WoO 39 – Trio in B-flat major in one movement for piano, violin, and cello, dedicated to Maximiliane Brentano, June 26, 1812, published in Frankfurt, Dunst, 1830. GA no. 85 (series 11/7) – B. 154 – KH (WoO) 39 – L. IV, p. 336a – N. p. 144 – T. 173.

Official title: WoO 39 Trio (B-dur) für Klavier, Violine und Violoncello Widmung: — NGA IV/3 AGA 85 = Serie 11/7 (Hess 50)

The original manuscript, preserved today in the archive of the Beethovenhaus, bears the date June 26, 1812, and the dedication: “…Für meine kleine Freundin Max. Brentano, ihrer Aufmunterung in Clavierspielen”
(To my little friend Maximiliane Brentano, for her encouragement in piano playing).

The dedication explains the character of the composition, which takes the form of a first-movement sonata, treated sparingly, with light themes, a very brief development, a faithful recapitulation, and a slightly extended conclusion. It can be compared with the Piano Sonatas op. 49 and 79, although Thayer-Riemann considered the piece “rather difficult and tumultuous for the purpose it was intended for, and entirely lacking those compensatory moments of repose found in the two aforementioned works.”

Composition and Publication: Composed in June 1812 in Vienna. The first edition was published posthumously in 1830 by Dunst in Frankfurt am Main.

Beethoven wrote the one-movement piano trio for the then ten-year-old Maximiliane Brentano, daughter of Franz and Antonie Brentano, his close friends. The piano part contains fingerings annotated by Beethoven for Maximiliane (see Hiebert/WoO 39). First performance unknown. Sketches have not survived.

Score: D-BNba, BH 76. Autograph dating: “am 26ten juni. 1812”.

Title: “Vien am 26ten juni. 1812. für meine kleine Freundin Maxe Brentano zu ihrer Aufmunterung im Klawierspielen. – IvBthwn.”
Size: 6 sheets; 10 pages of score. Sheets 1v–6r, sheets 1r and 6v blank. Paper: horizontal format, 22.5 × 31.5 cm, 12 staff lines.

Provenance: Brentano family, Frankfurt am Main – Carl Meinert, Dessau (no. 229 in catalog/Bonn 1890) – Antiquarian library Richard Bertling, Dresden – acquired 1897. Facsimile and description: DBH/online. Facsimile page 1v: Schmidt-Görg/Beethoven p. 132.

In his thematic catalog, Gustav Nottebohm lists a copy formerly owned by W. Wildfer in Müglitz (Moravia), which bears the following title, differing from the autograph score and the first edition:
“Sonate von Ludwig van Beethoven mit Violine und Violoncelle. Wien am 2l [!] Juni 1812. Für seine kleine Freundin Max. Brentano zu ihrer Aufmunterung im Clavierspielen.” (Nottebohm/1868 p. 144.) This copy has been lost.

First Edition: 1830, Frankfurt am Main, Franz Philipp Dunst, VN/PN 168.
Title: TRIO / in einem Satze / FÜR DAS / PIANO FORTE / Violine & Violoncello / an meine kleine Freundin / MB. / zur Aufmunterung im Klavierspielen / VON / L. van Beethoven / Comp: 1812. / sämmtliche Wercke für das Klavier / 3te Abtheilung N° 14. / FRANKFURT a/M, / bei Fr. Ph. Dunst. / Eigenthum des Verlegers.