The

Piano Trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

in G major, L. 5 (revised Lesure catalogue; originally L. 3), was written by an 18-year-old

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

in 1880 in

Fiesole Fiesole () is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 5 km (3 miles) northeast of that city. It has structures dating to Etruscan and Roman times. Sin ...

, Italy, where he resided at Nadezhda von Meck's. Most of the autograph of the work was thought to be lost until 1982, when it was discovered from the legacy of

Maurice Dumesnil Maurice Hippolyte Dumesnil (20 April 1884 – 26 August 1974) was a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Angoulême, Dumesnil studied the piano at the Conservatoire de Paris with Isidore Philipp, and was a pupil of Claude Debussy. He unde ...

, a pupil of Debussy's. The first edition was published in 1986.

Movements

The work is in four movements: A typical performance lasts 20–25 minutes.

Critical response

In 1984, music critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote of an early, incomplete recording of the trio: "The Debussy piece is

juvenilia Juvenilia are literary, musical or artistic works produced by authors during their youth. Written juvenilia, if published at all, usually appears as a retrospective publication, some time after the author has become well known for later works. ...

. You can have a lot of fun putting it on the turntable and asking your learned friends who the composer is. Nothing in the music suggests Debussy. It is sweet, sentimental, and sugared; it verges on the salon." Reviewer Charlotte Gardner for the BBC wrote in 2012, of a later recording: "Debussy's teenage Piano Trio doesn't often get to see the light of day, mostly because it reveals him very much still in feet-finding mode. Still, it's an enjoyable listen, and it’s interesting to compare its pizzicato second movement with that of the Quartet, and the Brodskys and ianistJean-Efflam Bavouzet are evidently having some fun. They're an effortless partnership, making make much of the work's smoochy, romantic leanings, the high beauty of many of its passages, and its light, clear textures."

References

External links

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Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Chamber music by Claude Debussy Compositions in G major

1880 compositions