A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello. The classical string trio emerged during the mid-18th century and later expanded into four subgenres: the grand trio, the concertant trio, the brilliant trio, and the Hausmusik trio.

Early history

The earliest string trio, found during the mid 18th century, consisted of two violins and a cello, a grouping which had grown out of the Baroque trio sonata. Over the course of the late 18th century, the string trio scored for violin, viola, and cello came to be the predominant type. String trios scored for two violins and viola were also used, although much less frequently. The term "string trio" was not used until the late 19th century. The genre was previously referred to as divertimento a tre, sonate a tre, and terzetto. The early classical string trio generally consisted of three movements, although four, five and six movement trios were later written. ||

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| Guy Ropartz (1864–1955) || Trio in A minor for Strings (1934–35)

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| Albert Roussel (1896–1937) || String Trio, Op. 58

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|Kaija Saariaho (1952–2023)

|Cloud Trio (2009)

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| Ernest Sauter (1928–2013) ||

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| Giacinto Scelsi (1905–1988) || Trio for strings (1958)

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| Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998) ||String Trio (1985)

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| Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) || String Trio, Op. 45 (1946)

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| Franz Schubert (1797–1828) ||

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| Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) ||

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| (1896–1978) ||

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| Robert Simpson (1921–1997) || String Trio (1987)

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| Nikos Skalkottas (1904–1949) || String Trio No. 2 (1935)

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| Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) ||Hoffnung (2007)

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| Richard Strauss (1864–1949) || Variations on "Das Dirndl is harb auf mi" TRV 109 (1882)

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| Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915) || String Trio in D major (1880)

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| Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893) ||Allegretto moderato (1863–64)

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| Jesús Torres (1965) || String Trio (2002)

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| Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887–1959) ||String Trio (1945)

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| Graham Waterhouse (born 1962) ||

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| Julian Wagstaff (born 1970) || In Extremis (2011)([https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/in-extremis-for-string-trio-score-digital-sheet-music/20030830])

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|Rolf Wallin (1957–)

|Sway (2010)

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| Anton Webern (1883–1945) ||

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| Egon Wellesz (1885–1974) ||

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| John Woolrich (born 1954) || String Trio (1996)

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| Charles Wuorinen (1938–2020) || String Trio (1968)

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| Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001) || Ikhoor {Ιχώρ} (1978)

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| La Monte Young (born 1935) || Trio (1958)

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| Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931) || Trio "Le Chimay"(1915)

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| Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970) || Trio (1944)

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Two violins, cello

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| Alexander Alyabyev (1787–1851) || Variations on a Russian folk song

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| Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) || Prelude and Fugue for two violins and cello in E minor, Hess 29 (1795)

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| Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805) ||

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| Alexander Borodin (1833–1887) || String Trio in G minor on a Russian folk song

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|Siegfried Borris (1906–1987) || Terzettino

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|Werner Egk (1901–1983) || Trio in G minor

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| (1756–1820) || String Trios, Op. 5, Nos. 1–6

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|Avgust Grigoryevich Gerke (1790–1847)

|Trio pour deux violons et violoncelle op. 2

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|Peter Hänsel (1770–1831) ||

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|Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) ||

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|Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) ||

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|Feliks Janiewicz (1762–1848)

|6 String Trios

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|Joachim Kaczkowski (1789–1829)[https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Kaczkowski]

|Quatre variations op. 3

Six variations op. 4

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|Wilhelm Killmayer (born 1927) || Trio for two violins and cello

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|Karol Lipiński (1790-1861)

|String Trio in g minor Op. 8

String Trio in A-major Op. 12

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|Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) ||

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|Ignaz Pleyel (1757–1831) ||

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| (1752–1835) || Fantasia Terza

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|Gerhard Präsent (born 1957) ||

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|Joseph Schuster (1748–1812) || String Trio in A minor

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|Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739–1813) ||

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Two violins, viola

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| Frank Bridge (1879–1941) || Rhapsody Trio (1928)

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|Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) ||

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|Robert Fuchs (1847–1927) ||

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|Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967) ||

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|David Ludwig (born 1974) || Rule of Three for two violins and viola (2016)

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|Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915) || String Trio in D major, Op. 21 (1907)

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Alternative scoring

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|F.L. Gaßmann (1729–1774) ||

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|Sergei Taneyev (1856–1915) || String Trio in E major, Op. 31, for violin, viola and violotta

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|John Zorn (born 1953) || Walpurgisnacht (2004) for violin, viola and double bass

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See also

  • String quintet
  • String sextet
  • String octet

Notes

Sources