Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861; the CD cover incorrectly states that he turned 102, because he was not born in 1759) mainly figures in music history books as an opera composer who formed the link between Weber and Wagner. Indeed, Marschner's reputation rested mainly on his operas and, to a lesser extent, on his works for male choir. Marschner came from Upper Lusatia and received his first music
… lessons there from various persons; he never followed full training. After wanderings that took him to Prague, Leipzig and Vienna, Marschner settled in Bratislava in 1816, where he created his first operas. Marschner's star rose rapidly and in 1831 he was appointed court bandmaster in Hanover, where he would remain until his death. The works performed here by the Beethoven Trio Ravensburg were written there and have many similarities. Both the Piano Trio No. 2, Op.111 and the Piano Trio No. 5, Op.138 have four movements and last more than half an hour. In both works a certain effort is visible to include the themes from the first parts in the later ones, in order to give a greater inner cohesion to the work. As a whole, both pieces make a somewhat lackluster impression. One possible explanation is that Marschner only wrote them for the money. Publishers paid more advances for works that were not too difficult to play than for large-scale operas whose success was uncertain. In his autobiography, Marschner frankly acknowledged that sometimes he just wrote for the market. It is unclear whether this was the case with these piano trios, but the question arises whether Marschner has not written them with diminished attention and was already thinking about his next opera. (JvG)more