[Op. 45]. String Trio [Score]

Long Island City, N.Y.: Bomart Music Publications [PN bmp I/3], 1950. Octavo. Full dark green cloth, titling gilt to spine. 2ff. (title, notes), 23, [1] (publisher's catalog) pp.

Binding slightly rubbed. Light uniform browning. First Edition. Rufer (E), p. 73. GA B/21, pp. 99-100.

Schoenberg's String Trio, Op. 45, was commissioned by Harvard for a symposium on music criticism, and premiered May 1, 1947 by members of the Walden String Quartet. It was written shortly after Schoenberg suffered a major heart attack, which influenced the tone of the work.

"The single-movement work is divided into five sections: three "parts" and two "episodes." Part three begins like Part one and recapitulates aspects of the whole work. Thematic development is spread throughout the work. The piece ends with a 12-note statement in the violin in which the basic motifs are presented. The variety of surface details (abrupt dynamic contrasts, expressionistic string effects, variations in tone) stand in contrast to the rigorous serialism that undergirds the work's structure." Camille Crittenden © Arnold Schönberg Center.