Piano Trio in B-flat major "Archduke", Op. 97, Op. 97

The "Archduke" Trio (1811, premièred 1814) is the summit of Beethoven's chamber output and one of the supreme achievements in the entire piano trio literature, dedicated to his student and patron Archduke Rudolph of Austria. Its four movements span the full range of human feeling, from the nobly expansive first movement to the searching Andante cantabile with its five variations — often described as the most profound slow movement Beethoven ever wrote — and the finale's graceful dance-like themes. The last public performance Beethoven gave as a pianist was of this trio in April 1814, and the work itself remains a monument of late Classical thought.