[2] More clear is Brahms's transposed version of Robert Schumann's "Clara theme", found in various pieces such as his Bunte Blätter, Op.

The Clara theme (C–B–A–G♯–A, often transposed: here E♭–D–C–B–C) was first detected by Eric Sams in his essays and books on Schumann and Brahms.

Furthermore, there is direct evidence that this melodic form actually embodied her, for Brahms as for Schumann.”[4] After the first statement of the theme, the piano plays octaves on B♭.

The opening motives, again played by the strings, becomes more chromatic and unsettling, until finally coming to rest on the dominant of C, G major.

The viola and violin play pizzicato octaves on E♮ before the strings cascade down the C harmonic minor scale that ushers in the first theme, stated forte.

After the beginning of the third contrapuntal treatment of this theme, a dominant pedal is sustained in octaves on G. This resolves unexpectedly to an A♭ major chord that is quickly brought down to C minor by the opening sighing motive in the piano.

This is perhaps the only sonata form movement in the minor mode in which the recapitulation features the second subject in the key of the major dominant.

A fifth variation leads to a short digression in C major but becomes chromatic and ends with a development the first theme, coming to a cadence on C. This is followed by a brief coda that expands on the first motives heard in the piece.

The expansive and exploratory nature of the movement, along with the quiet closing dynamic, helps make the conventional final cadential progression appear mysterious.

The movement begins with an opening motif of a descending octave on G and a rising minor second to A♭ stated by the piano, followed by a falling diatonic line accompanied by the strings.

This scherzo is very chromatic and unstable tonally, although it does actually move to a secondary phrase on the dominant and returns to the tonic with frequency.

Nonetheless, the middle section begins with a new theme, an ascending line in quarter notes in the strings, accompanied by a descending triplet figure played by the piano.

The scherzo is repeated almost entirely, however, the section immediately preceding the tonic pedal is omitted and replaced with a climactic dominant chord in a very high register in the strings, ending with a tierce de picardie on C major with three loud declamations of the tonic major chord.

This can be explained by its origin as the slow movement to a piano quartet in C-sharp minor, which Brahms revised and published as Op.

[7] The opening thematic material of this melody is a sequence of descending thirds, a gesture frequently used by Brahms (such as in his Op.

The B section (in ABAB form) begins with a syncopated ascending stepwise melodic line in the violin to be played molto dolce (Theme B).

Mendelssohn's Piano Trio also features a quotation of a chorale melody taken from the sixteenth-century Genevan psalter 'Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit' (“Before Your Throne I Now Appear”).

Vincent C. K. Cheung has also observed that the opening G–E♭ motion in the violin, coupled with the G–G–G–C in the piano greatly points toward the “Fate theme” in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

After this, the violin plays a descending stepwise melody, which under close inspection is revealed to be an inversion of its own original theme (from B–C–D–E♭–F–E♭ to G–F–E♭–D–C–B) in successive quarter notes.

When the violin and viola soar to an unexpectedly high register, the piano interrupts by playing an explosive broken dominant seventh chord.

The strings respond by a piano, homophonic, homorythmic theme to be played mezza voce (medium voice).

The viola plays the opening of the piano's first theme, which resembles an inversion of the sequenced thirds developed moments earlier.

Austrian musicologist and educator Karl Geiringer has shown that the next section (measures 155–188) is an insertion "in order to mitigate the excessive conciseness of this movement.

What follows is a quick (Tempo I) development of the initial piano theme in C minor, with all strings playing the opening four notes (moving in the often used progression i – I – iv).

The final notes of the theme (F–E♭) are sequenced and inverted repeatedly, recalling the significance of descending seconds in the first movement of this quartet.

The coda begins at measure 311, with the piano loudly declaring the homorhythmic theme, alternating with the strings.

The violin theme is then played by the strings in C major, but it soon shifts back to C minor (the key signature too returns).