Vedrana Subotic is a pianist and the director of the Intermezzo Chamber Music Series of Salt Lake City. In this hour she performs Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1 No. 3 with Utah Symphony musicians: Anne Lee (cello) and Claude Halter (violin).

There was a time when piano trios were the genre of amateur musicians. You wrote a piano trio because you were an up-and-coming artist making your way through beginner coursework. Mozart and Haydn both dutifully contributed to the genre, and naturally did well, but it was Beethoven (in his classical rock star style) that turned this musical “chore” into an astonishing, money-making, and entertaining genre. 

His set of three piano trios (opus 1) broke rules. He instigated equality between the instruments—the cello and violin were no longer mere accompaniment. He also added another movement and stretched the length from a 10 or 12 minute piece to nearly 30. 

He debuted his three trios during a soiree at Prince Lichnowsky’s estate. Joseph Haydn was in the audience along with a lot of other wealthy and well-connected people and they left impressed with what they’d heard. When the trios were ready for printing the publisher had 241 orders for scores. 

Of his three piano trios, Beethoven’s third, in C minor, was the one that broke the most rules and that’s the one we’re hearing today!

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