Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 1

The Piano Trio, published by Universal Edition as Op. 1, was a work that the young Korngold, who had already produced many compositions, released with full confidence. At the beginning of the score, it is stated: "Erich Wolfgang Korngold was born in Brünn on May 29, 1897. This trio was commenced in December 1909 and completed in April 1910. — Vienna, July 1910." The phrasing, which strongly emphasizes that the work was by a mere 12-year-old boy, is intriguing. Nevertheless, this four-movement work shows almost no signs of immaturity; it is a substantial composition possessing a mature style and character.

The first movement is written in an expanded sonata form. While maintaining D major as the tonic, it repeatedly modulates, approaching atonality but returning to the tonic just before reaching it. This technique was a specialty of Korngold's and is frequently observed in his later works. The second movement is a Scherzo in E major. The melody of the trio, richly incorporating the interval of a seventh, which he frequently used, was also employed in his one-act opera Der Ring des Polykrates, Op. 7 (1914). The third movement is a Larghetto in G major, introduced by a cello solo. This meditative passage bears a strong resemblance to Sieczynski's famous song 'Wien, du Stadt meiner Träume' (Vienna, City of My Dreams) (1912). The final movement is a sonata form that begins briskly with an introduction based on a transformed motif from the third movement. Interweaving Viennese waltzes and material from previous movements, it reaches a brilliant climax. This "cyclic form," which reuses previously stated musical ideas, was also a technique favored by Korngold.

This work was premiered in Munich in November 1910, the same year it was completed, followed by a premiere in New York the very next day, and in Vienna in December. The performers at the Vienna premiere were an illustrious lineup: Bruno Walter, Arnold Rosé, and Friedrich Buxbaum. In February 1911, it was performed in London, where a local critic's review contained the same words with which Schumann praised the young Chopin: "Hats off, gentlemen! A genius!" Dedicated "To my dearest Papa," this Piano Trio can be considered a crucial breakthrough work that spread Korngold's name not only in Vienna but throughout Europe and to America.