Beethoven Clarinet Trio Op 11 and 38

Beethoven composed his Clarinet Trios op. 11 and 38 in 1798 and 1802/03. The op. 11 was given the nickname “Gassenhauer Trio” because its third movement is a set of variations on a theme from Joseph Weigl’s opera L’amor marinaro (“Gassenhauer” means a “popular song”). Playing with many possibilities in these nine variations, Beethoven sometimes lets the piano appear alone, and sometimes has it rest. In places the mood is that of a sort of funeral march, and there are harmonic and rhythmic surprises throughout. The op. 38 “Grand Trio”, the later of the two, was a reworking by Beethoven himself of his op. 20 Septet. He provided as also in the case of op. 11 an alternativeviolin part, in order to give the work broader distribution and thus greater popularity. The violin parts are likewise included with our Urtext edition, which just as back then- makes it doubly valuable.