Mendelssohn finished the trio in September 1839. The composer Ferdinand Hiller urged him to rethink the piano writing, and Mendelssohn rewrote the whole piano part in a fuller, more Romantic style. He gave the first performance himself in Leipzig in February 1840, with Ferdinand David on violin, and Breitkopf & Härtel published it the same year.
Robert Schumann gave it a glowing review, putting it in the company of Beethoven’s B-flat and D major trios and Schubert’s E-flat trio. The cello opens with a long, singing tune, the slow movement sounds like one of Mendelssohn’s Songs without Words, and the scherzo is light and quick. The finale, the movement Mendelssohn changed most, turns to D major shortly before the end.
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