The genre of Trio Sonata saw its heyday during the Baroque period, particularly in the late 17th and early 18th century, where it enjoyed great popularity amongst many Italian, French, German and English composers.1 It played an important milestone in the ongoing development of the sonata form in general, through both its secular version (sonata da camera) and its liturgic equivalent (sonata da chiesa).
In its contemporary form, the secular trio sonata would have been scored for two solo instruments - typically violins or wind instruments such as flutes or oboes, or even a mixture of both - and basso continuo (mainly violoncello and harpsichord), and would allow the performers to showcase their instrumental skills in equal terms. Whilst still around at the transitional period from the Baroque era into the new "Galant" style, a sort of intermediate before the later famous Classical era2, new forms of chamber music works emerged and overtook the trio sonata in popularity. With the establishment of the newly invented classical sonata form, the piano trio, for example, developed a greater independence of the three instruments (the violin playing the treble part, with the harpsichord being replaced by the modern fortepiano, and the 'cello eventually taking on the other melodic part3), whilst other composers like Johann Sebastian Bach meanwhile championed the solo sonata, either for a single violin, flute or viola da gamba, and with or without a basso continuo part.4
J. S. Bach at the organ
It was, however, J. S. Bach himself who introduced the trio sonata to the organ, an instrument which he mastered like few other people, and published a set of six Trio Sonatas, BWV 525 - 530, in the late 1720's. Here the two solo voices are represented by one manual (keyboard) each - thus allowing for crossings of the hands - whilst the basso part is being given to the pedal. The sonatas mainly follow the traditional form of the sonata da camera - fast | slow | fast - during which the melodic material (mainly originating from some of Bach's previous compositions) is being passed through the voices freely and in an imitative way, just as it would have been characteristically for any trio sonata written for strings or winds.5
It should thus come with little surprise that my two Trio Sonatas for Organ have wholly been inspired by Bach's Organ Sonatas. Although written in an altogether more modern style, the two voices (manuals) and bass (pedal) equally interact in a lively, imitative manner, through which both voices enjoy complete independence by the way they are spaced out across the keyboards (with frequent crossings, too).
The Trio Sonata No. 1 in C major was written in the early 1990's and received just minor revisions in 2020/23. It follows the traditional "fast | slow | fast" set-up (Vivo - poco Adagio - Allegro vivace), with the centre of gravity marking the slow movement, with its long melodic lines and arabesque figurations. Throughout the whole work, imitation and light-hearted playfulness of the three voices prevail, thus achieving an overall neo-Baroque character, despite some of the occasional dissonant passages within.
The opening movement (Moderato) of the Trio Sonata No. 2 in A minor (2023), on the other hand, shows little easiness nor exuberance - the main (and only) thematic material is created by this Twelve-tone row:6
Although the following sequences are not at all dodecaphone, in a strict sense, but being accompanied by some rather neo-Baroque inspired passagework, throughout the movement, however, all the usual transformations of a twelve-tone row will be found: inversion, retrograde and retrograde-inversion.
The row itself represents a sort of spiral movement in diminishing intervals, followed by a downward leap of a perfect fifth and a concluding stepwise ascension:
This row is being presented throughout a number of sections in three-part counterpoint, yet the overall structure of the movement takes on an A-B-A' form; its most noticeable feature, moreover, are the rather harsh and dissonant sounding progressions, attributable mainly to the underlying feature of all dodecaphony: the "emancipation of the dissonance".
In stark contrast to the opening movement, the following, recitative-like slow movement (Largo), which leads straight on to a virtuoso Finale (Allegro), with its predominant motif of semiquaver scales, are both typically neo-Baroque again in their settings and style, much in the spirit of J. S. Bach's Organ Sonatas. And shortly before the end, the twelve-tone theme from the first movement appears once more across all three voices, adding a sense of cyclic entity to the overall form of this second Trio Sonata.
Mere plagiarism or a nostalgic revival of an old form? This question may not be answered by this brief overview of the two Trio Sonatas for Organ - however, as long as the pieces deliver some degree of enjoyment to both performer and listener, I should consider them as a new contribution to a once popular musical genre.
MIDI recordings of both Trio Sonatas are available on my YouTube channel:
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1 Amongst the main contributors of the genre trio sonata were:
Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713), Tomaso Albinoni (1671 - 1751), Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741), Pietro Antonio Locatelli (1695 - 1764) - Italy
François Couperin (1668 - 1733), Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1673 - 1763) - France
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637 - 1707), Johann Pachelbel (1653 - 1706), Georg Philipp Telemann (1681 - 1767), Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 - 1759), Johann Adolf Hasse (1699 - 1783), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714 - 88) - Germany
Henry Purcell (1659 - 95), William Boyce (1711 - 79) - England
Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679 - 1745)- Czech
2 For example, the trio sonatas by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, a son of Johann Sebastian Bach, and of Johann Adolph Hasse are representative of the Galant style. A number of sonatas of this period which were long attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, but likely to be written by Domenico Gallo, were famously included by Igor Stravinsky in his music for the ballet Pulcinella (1920).
3 In Haydn's earlier piano trios, the 'cello would still simply double the piano's bass line, or left hand.
4 The Duo Sonata - a solo instrument, mainly strings or winds, with piano accompaniment - was later perfectioned, of course, by Mozart and Beethoven, and has remained in favour with numerous composers until recent times.
5 With his B minor Prelude No. 24 from the Well-Tempered Clavier I (BWV 869) Bach actually wrote a trio sonata for just one manual, where the two melodic voices are being played by the right hand and the bass line by the left.
6 Arnold Schönberg first published his theory of "composition with twelve tones", or dodecaphony, around 1923.
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