The Piano Trio [No. 7](?) in B-flat major, Op. 97, by Ludwig van Beethoven is a piano trio for piano, violin, and cello, published in 1811. It is commonly referred to as the Archduke Trio, because it was dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria, an amateur pianist who was a friend and composition student of Beethoven.
The trio was written late in the "middle period" (spanning roughly 1803 to 1814) of Beethoven's compositional career. He began composing it in the summer of 1810, and completed it in March 1811.
The first public performance was given by Beethoven himself, Ignaz Schuppanzigh (violinist) and Josef Linke (cellist) at the Viennese hotel ‘Zum römischen Kaiser’ on 11 April 1814, as his deafness continued to encroach upon his ability as a performer. Of this performance the violinist and composer Louis Spohr wrote: "In forte passages the poor deaf man pounded on the keys until the strings jangled and in piano he played so softly that whole groups of notes were omitted."
The performance of the piano part in the "Archduke Trio" in 1814 was Beethoven's last performance in the role of pianist.[1] By 1814, Beethoven's hearing had deteriorated enough so that he could no longer play properly; he did not perform in public again.
Although this "Archduke Trio" is sometimes numbered as "No. 7", the numbering of Beethoven's twelve piano trios is not standardized, and in other sources the Op. 97 trio may be shown as having a different number, if any.
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The work is in four movements:
A typical performance runs approximately 40 minutes in length.
The Archduke plays a significant role both in Elizabeth George's mystery A Traitor to Memory (2001); and in Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore (2002).
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