Beethoven: Clarinet Trios, Op. 11 and Op. 38 (Multilingual Edition)

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 alternative violin 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.