Early romantic
Bridging the gap between the Classical and Romantic periods, Beethoven continued the development of chamber music with a combination of sonatas, string trios, piano trios, string quartets and similar compositions.
Beethoven
Listen to this excerpt from a piano sonata, just bridging the period from Classical to Romantic, in which the third movement is still a minuet and trio. The ternary form is quite clear to the listener. Notice the use of octaves, imitation, the contrast in dynamics, the use of rubato and the different style of the playing in the middle section the trio.
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Now listen to an excerpt from a last movement, a rondo, from a violin sonata by Beethoven and notice how the two instruments share the thematic material between them.
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Compare these two excerpts with this final one from Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 135, his last, written in 1825 just two years before his death. In his later works the standard shape of the movements starts to change a little, for instance the quartet before this had five movements. In this one the second movement, instead of being slow, is a fast one, a scherzo, which by now had replaced the minuet and trio. Listen for the ternary form, the quite distinct syncopation near the beginning, lots of staccato playing, imitation between parts, and a repeated figure in the cello part before the repeat of the first section.
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Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert (1797–1828), a contemporary of Beethoven, wrote a vast amount of instrumental music as well as over 500 songs. Listen to this excerpt from a violin sonata, again a scherzo and trio. The start is quite distinctive with the use of octaves in the piano part before the violin enters and as a result you should be able to hear the sections quite easily. This is particularly true of the trio, which is at a slower tempo and is played with some noticeable rubato before the return of the scherzo theme.
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A string quintet
Finally, listen to an excerpt from one of Schubert’s most famous chamber works, his ‘Trout’ quintet, taking its name from the main theme of the second movement, which was used in a song of the same name. This quintet is unusual as it is one of the few chamber works to use a double bass added to a piano quartet of piano, violin, viola and cello. After the main theme has been introduced the distinctive rippling sound to represent the stream is played in the first variation. In the second variation the melody is played by the cello and imitated by the piano.
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Later development in the Romantic period was very much built around the technical improvements made to the piano in the first half of the 19th century, covered in Romantic piano music.