Piano Trio in F Major “Hunting Horn”

The Piano Trio was based on an original sketch developed in April 2010 and developed over the Winter and Spring of 2011 as part of a class on composition for high school students in Grass Valley and Nevada City that the composer attended, to create a chamber work to be played by the Music in the Mountains orchestral members in June 2011 in Grass Valley.

The trio consists of piano, violin and cello. The underlying motivic theme is based on an arpeggiated tonic progression that is meant to reflect the sound of a hunting horn with an arpeggiated chord signaling the start of the hunt (hence the “Hunting Horn” appellation). The trio was “painted as a tone poem” reflecting the British countryside themes of the painter John Constable. Within the trio can be heard horses, dogs, the hunting horn the pastoral countryside, forest glade with stream and return to the stables.

The opening begins with a high descending chord in the violin reflecting the cry of a hawk in the sky with the piano playing part of the “hunting horn” theme. This is interrupted by a rapid descending and ascending scale in F major reflecting the excited hounds that then drives into the main hunting horn theme in the violin and cello with the piano providing a “galloping” rhythm of the horses. The theme is then repeated in cello with the violin providing an obbligato accompaniment with the piano gallop becoming syncopated in rhythm. The piano then enters with a secondary theme before returning to the hunting horn theme in octaves leading to the return of the scale passages (reflecting the hounds) before modulating (through the “hounds”) to the key of D minor with a driving melody reflecting plunging up and down hills before ending quietly in an Andante misterioso movement reflecting entry into a forest glade with modulation to the key of B♭ Major.

After a lyrical passage the Andante theme is repeated in the key of E♭ Major which quietly dissolves back to the original F Major with the “hunting horn” sounding throughout the three instruments. The main theme is restated followed by entry of another secondary theme in the piano which resolves back to the main theme. An extended coda is then entered with presentation of a final theme echoed among the instruments before the trio is brought to a fading exit as the dogs, horses and riders fade to the distance with a final “fox note”.

The original trio was conceived in three movements: Allegro con Brio, Romance and Rondo but was finalized as a single movement with three distinct sections (as noted above). The Romance became the Romance Duo for violin and piano while the Rondo served as the basis of the third movement of the Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 34. The piece was written from 26 April 2010 to 09 June 2011. LaVonne Amaral was a long-time resident of Grass Valley and supporter of the music and arts community of Grass Valley and Nevada City.