Beethoven’s Opus 3 is a string trio — a work for violin, viola, and cello. Unlike the Opus 1 and Opus 2 compositions, Opus 3 has six movements rather than the conventional four: Allegro, Andante, Minuet with Trio, Adagio, another Minuet with Trio, and an Allegro finale.
In overall structure, length, and key, Beethoven’s Opus 3 string trio resembles the Mozart Divertimento in E♭ major (K. 563) that had been recently published in 1792. The Mozart Divertimento also has six movements, but Beethoven switches the positions of the Andante and Adagio.
#Beethoven250 Day 52
String Trio in E♭ Major (Opus 3), 1795?
The Nuovo Trio Italiano D'Archi (New Italian String Trio) performs the Opus 3 string trio at the Quirinal Palace in Rome.
An Englishman who discovered Beethoven's music wrote:
This [Opus 3 String Trio], so different from anything I had ever heard, awakened in me a new sense, a new delight, in the science of sounds… It was a language that so powerfully excited my imagination, that all other music appeared tame and spiritless.
Over the next three years, Beethoven composed four more works for string trio: Opus 8 is called a Serenade and has five movements, while Opus 9 consists of three string trios with the conventional four movements. After that, Beethoven never again composed for the string trio.