Ludwig van Beethoven - Trio C-Dur op. 87 | WDR Sinfonieorchester

Ludwig van Beethoven "Trio in C major op. 87" arranged for three violoncelli by August Christian Prell and played by members of the WDR Symphony Orchestra on 08.05.2022 at the WDR Funkhaus am Wallrafplatz. Ludwig van Beethoven - August Christian Prell (Arr.) Trio in C major op. 87 for three violin celli 00:00:00 I. ALLEGRO 00:10:24 II. ADAGIO CANTABILE 00:14:45 III. MINUETTO. ALLEGRO MOLTO SCHERZO - TRIO - CODA 00:18:09 IV. FINALE. PRESTO Simon Deffner, Martin Leo Schmidt and Leonhard Straumer, violoncellos ► For more on the WDR Symphony Orchestra, concerts and current livestreams, visit https://sinfonieorchester.wdr.de ► The WDR Symphony Orchestra on Facebook   / wdrsinfonieochester   Introduction With the passage of decades or even centuries, the memory of the specific genesis of most musical works is lost. Yet the majority of all compositions are inspired by flesh-and-blood musicians, such as a virtuoso pianist or an eminent violinist. Beethoven composed his Trio op. 87 for two oboes and an English horn. On the basis of this instrumentation alone, it is clear that the composer was not serving a genre tradition, but was responding to the performance reality of three musicians, namely that of the brothers Johann, Franz and Philipp Teimer. They first caused a sensation in Vienna in this unusual formation in 1793. All born around 1760 in Postelberg, Bohemia, they had come to the city by 1783 at the latest, where they played in various court music bands. In addition to the Trio op. 87, Beethoven also wrote the Teimer brothers the Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni". It is not known exactly when he composed the two pieces; the most likely date seems to be 1795. At that time, Beethoven entitled the trio "Terzetto", but when he decided to publish it in print some ten years later, he put "Grand Trio" on the title page - a bluntly promotional ploy. At the same time, he knew that a work for two oboes and English horn would not sell like hot cakes. Therefore, two authorised arrangements appeared, one for string trio, the other for violin and piano. The relatively high opus number was chosen by the publisher purely for practical reasons: Between the Mass in C major op. 86 and the Piano Sonata in E minor op. 90, Beethoven had omitted three opus numbers, so 87 lent itself to the trio. As was customary at the time, several more arrangements followed. The version for three cellos was probably written by August Christian Prell around 1870, a good fifty years after the first publication. Prell (1805 - 1885) himself had been first cellist in the Royal Court Orchestra of Hanover since 1824 and retired at the beginning of 1869. It is likely that he used the free time he had gained to arrange Beethoven's Opus 87 for his pupils. Text: Otto Hagedorn