Program note written for the Tippet Rise Art Center. Not to be reprinted without permission.
For most of his life, Beethoven relied on noble patronage to make his living. From the time he moved to Vienna in 1792, he never had a full-time job in service of a court or church, as many composers did, but made his way as a freelancer with support from a collection of admiring aristocrats. These relationships were often complicated, as Beethoven was deeply indignant at the very idea of noble birth. The son of a town musician, he resented those of higher class, at times even promoting the misconception that the “van” in his name—simply a mark of Flemish ancestry—was really the “von” of German aristocracy. At other times, he angrily claimed a kind of artistic nobility for himself, superior to that of princes.
Still, he needed their support, and they recognized that his artistry warranted some leeway in terms of social behavior. The most gracious was the young Archduke Rudolf (brother of the reigning Emperor Francis I), to whom Beethoven taught piano and composition. Their relationship had many dimensions: artist and patron, teacher and student, perhaps even friends. According to the early biographer Alexander Wheelock Thayer, Beethoven “often caused great embarrassment in the household of the Archduke,” and finally declared he could not follow all the etiquette and regulations. “The Archduke laughed good-naturedly and commanded that Beethoven be permitted to go his own gait undisturbed—it was his nature and could not be altered.”
Rudolph was rewarded with the dedications of several major Beethoven works: the Fifth Piano Concerto, the Hammerklavier Piano Sonata, and Missa solemnis. But only the B-flat–major trio has absorbed the Archduke into its title, probably in connection with the piece’s grandness. The cello predominates through the first movement, warm with melody. An extended pizzicato section in the second half brings a sneaky color change. The cheerful scherzo comes next, followed by a reverent slow movement with a theme and its four glowing variations. The theme returns in an echo, and then transitions with a jolt directly into the quick rondo finale.
Beethoven finished the Archduke Trio in 1811, but its first performance was put off until 1814. By this time he had mostly given up performing due to his severe hearing loss, but he agreed to play the trio at a pair of charity concerts—his very last appearances as a pianist. The violinist and composer Louis Spohr recalled how Beethoven struggled, “pound[ing] on the keys until the strings jangled, and in piano he played so softly that whole groups of tones were omitted … I felt moved with the deepest sorrow at so hard a fate.”
