The D-minor Trio by Mendelssohn begins with a grand melody, announced by the cello, which leads into the violin’s second theme in A major, the entire movement carried forward in what seems a single, broad melodic span, alternatingly gently elegiac and thunderously dramatic.
It is nonetheless appreciative of the formal verities of the time, exposition, development, recapitulation, coda. It is the easiest of music to listen to, but Mendelssohn demands utmost skill of his players – but without the audience’s awareness of difficulty, unlike the physical torments to which Schumann and Brahms subject their performers in the subsequent generation of piano trios.
While the Andante continues the somewhat sad mood of the opening movement, it is more short-breathed, with a contrasting, passionate middle section. The Scherzo is prototypical Mendelssohn music, but with extra punch, the sprites having buffed up since those of the Midsummer Night’s Dream overture.
The finale is marked “Allegro assai appassionato” but it is indeed less “appassionato” than the opening movement, particularly with the interruption, twice, by a broad, throbbing melody of great melancholy yearning.
Here is this wonderful music for your enjoyment:
