I'm trying to clean up my recorded database and discovered I have two piano trios on R2R tapes (origin, unfortunately, unknown) that are labeled Piano Trio #2 in a and Piano Trio #3 in F. No opus numbers. There don't seem to be any recordings that I can find. Grove looks like it sez there are 6 trios. Unfortunately, Grove doesn't list the key signatures. So, I'm baffled. Any ideas?
Jerry
According to the Silvertrust Guide to the Piano Trio Literature (free online at www.editionsilvertrust.com) Ries wrote only 3 trios that were specifically for violin, cello and piano. They are Op.2 in E flat Major, Op.143 in c minor and WoO86 no key given.
Op.26 is in B flat Major, however it was originally for clarinet, cello and piano and Op.63 in E flat Major was originally for flute, violin substitutes, cello and piano. No mention is made of a sixth.
According to this page from the Ries-Gesellschaft website (http://www.ferdinand-ries.de/quartette_mit_pianoforte.html), which I found by following a link from Ries' IMSLP category, that's about right.
The trios include op. 2 in E-flat (1807), trio no.2 op.28 (1810) (clarinet-trio or usual trio), trio no.3 op.63 in E-flat (flute-or) (1815), trio no.4 op.143 in C minor (1826), trio no.5 in F minor WoO 86 (no later than 1836).
Suggestion: maybe your trios are by Franz Ries? Anyway, if you can type in the first notes of the first movements (transpose the F major one to C major for optimal deflattes...), there are places like RISM online e.g. among others people could go to try to research what maybe the trios on those tapes are, assuming they aren't Ries trios given the wrong keys by announcers.
Groves is not wrong, depending on what they're claiming. If they're saying Ries wrote 6 trios for piano with other instruments, he did. Not listed above by me, though listed by the Gesellschaft: a trio for piano & 2 harps.
Thanks, friends. Grove has this about the opus 95: "with hp, pf2".
Silvertrust also sez that his publisher wanted a violin part for the opus 28 Clarinet Trio, which Ries did and it was also published.
Franz Ries is elusive. Wikipedia does list some compositions but none are piano trios. This may just remain a mystery.
J
Ferdinand Ries Gesellschaft has Op. 95 as "für Harfe und zwei Pianoforte" (an easy mistake to make, Eric). Anyway, that doesn't solve the problem of these unknown trios, and I don't think I can contribute anything to the discussion at present.
Odd. Worldcat lists piano trios in C, a and F listed under both Ferdinand and Franz Ries and available from Ries & Erler...
Well, the a and F would certainly be a match.......
From Hofmeister's Monatsberichte for October, 1896 (http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001896&teil=0203&seite=00000490&zoom=1): "Ries, Ferd., Drei instruktive Trios f. Pfte, V. u. Vcello bearb. u. hrsg. v. Franz Ries. No. 1 (C). No. 2 (Am.). No. 3 (F). à Mk 3,50. Berlin, Ries & Erler."
A visit to Ries & Erler's website shows 3 trios (No. 1 in C, No. 2 in a, No 3 in F) available for hire only. They appear on the page devoted to Ferdinand Ries but are listed under "Ferdinand Ries / Franz Ries" which is somewhat confusing.