Antonín Dvorák's Terzetto (trio) in C major, Op. 74 was composed in the second week of 1887 (Jan. 7-14) for the express purpose of amateur music making. A young chemistry student with a love of the violin was at the time renting rooms in the Dvorák house, and Dvorák thought it would be fun to take up the viola once again (Dvorák had made a living playing the instrument in early adulthood) and play some music with the young student and his violin teacher. Unfortunately, both of the Terzetto's violin parts proved excessively difficult for the enthusiastic, but more-or-less unskilled, amateur and Dvorák was forced to write a new piece for them to play (Op. 75a, finished the following week but, until well into the twentieth century, published only in an arrangement for violin and piano). Happily enough, however, we still have the Terzetto. The piece is a truffle, but a thoroughly enjoyable one; if it happens that it is a richer experience to play the Terzetto than to hear it, we can only smile and note that such was Dvorák's intent at the time.

The Terzetto is in four movements: Allegro ma non troppo, Larghetto, Vivace (scherzo), and Tema con variazioni. The first movement has a rather innocent main theme, the gestures of which are thrown about by the two other voices as a children's toy. In the Larghetto Dvorák manages to create the impression of a countermelody when the melody is given a second statement simply by taking the middle voice and moving it up top. The scherzo is a wonderful movement (it would be better if the viola had another octave to it to provide a richer bass!) built along the same vigorously rhythmic thematic lines that we find in the scherzos for larger ensembles. The theme and variations finale takes up a tune that is poised somewhat indecisively between C major and C minor.

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