Fesca’s Piano Trio No.2 in e minor dates from 1843 and was dedicated to Joseph Lidel, a London cellist. Although Robert Schumann damned the work with faint praise in his Neue Zeischrift für Musik, his verdict was not shared by nearly everyone else, including the editor of Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, nor by performers nor by the concert-going public. For the better part of the next 50 years, it remained in the repertoire and was a popular program choice. The fetching main theme to the opening Allegro is full of promise and developed in a masterly way. Succeeding melodies are lyrical and appealing. The idyllic second movement, Adagio ma non tanto, is in the form of a Song Without Words, peaceful but beautiful. The Scherzo, allegro vivo, which comes next, has the character of a folk dance, bright and lively. The finale, Allegro vivo, is an energetic and thrusting affair, full of forward motion.
Alexander Ernst Fesca (1820-1849) was born in the German city of Karlsruhe, where his father Friedrich Ernst Fesca, also a composer, was serving as music director of the Ducal Court Orchestra of Baden. Fesca received his first lessons from his father and was considered a prodigy on the piano. He attended the Prussian Royal Conservatory in Berlin where he graduated with a degree in composition at the young age of 14, after which he enjoyed a career as a pianist and music director. Though he did not live very long, he composed a considerable amount of music. His chamber music includes six piano trios, two piano quartets, and two septets for piano, winds, and strings.
We have reprinted the second edition, dating from 1856. The piano part is not a piano score but just the piano part; however, we have added rehearsal numbers to aid performance. This is a fine work deserving of both concert performance and a place on the stands of amateurs.
