Prinz Louis Ferdinand - Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 2 (c. 1800)

[@fredericchopin4821]

An underrated composer. It’s a shame he died so young during the Napoleonic Wars.

[@bartjebartmans]

What baffles me is that where did he even get the time to compose and play the piano, let alone take lessons, which must have been extensive and then on top of it have a military career. He must have been quite the guy. I am not surprised Beethoven was impressed by him. If you look at the date of his death, 1806, his works are stunningly modern, some of his modulations are almost done by way of a variation.

[@cvlen]

Sounds very advanced for 1800! Amazing

[@bhastro9959]

The battlefield death of this Prussian Apollo inspired Dussek's greatest piano sonata.

[@Piflaser]

He was absolutely on the level of his time.

[@notaire2]

Lebhafte und wunderschöne Interpretation dieses jugendlichen doch perfekt komponierten Trios mit klarem Klang des Klaviers, seidigem Ton der Violine und tiefem Ton des Violoncellos. Der zweite Satz klingt besonders schön und echt melodisch. Im Kontrast klingt der dritte Satz echt lebhaft und auch begeisternd. Alles ist wundervoll!

[@thomaskendall452]

Fascinating! It's odd, given my decades-long interest in recherché classical and romantic composers, that I'd never heard of him. His harmonic language in this first piano trio is quite advanced for @1800. But the violin and cello parts seem almost along for the ride, as if it were a sonata for piano with violin and cello obbligato, much like piano trios of a generation earlier. Bartje Bartmans, thank you for posting this performance and score! The performance is solid, but this trio - as is true of the Prince's other music involving a piano, fairly cries out for use of a period fortepiano. Not only would the balance problem between the keyboard and strings disappear, but the piano writing would really shine on the instrument for which it was written. The Prince almost out-Hummels Hummel in its brilliance.

[@bartjebartmans]

Yes indeed, a fortepiano would work much better in this context. Pieces like these were written to showcase the composer as a performer, the string parts had to be quickly learned as there was hardly any rehearsal time, it all depended on the quality of string players available at certain places, palaces, soirees, venues.

[@thomaskendall452]

@@bartjebartmans But other composers writing around the same time at least threw some melodically interesting bones in the string players' direction. And their string parts - generalization here - were either as easy as these or only slightly more demanding. Maybe the prince preferred to hog all the fun?

[@bartjebartmans]

@@thomaskendall452 He might have had capable, but moderately advanced, amateur players to perform with.

[@cosmosprospectivo5549]

Se a Internet impede que os vídeos do You Tube sejam partilhados por quem justifica e alimenta a mesma Internet, em breve o povo exigirá que a Internet que segue tal padrão seja eliminada. E eu aprovo absolutamente, porque nada mais justifica o bem que é a Internet.

[@nervenerd]

Strange that the interesting Caption is all about the brother in law Radziwill and not about Ferdinand himself, who died long before the events mentioned.

[@bartjebartmans]

I have uploaded almost the complete chamber works by Louis Ferdinand in which I added his biography in detail. In this video I wanted to highlight other aspects of his times and life.