Piano Trio in G major, Hob.XV:25 ‘Gypsy Rondo’

This delightful work is not a piano trio in
the nineteenth century sense of concert works for three professional
performers. It belongs to the immensely popular eighteenth century genre of the
accompanied keyboard sonata, that is a work to be played in the drawing room or
salon by an amateur keyboard player with one or more supporting performers. The
function of the cello was to double the left hand of the keyboard, which would
have been a harpsichord or fortepiano in need of bass support. These works
(Haydn wrote over 30 of them) would have been amongst his most widely known
compositions in his lifetime, but quickly fell into neglect in the Romantic
era. Tonight’s work was written at almost exactly the same time, 1794-5, as
Beethoven’s three Opus 1 Trios, which liberated the cello from its subservient
role and massively extended the length and the scope of the piano trio.

The G major Trio was written during Haydn’s
second stay in London,
February 1794-August 1795. It was composed for Rebecca Schroeter, an amateur
pianofortist, as were several others. She was the widow of the organist and
composer, Johann Schroeter, who had succeeded Johann Christian Bach as
music-master to the royal family. She acted as copyist for Haydn during his
1794/5 stay and it seems more than likely that there was more to their
relationship. Certainly he wrote some tender and lovely music for her.

This Trio, his 39th, has an
unusual format in that the first movement is an Andante in variation/rondo form with a particularly attractive
theme first given by the violin. The Poco
Adagio is a highly melodic cantabile in three sections. The central section
gives centre-stage to the violin though the piano dominates the other two
sections. The final movement is justly famous. Haydn was born in the region
where present-day Austria, Hungary and Slovenia come together and he
encountered the folk-music of many ethnic groups from an early age. Throughout
his career he created opportunities to use these folk idioms to add an exotic
East European flavour to his works. This movement is a whirling dance in
sixteenth notes with some wild gypsy fiddling and some spectacular syncopation.
It needs a light touch to work really well as it was of course written for a
fortepiano. Unfortunately it has to be taken explosively fast and so is gone in
a flash.