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Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

The Piano Concerto No. 1 is among the works the young Beethoven composed after he had moved in 1792 from his native Bonn to Vienna. Like Mozart when he left Salzburg, also for Vienna, Beethoven had outgrown the musical establishment of his patron in Bonn, the elector Maximilian Franz, but he traveled to the Imperial capital not so much as a master but rather to study composition with Franz Joseph Haydn. At the end of 1793 Haydn wrote to the elector on his student’s behalf for an advance in salary, enclosing five compositions “of my dear pupil Beethoven,” who he predicted would “in time fill the position of one of Europe’s greatest composers.” The parsimonious elector was unimpressed.

Nevertheless, Beethoven quickly acquired a glowing reputation as both a pianist and composer. He had come already provided with important aristocratic connections that greased the way into the highest social circles, where noblemen were in competition with each other for the best in-house musical establishment. The period between 1792 and 1795 was probably the happiest in the composer’s life. Signs of his deafness had not yet appeared, and his passionate nature – even affability – signaled a young lion, rather than the irascible, slovenly and sickly misanthrope of his middle and later years.

Originally composed in 1795, revised in 1798 and again before publication in 1800, this concerto is actually not the first Beethoven wrote, although it was the first to be published. What is known today as No. 2 preceded it by a year. In 1784, Beethoven had written a youthful concerto in E-Flat WoO (Work without opus number) 4, which was not published in its entirety until 1890.

Beethoven himself was the pianist at the premiere of the original version of this Concerto in Vienna in 1795, but the manuscript was barely finished before the concert. His close friend, the physician Franz Wegeler, described the scene: “Beethoven did not write the rondo... till the afternoon of the day before the concert...Four copyists sat in the room outside, and he gave them the pages one by one as they were finished.”

By Beethoven’s own admission, the First Concerto still reflects the styles of Mozart and Haydn. It begins with a lengthy and formal orchestral opening, ceremonial in style, after which the soloist makes his entry with a new opening theme. The interplay between the piano and orchestra is reminiscent of the Mozart concerti, where the orchestra provides quiet background accompaniment for the soloist when both play together. This lighter accompaniment was, of course, acoustically necessary since the pianos of the time lacked the power of those even in the first part of the nineteenth century.

A note about the cadenza to the first movement: Only incomplete fragments remain of the cadenza that Beethoven used at the premiere. By 1809, the composer’s hearing loss prevented him from performing in public, and he wrote three new cadenzas of differing lengths and difficulty for pianists of varying abilities.

In the years 1798 to 1809, the piano underwent a rapid evolution, not in small part as a result of Beethoven’s demands and specifications. While the concerto was written for a piano of five octaves, like Mozart’s, by the time Beethoven composed the cadenzas in 1809, he was writing for a piano of 5 1/2 octaves and commensurate power and sound to match.

Consequently, a 1798 instrument for which the concerto was written, would not be able to play the 1809 cadenzas Beethoven wrote for it.

The slow movement, again, harks back to the Mozart model. If in the first movement soloist and orchestra are partners, in the second it is the piano that dominates and develops the themes, aided by the clarinet. The sparkling rondo finale is an orchestral romp, in which the soloist and orchestra engage in a dialogue, each trying to outdo the other.

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15

The Piano Concerto No. 1 is among the works the young Beethoven composed after he had moved in 1792 from his native Bonn to Vienna. Like Mozart when he left Salzburg, also for Vienna, Beethoven had outgrown the musical establishment of his patron in Bonn, the elector Maximilian Franz, but he traveled to the Imperial capital not so much as a master but rather to study composition with Franz Joseph Haydn. At the end of 1793 Haydn wrote to the elector on his student’s behalf for an advance in salary, enclosing five compositions “of my dear pupil Beethoven,” who he predicted would “in time fill the position of one of Europe’s greatest composers.” The parsimonious elector was unimpressed.

Nevertheless, Beethoven quickly acquired a glowing reputation as both a pianist and composer. He had come already provided with important aristocratic connections that greased the way into the highest social circles, where noblemen were in competition with each other for the best in-house musical establishment. The period between 1792 and 1795 was probably the happiest in the composer’s life. Signs of his deafness had not yet appeared, and his passionate nature – even affability – signaled a young lion, rather than the irascible, slovenly and sickly misanthrope of his middle and later years.

Originally composed in 1795, revised in 1798 and again before publication in 1800, this concerto is actually not the first Beethoven wrote, although it was the first to be published. What is known today as No. 2 preceded it by a year. In 1784, Beethoven had written a youthful concerto in E-Flat WoO (Work without opus number) 4, which was not published in its entirety until 1890.

Beethoven himself was the pianist at the premiere of the original version of this Concerto in Vienna in 1795, but the manuscript was barely finished before the concert. His close friend, the physician Franz Wegeler, described the scene: “Beethoven did not write the rondo... till the afternoon of the day before the concert...Four copyists sat in the room outside, and he gave them the pages one by one as they were finished.”

By Beethoven’s own admission, the First Concerto still reflects the styles of Mozart and Haydn. It begins with a lengthy and formal orchestral opening, ceremonial in style, after which the soloist makes his entry with a new opening theme. The interplay between the piano and orchestra is reminiscent of the Mozart concerti, where the orchestra provides quiet background accompaniment for the soloist when both play together. This lighter accompaniment was, of course, acoustically necessary since the pianos of the time lacked the power of those even in the first part of the nineteenth century.

A note about the cadenza to the first movement: Only incomplete fragments remain of the cadenza that Beethoven used at the premiere. By 1809, the composer’s hearing loss prevented him from performing in public, and he wrote three new cadenzas of differing lengths and difficulty for pianists of varying abilities.

In the years 1798 to 1809, the piano underwent a rapid evolution, not in small part as a result of Beethoven’s demands and specifications. While the concerto was written for a piano of five octaves, like Mozart’s, by the time Beethoven composed the cadenzas in 1809, he was writing for a piano of 5 1/2 octaves and commensurate power and sound to match.

Consequently, a 1798 instrument for which the concerto was written, would not be able to play the 1809 cadenzas Beethoven wrote for it.

The slow movement, again, harks back to the Mozart model. If in the first movement soloist and orchestra are partners, in the second it is the piano that dominates and develops the themes, aided by the clarinet. The sparkling rondo finale is an orchestral romp, in which the soloist and orchestra engage in a dialogue, each trying to outdo the other.