Piano Trio No. 1 "Samba" - To the Memory of Prof. Michael Uhde
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Full score and YouTube video:
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An introduction by the composer.
The inclusion of folkloristic elements, and even of folk songs and folk dances proper, into classical music can probably be traced back as early as to the Renaissance and Baroque, being picked up later by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, then culminating in popularity during the Romantic period, whilst continuing well into the 20th century with the likes of Vaughan Williams and Holst in England, and Bartók and Kodály in Hungary. Undoubtedly, amongst the most famous folkloristic collections ever published, Brahms's Hungarian Dances (1869 & 1880) and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies (1846–1853, 1882 & 85) spring to mind, and in the former's case, so obvious were the melodic origins from Hungarian Gypsy music, that, in order to appease his critics, Brahms decided to slip in some melodic inventions of his own between all the other genuine Hungarian tunes1. Liszt's 19 Rhapsodies also draw heavily on Hungarian Gypsy music, even imitating the traditional way they would be presented by the Gypsy bands of his native country, with a slow beginning and a furiously fast ending.
But also in neighbouring Bohemia the popularity of national folk music was on the rise, when their most famous composer Antonín Dvořák wrote his two sets of Slavonic Dances in 1878 & 1886. And although always using his own thematic creations, the everlasting popularity of his Dumky Trio op. 90 (for violin, violoncello and piano, 1891) for example, is owed to the interspersed livelier dance-like dumka2 sections rather than to its overall six-movement form and its unusual progression through different key areas. Dvořák was also perhaps the first European composer to present folkloristic elements of North American music, following his move to New York in 1892, most famously that of Afro-American and Native American influence in his 9th and final symphony "From the New World" (1893).
On the other hand, the author's Piano Trio No. 1 "Samba", introduced here, differs from Dvořák's musical excursion to North America by exploring the music of the South American subcontinent instead, through drawing on Brazilian folk, or rather popular music, in particular that of one of the nation's greatest cultural exports: the Samba. Despite its global popularity through the association with the country's annual carnival events, the genre of Samba - which has been around since the late 19th century - is deeply rooted in the musical history amongst the ordinary people of the sprawling southern Brazilian cities of Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, but it has rarely made it - if more than a handful of times - into works considered as "serious" or classical music.3
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| Samba school parade |
Apart from the country's famous prodigy, Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 - 1959), most Brazilian classical composers past or present are relatively little known, even in their native country where by and large the authors of popular music, past or present, are familiar to anyone from an early age onwards. It is therefore with huge gratitude to the dedicatee of the Piano Trio No.1 introduced in this post - the late Prof. Michael Uhde, pianist and chamber musician par excellence - who regularly travelled to Brazil holding workshops for chamber music, that he has recorded on CD several works for the piano trio genre written by some of the lesser known Brazilian composers, together with his talented daughters Katharina (violin) and Tatjana (cello):
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| Brasilianische Kammermusik - CD |
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| dedication by Michael Uhde |
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| Ismael Silva |
Similar to a number of other larger scale works by the author of this post, the Piano Trio No. 1 follows the single-movement sonata form, for which two main tunes were chosen to form exclusively the basis of all musical development: the 1930 Samba de Morro4 of Ismael Silva (1905-1978) and Nilton Bastos (1899-1931) "Se Você Jurar"5, and the well-liked Samba-Canção "Retalhos de Cetim"6 by Benito di Paula (*1941), written in 1973. As indicated here, the genre Samba comprises several rather distinctive sub-genres, of which probably the Samba Enredo, used for the lavish carnival parades by the famous Samba schools - taking place annually in the custom built Sambódromo in Rio - is best known, easily recognisable by the huge percussion sections, or baterías, who perform at deafening volume during the parades. But there are other, more intimate and less spectacular types of Samba, often critical of societal aspects of daily life in the poorer areas of the cities, just as "Se Você Jurar", or bitter-sweet love stories with unhappy endings, such as in "Retalhos de Cetim".
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| Benito di Paula |
For his Piano Trio, the author has picked an up-tempo tune ("Se Você Jurar") - with a contrasting refrain and verse section - versus a slow, wistful melody ("Retalhos de Cetim"), but what unites both Sambas is the ambiguity between major and minor tonality, as the melodies slip from their opening major key to the parallel minor, or the tonic minor respectively, within just a few bars. For their purpose within the Trio, the melodic lines have been slightly amended and adapted, for reasons of accentuation and to avoid some superfluously repeated notes.
Following on is a classic sonata-style organisation of the thematic material, where the traditional four movements of the symphonic cycle are overlaid by the main sections of the sonata form, as detailed in the diagram further down. For this, each of the tunes provides a particular function within the overall organisation, and the evolution of the original Sambas into the Sonata form themes occurs as follows:
I. Main Theme (1st Subject) of the Exposition ("Se Você Jurar", refrain)
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| original Samba "Se Você Jurar", refrain |
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| Piano Trio, Main Subject (indicating main intervals) |
The opening phrase of the 1st Subject contains already most of the characteristic intervals of the entire piece - major/minor 2nd, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th, major 7th and Octave. In contrast, the 2nd Subject is mainly made up from major/minor 2nds and minor 3rds in a sequential, wave-like movement:
II. 2nd Subject of the opening Sonata Form ("Se Você Jurar" - verse)
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original Samba "Se Você Jurar", verse
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The 2nd main Theme of the overall Sonata Form, on the other hand, starts with major 6th and minor 7th upward rises, before turning more and more into stepwise progressions of major and minor 2nds, before an upward 4th leap and chromatic drop as a final climax:
III. 2nd Theme (2nd Subject, or Slow episode) of the Exposition ("Retalhos de Cetim") - Theme & Variations
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| original Samba "Retalhos de Cetim", refrain |
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| Piano Trio, 2nd Theme (transposed into D major / minor) |
The theme then undergoes a total of four variations, featuring first the piano, the cello and then all three instruments in alternation. Quite unusually, the verse section of "Retalhos" only appears once during the whole piece, in the function of an interlude, or bridge, before the final fourth variation, but without playing any further role throughout the rest of the piece.
The Scherzo theme, which is ringing in the Development section of the overarching Sonata Form, can be derived directly from the Sonata's main subject:
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| Scherzo (in D major) |
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| 1st Subject (indicating notes of Scherzo theme) |
as well as from the beginning of the development in the opening sonata movement:
but the Scherzo also briefly recalls the opening sonata movement's 2nd Subject, whereas the Trio section is based on the main Sonata Form's 2nd (or slow) Theme.
The short opening piano introduction is equally derived from the Main Theme and links most of the principal formal sections of the piece (often in dense imitation, whilst modulating into the next main key area):
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| Piano intro (indicating notes from Main Subject) |
The following diagram details the entire formal plan of the Piano Trio No. 1, illustrating how the different subjects fit into the overall sonata form, as well as indicating key and time signatures and bar numbers:
Critics may remark that this Piano Trio merely resembles a couple of parallel sets of variations over the two main Samba tunes, and whilst it is true that the tunes reappear in various shapes throughout the piece, it is hoped that the overall connection between a classical sonata form and four contrasting movements shines through the structure despite of its somewhat limited melodic material. Thematic reoccurrences in subsequent movements of symphonic works have been known since Beethoven, but what is different here is the fact that almost all the thematic material is being introduced within the first 150 bars, comprising the Exposition, and it is therefore per se unavoidable that the themes have to be repeated some way or another in the remaining body of the work.
The dramatic concept of the trio is that of a culmination towards the final Coda where the underlying Samba rhythms, with increasing tempo, are coming more and more to the fore, turning the music into a genuine dance, until both main subjects appear combined in the "alla Samba" section just before the final Stretto. Whatever the perception of the work may be, the author sincerely hopes that its dedicatee, Michael Uhde, would have appreciated the exotic playfulness and the enjoyment which this addition to one of the genres he loved most is intended to convey - the genre of Piano Trio in particular, and Chamber music in general.
Alexander Kirsch
Blackpool, in October 2025
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1 Only dances no. 11,14 & 16 are of Brahms' original invention.2 Dumka (plural dumky) is a traditional type of folk music prevalent in several Slavonic countries.
3 Radamés Gnattali (1906 - 88) is most notably a modern Brazilian classical composer having included Samba rhythms in his works. Interestingly, Villa-Lobos' friend, the French composer Darius Milhaud, has written a Samba, amongst other Brazil-inspired pieces ("Scaramouche", Suite for Piano, Op. 165b); Villa-Lobos himself has rather preferred other types of Brazilian folk music, such as the Chôro or the Modinha.
4 Also termed as Samba do Estácio, after the Rio neighbourhood where Ismael Silva lived and founded one of the first Samba schools, named Deixa Falar.
5 "Se Você Jurar" - Samba by Ismael Silva, Francisco Alves & Nilton Bastos; © 1930 Mangione & Filhos Comp Ltda, São Paulo - Brasil
6 "Retalhos de Cetim" - Samba by Benito di Paula; © 1973 GRAÚNA - EDIÇÕES MUSICAIS LTDA, São Paulo - Brasil
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