Writing in his Handbook for Piano Trio Players, the famous critic and scholar Wilhelm Altmann has this to say about Marschner's Fifth Piano Trio:
“It is to be greatly regretted that even today (Altmann was writing in 1937) Heinrich Marschner's Fifth Piano Trio has not received a modern edition because this is a magnificent example of an outstanding mid-Romantic era (1848) piano trio. Unfortunately, it can only be played in the old-style first edition in which there is only the piano part and no piano score (i.e., the string parts are not part of the piano part). Even today, it deserves a place of honor in the concert hall, while at the same time, I cannot recommend it warmly enough to amateur players. The main theme of the first movement, Allegro giusto, reminds one of Schumann. In the exciting development section, faint echoes of the finale to Beethoven's 3rd Rasumovsky String Quartet can be heard. The charming second movement, Andante con moto, was such an extraordinarily outstanding example of mid Romantic era writing that it alone of all of the movements of Marschner's 7 piano trios was published in a new edition in 1892 and given the title Romanze. It is a warm and melodically gorgeous movement in which the cello is shown to particular advantage. The third movement is a fleet and humorous Scherzo presto. The finale, Allegro, with several highly attractive rhythmic episodes, is especially effective."
Heinrich Marschner (1795-1861), rival of Weber and friend of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, was widely regarded as one of the most important composers in Europe from about 1830 until the end of the 19th century. Even today, he is generally acknowledged as the leading composer of German opera between Weber's death and Wagner. Though he considered himself primarily a composer of opera, he did write 7 piano trios and 2 piano quartets. These did not escape the notice of Schumann, who praised the piano trios lavishly and for good reason. Marschner did not just toss off these works as an afterthought but clearly devoted considerable time and effort to writing them. To each of his works for piano, violin, and cello, he gave the title "Grand Trio", indicative of the importance he attached to them. In these fine works, one finds all of the emotions prevalent in the romantic movement during the mid-19th century expressed in a fresh, original, and captivating manner.
Altmann, at least, was able to find the parts to this trio. We searched for several years without success, until recently we finally came across a copy in a private collection. It was not in the best condition, as you might imagine, being 163 years old. The ink had faded in places, and there were all sorts of watermarks, smudges, detritus, and fingerings. We have spent many hours digitally cleaning, darkening, removing fingerings, adding rehearsal letters, and correcting errors, and have been able to create a serviceable performance edition in order to rescue this masterwork from oblivion. But, it is not pristine like a newly published work nor the equal in quality of a modern edition.
