. 22 3 String Trios, op. 37 6 Trios Progressives, op. 28
Wilhelm Killmayer	Trio for two violins and cello
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	String Trio in B♭ major, K. 266/271f
Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831)	6 String Trios, B 404–409 3 String Trios, B 410–412 3 String Trios, B 413–415
Joseph Schuster (1748–1812)	String Trio in A minor
Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739–1813)	String Trios, op. 5, nos. 1–6 String Trios, op. 12, nos. 1–6 String Trios, op. 17, nos. 1–6

Two violins, viola

Composer	Composition
Frank Bridge	Rhapsody Trio (1928)
Antonín Dvořák	Terzetto in C major, Op. 74 Drobnosti (Miniatures), Op. 75a
Robert Fuchs (1847–1927)	2 Terzetten, op. 61 Terzett in C-sharp minor, op. 107
Zoltán Kodály	Serenade, for two violins and viola String Trio, op. 20
Bohuslav Martinů	String Trio No. 2, H. 238 (1934)
Sergei Taneyev	String Trio in D major, op. 21 (1907)

Alternative scoring

Composer	Composition
F.L. Gaßmann (1729–1774)	String Trio in E♭ major, for 2 violas and cello String Trio in B♭ major, for 2 violas and cello
Sergei Taneyev	String Trio in E♭ major, op. 31, for violin, viola and violotta
John Zorn	Walpurgisnacht (2004) for violin, viola and double bass

See also

• String quintet
• String sextet
• String octet

Sources

• Berger, Melvin. 2001. Guide to Chamber Music, third, corrected edition. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-41879-7; ISBN 978-0-486-31672-7 (ebook).
• Davidson. n.d. "Music for String Trio by Matthew Davidson." composers.com Retrieved April 5, 2014.
• Günther, Andreas. 2008. "Karlheinz Stockhausen, HOFFNUNG (2007)". Programme book of the world première of Hoffnung, 31 August 2008, Cologne, by members of musikFabrik.
• Hochman, Gilad. n.d. "Brief Memories for String Trio (2004)" GiladHochman.com Retrieved April 5, 2014.
• Kennedy, Michael (ed.). 1994. "String Trio". The Oxford Dictionary of Music, second edition revised, associate editor Joyce Bourne. London and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-869162-9.
• Tilmouth, Michael, and Basil Smallman. 2001. "String Trio". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

Further reading

• Downs, Philip G. 1992. Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The Norton Introduction to Music History. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-95191-X.
• Holloway, Robert James. 1962. "String Trio Literature of the Twentieth Century". MM Thesis. Washington, DC: American University.
• Unverricht, Hubert. 1969. Geschichte des Streichtrios. Mainzer Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 2. Tutzing: Hans Schneider.

External links

• Dresden String Trio