Piano Trios Nos. 5 - 6, Opus 70 (Beethoven)

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Opus 70 is a set of two Piano Trios by Ludwig van Beethoven. They were published in 1809.

Written for piano, violin, and cello. The first, in D major, known as the Ghost, is one of his best known works in the genre (rivaled only by the Archduke Trio).

These pieces are representative of Beethoven's "Middle" stylistic period, which went from roughly 1803 to 1812, and which included many of his most famous works. Beethoven wrote the two piano trios while spending the summer of 1808 in Heiligenstadt, Vienna, where he had completed his Symphony No. 5 the previous summer. He wrote the two trios immediately after finishing his Sinfonia pastorale, Symphony No. 6. This was a period of uncertainty in Beethoven's life, in particular because he had no dependable source of income at the time.

After finishing the trios, in the fall of 1808, he began sketching the Choral Fantasy, the work considered to be the "first draft" of the last movement of the famous Symphony No. 9.