university musical society - Ann Arbor District Library

Now that you're in your seat...
UMS 09/1 Han/Finckel/Setzer
Wu Man, Mr. Finckel, and Mr. Setzer couldn't have picked a program bringing more musical
joy than the one you're about to hear. This joy has less to do with rambunctious, side­
splitting laughter than with the profound happiness that results from the contemplation
of flawless beauty. To hear both of Schubert's piano trios in a single evening is a rare treat. The
magic of these two masterpieces derives, at least in part, from a perfect balance of "heart" and
"brain." Thanks to a classically clear structure, we can always feel "safe," knowing exactly where
we are coming from and where we are going. At the same time, the journey is full of surprises.
Schubert's melodic and harmonic imagination is boundless, and every measure holds some
unexpected discovery in store, even after 100 hearings.
Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 99, D. 898
(1828)
Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 100, D. 929
(1827)
Franz Schubert
Born January 31, 1797 in Vienna
Died November 19, 1828 in Vienna
Snapshots of History...
In 1828:
• Andrew Jackson is elected President of the
United States
• London's Marble Arch is built
• Sir Walter Scott writes his novel The Fair Maid
of Perth
• Spanish painter Francisco Goya dies at the age
of 82
• Noah Webster publishes his first dictionary of
the English language
In 1827:
• Beethoven dies on March 26, and Schubert is
one of the pallbearers at the funeral
• German physicist G. S. Ohm discovers his
famous law
• German poet Heinrich Heine publishes his
Buch der Lieder, from which Schubert will set
six poems to music
• The Freeman's Journal, the first African-
American newspaper, is published in New York
• The French government patents the invention
of the fountain pen
According to what evidence we have in lieu of
Schubert's manuscript, the Piano Trio in B-flat
Major was composed within weeks prior to the Op.
100 Piano Trio in E-flat Major, whose autograph
is dated November 1827. Like many of Schubert's
works, the B-flat Trio was not published until
after the composer's death. It appeared in print
only in 1836 as the composer's Op. 99. The E-flat
Trio—which Schubert seems to have more actively
peddled—was published in 1828 by Probst, in
Leipzig.
In January 1828, Schubert wrote in a letter
to a friend about the recent performance of a
"new trio," given on December 26, 1827 under
the auspices of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
(Society of Friends of Music). While the said trio
is widely assumed to have been the E-flat Trio,
the presentation of this same work as a "new"
(which typically meant "never before heard") trio
on a concert program three months later leaves
open the possibility that the work premiered in
December may in fact have been the B-flat.
Otherwise, the earlier B-flat Trio would have
received only a private performance during
Schubert's lifetime on January 28, 1828, courtesy
of three of Vienna's top chamber musicians:
pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet, violinist Ignaz
Schuppanzigh (who, as the leader of 19th-century
Vienna's finest string quartet, first gave voice to
Beethoven's middle and late quartets), and cellist
Josef Linke (Schuppanzigh's quartet colleague, and
the first interpreter of Beethoven's Opp. 69 and
102 Cello Sonatas). The same three musicians had
given the performance on December 26, whether
this was of the first or second piano trio.
Schubert's particular pride in the E-flat Trio is
evidenced by his inclusion of it as the centerpiece