Pejačević- Symphony In F-sharp Minor

With very few exceptions, the world of professional classical music was closed to women until the 20th century. Whether instrumentalist, conductor or composer, serious music was considered an exclusive male domain. The only music related occupation open to women was teaching. Women of the upper middle class were taught a musical instrument, usually the piano or violin, more as an avocation or social grace.

Men perpetuated the status quo of male domination in music (as well as society in general).
Instrumentalists, conductors, composers and music publishers actively prevented almost all women from pursuing a career in music. Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn's older sister was a fine pianist and musician as well as a composer, but her father discouraged her from composition. Brother Felix privately encouraged her, but his public statements were different:

From my knowledge of Fanny I should say that she has neither inclination nor vocation for authorship. She is too much all that a woman ought to be for this. She regulates her house, and neither thinks of the public nor of the musical world, nor even of music at all, until her first duties are fulfilled. Publishing would only disturb her in these, and I cannot say that I approve of it.

The same was true of Clara Wieck-Schumann, wife of Robert Schumann. She was one of the most brilliant pianists of the 19th century, and after her husband's death she continued to concertize to provide for her large family.  She was also a composer, but after her husband died she gave it up saying:

I once believed that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose — there has never yet been one able to do it. Should I expect to be the one?

Her husband Robert (who evidently supported her composing activities) gave the reasons why she never went farther as a composer:

Clara has composed a series of small pieces, which show a musical and tender ingenuity such as she has never attained before. But to have children, and a husband who is always living in the realm of imagination, does not go together with composing. She cannot work at it regularly, and I am often disturbed to think how many profound ideas are lost because she cannot work them out.

Late in the 19th century the male stranglehold on music began to lessen, at least as far as musical composition was concerned. Amy Mary Smith in England and Amy Beach in America are two examples of women who overcame gender bias as composers. A woman composer of the early 20th century was the Croatian Dora Pejačević.

She was descended from the noble Pejačević family of Croatia on her father's side. Her mother was an Hungarian Countess who was a fine pianist and Dora received her first lessons in piano from her. Dora was a woman of learning and culture, she could speak and read several languages. Although  Pejačević was a member of the aristocracy, she seemed to be down to earth and had more of an affinity for common people than the aristocrats of her own class. World War One affected her greatly as she saw all the suffering and pain it caused, which turned her into a socialist. She spent most of her life dedicated to her art, but her loneliness caused her to marry in 1921. She died from complications from childbirth in 1923.

Her Symphony In F-sharp Minor is the only symphony she wrote and she worked on it from 1916- 1917 and revised it in 1920.  The premiere of the work was given in 1920 in Dresden and was such a success that the great conductor Arthur Nikisch performed it in concert.  The symphony is a work in late Romantic style and is in four movements:

I. Andante maestoso - Allegro con moto -  The movement is in a type of very loose sonata form, with one main theme and many differing short motives. It begins with a dramatic introduction that is punctuated by the brass. A short motive is gently begun by the woodwinds and the violins continue it as it unwinds. The main theme has slightly more energy to it while still remaining lyrical. A second theme is chromatic and lyrical. Chromatic motives pile up until the first theme returns in an extended form, and it is then that the listener finds themselves in the development section of the first movement. Motives interrupt the first theme's chromatic journey. Themes already heard enter and leave, with the first theme always returning. The short introduction returns and signals the end of the movement in the entire orchestra.

II. Andante sostenuto - A solo oboe begins by playing the main theme of the movement. Other winds join in while the low strings accompany.  A bass clarinet adds to the texture before the strings give their version of the theme. The theme is developed as it continues until a counter melody is heard in the oboe as the strings play a fragment of the theme. In the middle of the movement another theme that is first heard in the low strings is played and developed chromatically. This theme goes through a chromatically intense climax before it winds down with hints of the first theme until the first theme returns in the bass clarinet. The first theme then continues its journey as it ebbs and flows back to where it began in the solo oboe. A short coda ends the movement.

III. Scherzo: Molto allegro - The chromaticism continues with the scherzo. The pace slows as a solo cello introduces a very short section (presumably the trio) before the scherzo resumes. Another short section of smooth lyricism interrupts until the chugging scherzo returns a final time. A short coda picks up the pace and ends the movement with a snicker.

IV. Allegro appassionato -  The finale begins with a rugged theme that is punctuated by cymbal crashes and brass. Just before the beginning of the second theme there is a motive played by full orchestra that must have sounded quite modern to the audiences of 1920. The second theme is more lyrical and is carried in the strings. After the second theme of the movement the theme from the second movement makes an appearance. The themes are then repeated with slight variations. The development concentrates on the theme from the second movement. The first theme returns and takes the music to a coda that ends the work in a minor key.

It is no wonder that Arthur Nikisch wanted to conduct Pejačević's symphony. She had an excellent sense of orchestral color as well as a good rhythmic and melodic gift. The structure of the symphony is loose and almost rhapsodic with its piling up of motives and themes, but she handled the material with such deftness and feel for instrumental color that the seams do not show, which makes for a very effective and enjoyable symphony.

Brahms - Rhapsody For Piano in G Minor

Like many composers in the 19th century, Brahms made his reputation by playing his own and other composers pieces on the piano.  From what I've read, he was not the most brilliant of pianists as far as technique, but he was very musical.  In his later years he hated to practice and played the premiere of his 2nd  Piano Concerto after hardly touching a piano in years.  He admitted he had better things to do than practice the piano three hours a day.

He played his own compositions to Robert and Clara Schumann in their home when he was 20 years old. Robert Schumann was not only a composer, but was an influential critic and writer.  Brahms had been on concert tour with a Hungarian violinist as an accompanist  when Joseph Joachim heard him, introduced him to Liszt and gave him a letter of introduction to the Schumanns. Schumann wrote about him in an article titled 'New Paths' in a music journal and hailed him as a genius.

Brahms continued to compose and be involved in the musical life of Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Vienna. His compositions were met with mixed results, his first piano concerto was roundly criticized and hissed at the first performance. It wasn't until he composed his German Requiem in 1868 that Brahms got his European reputation as a great composer.

A contemporary of Brahms said that he played the piano like a composer.  If his playing style is reflected in his music for solo piano, he was not a brilliant technician. his piano music is not full of scales running up and down the keyboard, but rather much of his music is dense with thick chords, with the melody embedded sometimes in an inner voice, sometimes an outer voice. This aspect of his music makes it difficult to play in its own way. Brahms piano music is not so much difficult because of technical glitter, but of musical substance and balance. Brahms had a tendency to write music in phrases made up of odd numbers of measures. Instead of 4-bar phrases Brahms many times writes 5-bar phrases. Couple this with the aforementioned thick chordal structure, and you've unlocked some of the reasons why Brahms music can sound not quite conventional, but not quite radical either. Brahms indeed found his own voice.

The Rhapsody For Piano in G minor is one of two that Brahms wrote in 1879 at the height of his popularity. It  is in many ways typical Brahms. A lot going on, danger of the melody being swamped by all the inner workings, first theme threading through the accompaniment, the Brahmsian dilemma of keeping everything in balance.  But Brahms leads the way for the pianist, as long as they remain alert and pay attention. Even the ritard at the end of the piece is worked out by Brahms, as the final six bars hold the melody in tied whole notes while the accompaniment is marked 'quasi ritard' and notated thus, with the eighth note accompaniment turning into quarter note triplets, and then to quarter notes thus creating Brahms' 'quasi ritard':

Schumann - Piano Quintet In E-flat Major

Before 1842, Robert Schumann had written only one piece for chamber ensemble, a piano quartet in 1829, but that all changed in the year that as been called his chamber music year. After studying the chamber works of the masters, he wrote three string quartets, a piano quartet, a piece for piano trio and a piano quintet.

Schumann wrote the quintet in a few weeks during the summer of 1842. He dedicated the work to his wife Clara and she was to play the piano part in a private performance of the work in December of 1842. Illness prevented her participation, but Felix Mendelssohn took her place and in a feat of pure musicianship sight-read the piano part. Mendelssohn had some helpful suggestions for the piece after the performance, and Schumann revised  the work accordingly.

The Piano Quintet is one of Schumann's greatest works and was very influential in changing the way composers wrote for the combination of string quartet and piano. The work has music of chamber music intimacy along with music that is more symphonic. The quintet is in 4 movements:

Clara Schumann

I. Allegro brillante -  All five instruments present the driving, robust first theme. The second theme is played by piano alone, and then taken up by the violin and cello. The exposition is repeated.  The development section begins with section of transition for piano and cello. The first theme dominates the development section and the reappearance of it in its original form signals the start of the recapitulation. After the second theme the movement draws to a spirited close with parts of the first theme.

II.  In modo d'una marcia. Un poco largamente - Perhaps the most well known movement of the quintet is this funeral march in C minor. It begins with 2 bars of introduction from the solo piano, after which the first violin plays the lugubrious melody. The second violin takes up the next part of the theme, with the first violin resuming the melody until the viola takes it up. The second part of the march is repeated and ends quietly. A section of contrast begins in C major with the new theme played as a duet between cello and violin. As with the funeral march, this lyrical theme's second part is repeated. The funeral march is played through again, and after a short transition another section interrupts the march with highly agitated music in F minor that has the piano playing in staccato triplet eighth notes with biting notes in the strings. The second part of this section is also repeated. The funeral march theme returns in the viola with an increased agitation in the accompaniment. The lyrical theme returns, this time in F major. Once more the funeral march plays out, and the movement ends with the piano silent as the strings play a C major chord in harmonics.

III. Scherzo: Molto vivace -  Scampering scales cavort in the scherzo until the first of two trios is reached.  The trio is a duet in canon for violin and viola. The scherzo takes flight until the second trio is reached. This trio is full of nervous energy as the instruments play four-note motives throughout. The scherzo returns for one more repeat and a coda brings the scherzo to  an end.

IV. Allegro ma non troppo - Schumann begins the finale in the key of G minor and gradually makes his way back to the home key of E-flat major. But Schumann goes even further afield with the second subject as it is in the key of E major. Towards the end of this movement Schumann brings unity to the work by a stroke of contrapuntal prestidigitation as he brings back the first theme of the first movement as the subject of a  fugue that uses the first theme of the last movement as a counter subject, in essence a double fugue. All of this complexity gives the five instruments a very large, almost orchestral sound. The work ends in a brilliant fortissimo E-flat major chord.

Schubert - String Quintet In C Major D. 956

Schubert's String Quintet In C Major adds a second cello to a standard string quartet setting instead of a second viola as Mozart and Beethoven did in their string quintets. No one knows why Schubert chose an extra cello for his quintet, but the result is music that uses the added depth and sonority of the second cello to good advantage.

Schubert composed the quintet in 1828, and wrote to a publisher offering it along with other works. In the letter Schubert says that rehearsals for the quintet were to begin in a few days, but it isn't certain if this ever happened. The music publisher refused the quintet, and it lay forgotten until it was rediscovered and had its first known public performance in 1850. It was published three years later in 1853, and came to be regarded by Schumann and a young Brahms to be one of the finest chamber music work ever written.

The quintet is like the other handful of masterpieces Schubert wrote in his last months of life that expanded the form and content of music.  It is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro ma non troppo -  This is an example of Schubert's expanded first movement settings as it takes roughly a third of the playing time of the entire work. With a wealth of thematic material and a rich harmonic language, this movement alone takes about 19 minutes to play. It starts with a dynamic swell that begins on the chord of C major but at the crest of the swell the chord changes to what can be defined as a C diminished seventh, a minor chord.

A short section leads to a different tonally ambiguous chord exchange, and now the music  reveals that this is not an introduction, but a thematic group that continues in kaleidoscopic harmonies until a second theme in E-flat is stated by the cellos:

This theme moves to the higher strings and is repeated.  A section in G major brings the music back to the second theme and the exposition is repeated. The development section alternates between the serene and the dramatic as the music spotlights sections of themes in a dizzying array of major and minor keys. Schubert manages to segue from one to the other effortlessly until the recapitulation brings the music back to the beginning chords. Key changes continue as Schubert blends themes and keys as a painter blends colors and shadows. The coda gives a sense of continuing the themes even farther as the opening chords are heard again along with a modulation, but it is actually a summing up as Schubert winds down the movement and the music ends firmly in C major.

II. Adagio - The second movement is in E major, and begins with a tender theme played by second violin and viola. The first violin plays an accompanying figure as the one cello adds harmonic depth to the theme while the second cello plays a pizzicato accompaniment:

The instruments blend together as the music gently and slowly flows on its way, getting even more quiet as it goes, until a crescendo of trills leads to an agitated middle section in F minor. A quiet section coaxes the tender theme back for a replaying, but this time with a varied accompaniment which adds a slight nervous edge to it. Near the end, the trilled crescendo that lead to the agitated middle section makes a brief appearance in the first violin, but as quickly as it came it retreats as the music comes to an end in E major.

III. Scherzo: Presto – Trio: Andante sostenuto -  Schubert returns to the home key of C major as he increases the loudness and sonority of the five instruments by playing 9-note chords at fortissimo in this boisterous scherzo:

The trio section generally is in contrast to the scherzo itself, but Schubert makes an extreme contrast, first of all with the key change from C major to D-flat major, a key that is quite remote from the home key. The tempo also slows as the mysterious music of the trio quietly hesitates its way to a repeat of the scherzo.

IV. Allegretto - Schubert's first theme of this movement is reminiscent of the dance music he was fond of. The movement is in the form of a rondo with elements of sonata form as well, a hybrid of the two forms. The key has returned to C major (although the theme begins in shadows of C minor), and the violin plays the theme as the other instruments give an accompaniment:

 The second theme is a graceful tune in G major played by the first violin and first cello:

Schubert's melodic gifts were second to none, so along with these two themes there are other tunes and parts of tunes that appear. After Schubert has ran his course with these themes, he builds up excitement by increasing the tempo in the coda. With a triple forte passage, Schubert leads to the final notes, a D-flat grace note before the final unison C, thus ends a work that constantly moves from profound beauty to despair and back again with an intensity that was the beginning of the Romantic era in music.

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Brahms - Piano Quartet No. 3 In C Minor, Opus 60 'Werther'

In 1853 when Johannes Brahms was 19, he made a concert tour as accompanist to the violinist Eduard Reményi. On the tour he met Franz Liszt (where tradition has it that he fell asleep while Liszt played the piano) and Joseph Joachim, violinist and composer. Joachim became a good friend  and gave Brahms a letter of introduction to Robert Schumann. Later in 1853 Brahms traveled to Düsseldorf and proceeded to impress and enchant both Robert Schumann and his wife Clara.

Brahms stayed with the Schumann's for a few days, and Robert was so impressed with the music he heard from the young composer that he wrote an article for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik (New Journal of Music) announcing Brahms to the musical world. The article titled Neue Bahnen (New Paths) begins with Schumann writing briefly about new and upcoming composers until he reveals the name of Brahms:

Robert and Clara Schumann

...I thought of the paths of these chosen ones that pursued the art of music with the greatest participation, there must suddenly appear one who would be appointed to utter the highest expression of time ideally, one who did not bring us the championship gradually, but, like Minerva, would spring from the head of Zeus fully formed. And he has come, a young blood, at whose cradle Graces and Heroes stood guard. His name is Johannes Brahms... His  appearance  announced to us: this is an anointed one. Sitting at the piano he revealed wonderful regions. We were drawn into ever widening circles, which made an orchestra of wailing and loud cheering voices from the piano. There were sonatas, more like veiled symphonies; songs whose poetry you without knowing the words would understand, although a deep singing melody passed through all; single piano pieces, partly demonic, partly of the most graceful form; then sonatas for Violin and piano; Quartets for strings; and each so different from the others... May the highest Genius strengthen his genius!

High praise that did as much harm as good, for it put undue pressure on a 20-year old composer that

was still finding his way. Brahms was self-critical by nature, and this passing of the mantle made him even more so.

When Schumann attempted suicide in early 1854, he voluntarily had himself put into a mental hospital for Clara and his children's sake. Brahms lived in the Schumann household intermittently from that time until Schumann's death in 1856. During this time he wrote two piano quartets, No. 1  In G minor opus 25,  and No. 2 In A Major opus 26.  He also drafted a third piano quartet in C-sharp minor, but this one wasn't to achieve its final form until almost twenty years later.

Young Werther

After revising and rewriting, the third piano quartet was finally completed in 1874. The home key of the work was dropped to C minor from C-sharp minor with the quartet becoming one of Brahms most dramatic chamber works. The nickname 'Werther' came from Brahms acquaintance with Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther that deals with a young man that falls in love with a woman that is already married, and so Werther commits suicide. The parallels in Brahms' life in 1855 when the work was begun are evident, for he fell in love with Clara Schumann at the time. There is no clue whether this love remained platonic or became intimate, but Brahms well remembered the feelings he had in 1855 when he told his publisher his idea for a cover page for the printed score of the piano quartet:

On the cover you must have a picture, namely a head with a pistol to it. Now you can form some conception of the music! I’ll send you my photograph for the purpose.

 Brahms remained somewhat dissatisfied with the work as it didn't have its premiere until 1875, a year after it was published. It is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro non troppo - Brahms was labeled as a musical conservative by the followers of the 'New Music' of Liszt and Wagner for a number of reasons, not least of all for his keeping with tradition by writing in the traditional forms of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The writing of chamber music especially was considered old fashioned. But Brahms was did not slavishly keep to an academic model of these forms. He utilized sonata form in the broadest sense of the term, and was innovative in ways to use it. It is never an easy task to technically make your way through a major work of Brahms. The relationships of themes are often blurred as themes appear different that are actually closely related. And his use of modulation between keys is far from conservative. The first movement of this quartet is a good example of how he used all of these elements within a traditional form to suit his musical expression. This movement was one of the original two movement he wrote in 1855 for the quartet. It begins with octaves by the piano which are answered by a sighing figure. The piano again plays bare octaves, and is answered with a slight variant of the sighing theme. A short development leads to a downward figure that brings in the first theme. The second theme is first heard in the solo piano, after which there are 4 variations, each eight measures long like the theme. A variant of the first theme brings the exposition to a close. After a short section based on previous material, what appears to be a new theme in B major is loudly stated:

This theme is stated again in a different key and leads to the working out of the second theme which goes through a short series of variations once again. The sighing motives from the beginning of the work return signalling the recapitulation, this time the opening theme is heard in the key of E minor. The second theme is now heard in the key of G major and goes through a small number of variations for the third time. The first theme is then developed until it ends in C major. A short coda repeats the figures with slight variations that opened the movement, and the music ends quietly.

II. Scherzo: Allegro - This movement was perhaps composed in the 1860's, between the initial composition of the work and the final version. It is in C minor, the same key as the first movement. The music is terse and coarse as the scherzo plays through until a quasi-trio section begins with a new theme but continues in the same mood. The scherzo returns and is slightly shortened. A short coda brings the movement to a close with a Picardy Third, a term for the closing of a work in a minor mode with a major chord:

III. Andante - This movement along with the first movement is part of the music of the draft written in 1855. It is in E major, a key of four sharps that is somewhat far removed from the home key of C minor with 3 flats. It is the only movement of the quartet not in C minor. It begins with a long, sweet melody for the cello (an instrument that Brahms studied briefly in his youth) with piano accompaniment:

The piano's role in this movement is one of gentle support as the strings sing a song of tender calm, a possible love song for Clara Schumann.

IV. Finale: Allegro comodo - The final movement returns to C minor and the piano plays a restless theme under the theme played by the violin:

The second theme is derived from the piano accompaniment of the opening theme of the movement and is played by violin and viola. The exposition is repeated. After the development works through themes and relationships of fragments, the recapitulation replays the violin theme of the beginning in all three stringed instruments with broken octaves in the piano. Themes are expanded until a coda is heralded by the piano playing thick chords in an outline of the second theme. The piano resumes its initial figure in a hushed tone along with the strings until two loud C major chords end the work.

Tchaikovsky - Romeo And Juliet Overture - Fantasy

William Shakespeare's plays have inspired many composers, especially in the Romantic era. Over 20 operas

have been written based on the play, some ballets (most notably by Prokofiev), a dramatic symphony by Berlioz and the modern adaptation West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein.  Perhaps the most

well-known work based on a Shakespeare play is the Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy by Tchaikovsky.

The piece was written by Tchaikovsky when he was 28 years old in 1869 while he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It was written at the suggestion of Mily Balakirev, the leader of the group of Russian nationalistic composers called The Five. Tchaikovsky had already written his first symphony and a symphonic poem and complained that he was already burned out, but Balakirev pestered him until he began work on it. Balakirev gave him some advice on technical matters of form and critiqued the first version of the work. 

Balakirev

The second version of the work was not an immediate success. It was even hissed the first time it was played in Vienna. But The Five composers embraced the work, even though Tchaikovsky was not considered in their group. About ten years after the premiere of the second version Tchaikovsky revised it again, changed the ending and added Overture - Fantasy to the title. It is this third version that is played in concerts. 

Shakespeare based Romeo And Juliet on a story from Italy written in the middle of the 16th century, but the theme of tragic romance goes back way before the 16th century. Shakespeare fleshed out the story by adding characters and expanding the plot. A short synopsis:

The story is set in Verona, and revolves around the conflicts between two families that are sworn enemies, the Montagues and Capulets.  Romeo is the son of the patriarch of the Montagues, and he attends a ball given by the Capulets to try and meet a woman that he is attracted to, but he meets Juliet instead at the ball and falls in love with her. They meet after the ball (the famous balcony scene) and agree to marry despite their families' mutual hatred. With the help of Friar Laurence they are married the next day. Trouble brews and lives are taken after a fight between supporters of the families. Romeo is banished from Verona, and as Romeo and Juliet's marriage is a secret, Juliet is betrothed to another. Romeo steals away and spends the night with Juliet.  Juliet's family tries to force her to marry another, and Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for help. He gives her a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead and promises to send word to Romeo about the plan. Romeo returns to Juliet's chamber but he wasn't informed of the potion and thinks her dead. He gets poison and goes to the crypt where Juliet lays. The other to whom Juliet was betrothed is in the crypt mourning her death, Romeo kills him and drinks the poison. After Romeo dies Juliet awakens from her potion-induced sleep, sees that Romeo has killed himself, so she kills herself with Romeo's dagger. Members from the two families find all three of them dead in the crypt, and realizing the tragedy their family feud has caused, reconcile with one another. 

The play itself has many side plots and Shakespeare combines some comic scenes with the dramatic and

Shakespeare

tragic to keep a steady build-up to the climax of the play. Tchaikovsky uses dramatic and tragic elements of the play to construct his Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy.

The work is a tone poem written in sonata form. The opening of the work is an introduction based on the character Friar Laurence.  Friar Laurence is a man of the church, in Verona no doubt it is the Catholic church, but Tchaikovsky, a Russian,  gives the introduction the solemn tones of a Russian orthodox chant! The next theme is one of agitation and drama as it represents the warring Montague and Capulet families, with cymbal clashes symbolizing the clanking together of swords. The next theme is one of soaring passion and beauty, the love theme of Romeo and Juliet. These three themes make up the exposition of the piece.

In the next section of the piece only the themes are developed. After the development, the themes return and move towards a representation by cymbal clashes of the suicides of the lovers. An epilogue with a steady pattern of timpani taps underscores a beautiful reminiscence of the lovers by the woodwinds, the love theme enters one last time and the work ends with a loud climax by the orchestra.

Franck - Piano Trio No. 4 In B Minor, Opus 2

 César Franck's first acknowledged compositions were 4 piano trios, written while he was still a student in 1840.  Originally, his opus 1 was three piano trios, but he was advised by Liszt to remove the final movement of the third one because of its length and make it a separate composition. This he did, and claimed the work as Piano Trio No. 4, Opus 2. 

Liszt had given the composer  encouragement as the result of these trios, with Liszt participating in performances of them. Franck showed much promise with these first works, but some other works were met with indifference by the public. He concentrated on his organ playing and became one of the most famous organ improvisers of his time, and worked directly with the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, an innovator of the instrument. Franck demonstrated the organs of the maker and showed how they went beyond the traditional organ and were more orchestral.

Franck taught many composers and organists in his classes for many years, and it was later in his life when he composed the works he is more well known for. 

Allegro - Since this was originally the final movement of the Third trio, it is in but one movement. Violin and cello begin the movement with a slithering theme that covers over an octave and is quite chromatic. The two play an octave apart:

This theme recurs all through the movement in various guises. After the strings announce the theme, they immediately repeat it as the piano contributes a B minor chord in the right hand, and a G-sharp diminished chord in the left. These chords combine with the chromatic theme in the strings and creates even more ambiguity and feeling of menace. The volume of the theme increases until a forte is reached and the music modulates. The music goes back to piano, and the pattern of the opening is repeated, only now the music has shifted to E minor.  The piano enters for a repeat of the modulated theme with an E minor chord in the right hand, and a C-sharp diminished chord in the left, so the tension hasn't eased, only shifted to a different key. The 4th bar is again repeated, the theme modulates. The strings are silent as the piano repeats the partial theme three times. A change in tempo and mood begins:

Più lento - This section lasts but 12 bars. The violin is silent as the cello begins by stating a variant of the first bar of the theme, which in essence is the second theme of the exposition:

The cello reaches the D above the bass clef and holds it for half of the 6 measure section as the piano plays slow arpeggios in each hand and simple two-note chords. The music moves from G major to D major in a mood decidedly sweeter than the opening. But it immediately segues into a:

Più presto - This section is but 5 measures long, forte throughout, as the right hand holds an E minor chord as the left hand skitters along in a chromatic triplet pattern. The violin remains silent as the cello holds a B for the entire 5 bars plus 5 more in  the next section that is marked  più lento. The piano now plays E major arpeggios and simple chords and shifts to B major. Yet another modulation brings about the key of D-sharp minor, as the tempo changes to piu presto for two bars as the left hand plays triplets and the right hand holds a D-sharp minor diminished chord.  Another section marked più lento has the violin join with the cello in a held F-sharp as the piano plays arpeggios and chords in F-sharp minor. The music segues into a return of the opening tempo:

Tempo I -  The music gradually shifts tonality to B major as the first theme is heard in the piano, then the strings take it up in a section that repeats the theme as well as the secondary theme. What has gone on before can be considered as an introduction, or the first playing of the exposition that is in loose sonata form. This section can be considered as the actual beginning of the exposition, or a varied repeat of the exposition. The two themes and parts of them are used in either case until it leads to the next section, still in tempo 1, but the key has shifted back to B minor:

Gravement - The term means seriously. This section can be thought of as the development section, and does indeed begin in a quite serious mood stated by the piano and cello. The cello offers up a soaring motif in E minor as the piano plays large E minor chords as the music builds to the next section marked fortissimo.  The strings play long held notes while the piano returns to rapid triplets in both hands. The volume level reaches triple forte until it slows down and another section is reached:

Avec la plus grande expression -  With the greatest of expression. This section is short, and leads to a gradual slowing of the tempo and increase in volume. The music returns to tempo 1  as the strings make commentary over a restless piano accompaniment. The music shifts tonality and continues in drama that ebbs and flows in volume. The restlessness of the piano carries on as references to the first theme are heard in it and the strings. The theme returns with a complex figure in the piano and continues to build until it reaches a full and sudden stop. The next section begins with the strings playing pizzicato with the piano silent. It is a mysterious sounding section as it increases in volume slightly, but always falls back to quiet. This leads to the next section:

Triple piano -  Very softly the piano plays a D-flat low in the bass. This builds into a 2 bar motive akin to the opening theme. The D-flat motive transforms into a C-sharp, and a long and slow section of repeated motives in C-sharp minor are heard in the three instruments. The music shifts tonality to B major, and this section comes to a halt in G-sharp minor after high double stops are played in the strings and tremelos in the piano.  

A tempo - This section begins with a short fantasia-like piano solo on the theme that leads to an emphatic modulation to the key of B major that represents the recapitulation.  The themes are repeated and expanded again until a short coda that increases in tempo and volume ends the work with a part of the theme played in half notes and a solid end to the movement in B major.

This trio may be labeled by some as repetitious and episodic, but the imagination and creativity Franck uses in the choice of theme and how he uses it shows an already highly developed dramatic sense for a student of 18 years. The use of two themes based on a single theme was not new in music. Josef Haydn wrote examples of monothematic movements before in his works, but it is a foretaste of what Franck was to become as a mature composer later on in his use of cyclical form. 

Cesar Franck