Trio (music)

This article is about the musical term. For other uses of trio, see Trio (disambiguation).
The Schumann-Halir-Dechert [de] Piano Trio (violin, cello, and piano)

In music, a trio (from the Italian) is any of the following:

  • a composition for three performers or three musical parts
  • in larger works, the middle section of a ternary form (so named because of the 17th-century practice of scoring the contrasting second or middle dance appearing between two statements of a principal dance for three instruments)
  • an ensemble of three instruments or voices performing trio compositions.