Over the centuries, the piano trio has gained a repertoire of exceptional size and richness; works written for this genre include some of the greatest of all chamber works. The first study devoted solely to the piano trio, this book reviews the development of the trio in different countries within the context of general music history, and shows how it has reflected changes in style and technique from Mozart and Haydn to the avant-garde composers of today. Smallman focuses on the principal works in the trio repertoire, and provides clear analytical descriptions supplemented by musical...

Designed as a companion volume to the author's earlier study, The Piano Trio, this book surveys the development of the piano quartet and quintet from their beginnings in the mid-eighteenth century to the present day. Developments during the first four decades of the nineteenth century resulted not only in Schubert's renowned Trout Quintet, but also in works of much brilliance by Dussek, Hummel, Weber, and others in which the piano predominates in a concerto-like role. Subsequently, Schumann's epoch-making quintet of 1842 initiated a broadly "symphonic" style, with large-scale structures and...