Leonard Bernstein's Piano Trio for piano, violin, and cello was written in 1937 while he was attending Harvard University as a student of Walter Piston.

He was influenced by the conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos.

[1] Several melodic ideas were recycled for use in later pieces; for example, the opening of the second movement was used later by Bernstein in his first musical, On the Town.

[2] The piano trio was premiered in 1937 at Harvard University by the Madison Trio: Mildred Spiegel, Dorothy Rosenberg, Sarah Kruskall.

[3] The work takes about 16 minutes to perform.