Beethoven and the Concerto

7/28/2019 Beethoven and the Concerto

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BEETHOVEN AND THE CONCERTOA Genre Grows Up


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CATALOG

Piano Concertos

WoO 4: No. 0 in E-flat Major 1784

Opus 19: No. 2 in B-flat Major 1787-89; 1795

Opus 15: No. 1 in C Major 1796-97

Opus 37: No. 3 in C Minor 1800-01

Opus 61a: Arrangement of Violin Concerto 1806

Opus 78: No. 5 in E-flat Major 1809-10


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CATALOG

Op. 56: Triple Concerto (Violin, Cello, Piano) 1805

Op. 61: Violin Concerto in D Major 1806


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PIANO CONCERTO IN E-FLAT MAJOR (1784)

Martin Galling / Carl-August Bnte / Berlin Symphony


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ABOUT THE CONCERTO

Beethoven wrote it at the age of 13.

Its a Galantwork, not sophisticated, but pleasantenough.

Only the piano part has survived, so any performancewill feature its own orchestration.

Its a kids piece, written precisely to spec.

Well hear the first part of the Rondo finale.


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat was written before PianoConcerto No. 1.

17879, with revisions in 1795.

The finale demonstrates spectacular advances over hisearlier efforts.


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THE RONDO

Blends Rondo with Sonata Form, a fairly recent

development during the 1780s and a difficult structureto manage.

The piano writing is brilliant and effective.

The orchestra is Mozartean throughout, but thelanguageespecially the shifting chromatic moodsisdistinctly Beethoven.


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 2, OP. 19: III

Paul Lewis / Jiri Belohlavek / BBC Symphony


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Actually written later than Piano Concerto No. 2.

Beethoven chose to have it published first, since its adeeply impressive piece.

In a way, it was Beethovens calling card to theViennese public, announcing his presence inunmistakable terms.


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Appears to have been premiered on December 18,1795 as part of a concert of three of HaydnsLondon symphonies.

Haydn had just returned from London.


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ABOUT THE CONCERTO

The longest concerto written to date.

The first movement is between 17 and 18 minuteslong (depending on the performance).

Traverses emotional territory usually associated withsymphonies, not concertos.


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C MAJOR

Long associated with festive, ceremonial occasions.

Examples include:


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Haydn: Symphony No. 48 Maria Theresia


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Mozart: Symphony No. 41 Jupiter


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Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major


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FIRST MOVEMENT

Classical-era double-exposition sonata form.

But the Development is a very special passage thatpoints clearly to Beethovens mature style.


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A typical cycle-of-fifths diagram


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C Major

G Major

D Major

A Major

E Major

B Major

F# Major

C# Major

F Major

Bb Major

Eb Major

Ab Major

Db Major

Gb Major

Cb Major


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C Major

G Major

D Major

A Major

E Major

B Major

F# Major

C# Major

F Major

Bb Major

Eb Major

Ab Major

Db Major

Gb Major

Cb Major

G Minor

F Minor


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1: IRichard Goode / Ivn Fischer / Budapest Festival Orchestra


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FINALE

Beethoven gives the concerto a grand send-off with a jovial,rhythmic finale, in Rondo form.

The second excursion reminded commentator MichaelSteinberg of 1940s film star Carmen Miranda and her songTico, Tico.

Well hear the middle of the movement:

Reprise 2

Excursion 2

Reprise 3


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1: IIIRichard Goode / Ivn Fischer / Budapest Festival Orchestra


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Begun in 1796; main work took place in 1800.

Premiere on April 5, 1803. Also premiered on thatconcert:

Symphony No. 2 in D Major

Christ on the Mount of Olives

The young conductor Ignaz von Seyfried turned pagesfor Beethoven during the concerto...


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I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the

most, on one page or another a few Egyptianhieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were

scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for heplayed nearly all the solo part from memory since,

as was so often the case, he had not had time to setit all down on paper. He gave me a secret glance

whenever he was at the end of one of the invisiblepassages, and my scarcely concealable anxiety not

to miss the decisive moment amused him greatlyand he laughed heartily at the jovial supper which

we ate afterwards.


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THE CONCERTO

More compact, less showy than the C Major concerto.

Angular, with a tendency to be sparse in its form andin the style of the piano writing.

Follows the Classical double-exposition form.

Well hear the Second Expositionwith the pianosentrance.


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3: ILeon Fleisher / George Szell / Cleveland Orchestra


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Written 1805-06; premiered privately March 1807.

First public performance December 22, 1808on aprogram that included the premieres of:

Symphony No. 5 in C Minor

Symphony No. 6 (Pastoral)

Choral Fantasy


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CULTURAL SHIFT

Audiences were accustomed to waiting for the soloist

to enter, given the long first exposition of double-exposition sonata form.

It made sense when the conductor and soloist wereone and the same person.

But early on composers challenged that status quo.


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Mozart: Piano Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 271


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So imagine the audiences surprise when the concerto began like this:


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SECOND MOVEMENT

Perhaps the biggest surprise comes with the slowmovement.

Orchestra: demanding, fierceall in octaves, noharmonies.

Piano: soft, beguiling, harmonized throughout.

The two alternate back and forth, sometimes at length,and sometimes the conversation grows a bit moreinsistent.


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Discussions about this movements being aboutOrpheus taming the wild beasts with his lute go as far

back as 1859 and have continued to this day.

Its too late to ask Beethoven himself...


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PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4: IIEmanuel Ax / Michael Tilson Thomas / San Francisco Symphony


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VIOLIN CONCERTO, OP. 61

Written in 1806; premiered December 23 of that year.

Written for violinist Franz Clement.


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FRANZ CLEMENT

Poorly treated by posterity.

Superb musician and violinistworked with Haydn inLondon.

Was concertmaster for the legendary 1808performance of Haydns The Creation in Vienna.


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FRANZ CLEMENT

Apparently Beethoven gave Clement all of 2 days tolearn the Violin Concerto.

The story that Clement inserted a gimmicky piecebetween 1st and 2nd movements, with the violin heldupside down, is incorrect.

He did play such a piece, but at the end of theprogram, not during Beethovens concertohe was fartoo good a musician to pull a stunt like that.


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Beethovens Violin Concerto is gigantic, one of the most

spacious concertos ever written, but so quiet that when itwas a novelty most people complained quite as much ofits insignificance as of its length. All its most famousstrokes of genius are not only mysteriously quiet, butmysterious in radiantly happy surroundings.

Donald Francis Tovey


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...the function of the violin in Beethovens Concerto isto be decorative, fanciful, capricious, more often acommentator on than an initiator of ideas. Beethovenwrote to [Clements] strength, and this is music,therefore, for a violinist with a light hand, one of anindescribably delicacy, neatness, and elegance, anextremely delightful tenderness and purity.

Michael Steinberg


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VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MAJOR, OP. 61: IFIRST AND SECOND EXPOSITION

Nathan Milstein / William Steinberg / Pittsburg Symphony Orchestra


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The mystery at the opening...


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Followed by the quietly unsettling use of non-chord tones...


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And the flights of lyricism...


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First Exposition


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OTHER CONCERTOS

Piano Concerto No. 5 Emperor in 1809Beethovens last concerto.

The Triple Concerto of 1804.

The piano arrangement of the Violin Concerto.

Beethoven and the Concerto

Documents

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