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Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19

Among the manuscripts Beethoven brought with him was a draft of a piano concerto in B-flat major, the early version of what he ultimately published in 1801 as the Concerto No. 2. He had probably started work on the Concerto in 1790, later discarding the original finale for the one we know today. He continued agonizing over the final version until the last minute, delaying publication because in the days before copyright laws he wanted to retain it for his personal use as a performer for numerous concerts in Vienna and Prague. As a result, despite its listing as Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto, it was certainly composed, although not published, before the Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15.

The Concerto itself still reflects the styles of Mozart and Haydn – Beethoven was still a young man learning his trade. The development in the first movement begins with the piano’s theme but veers off into an exploration of all of the preceding musical material. The long cadenza is unusual as well, beginning with a fugal treatment of the main theme in inversion – in line with Beethoven’s habit at the time he composed it.

The second movement, which also owes a great deal to Mozart, is based on a single gentle theme consisting of two distinct motives in its two parts. Both soloist and orchestra spin out the melodies with embellishments in a style that foreshadows many of the composer’s masterful slow movements still to come. Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s pupil, compared it to a dramatic operatic scene. Czerny’s point is well taken since this movement particularly involves a musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra.

The high-spirited Rondo finale, a later addition to the Concerto, shows a more self-confident approach as well as the humor associated with the music of Franz Joseph Haydn, with whom Beethoven had studied in the 1790s. It contains an unusual rhythmic relationship between the first and second themes: the first theme is based on a trochaic poetic foot (or short-long) while the second is based on an iamb (long-short). This creates a bouncy uncertain rhythm, full of surprises, reflecting Beethoven’s fondness for offbeat accents.

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19

Among the manuscripts Beethoven brought with him was a draft of a piano concerto in B-flat major, the early version of what he ultimately published in 1801 as the Concerto No. 2. He had probably started work on the Concerto in 1790, later discarding the original finale for the one we know today. He continued agonizing over the final version until the last minute, delaying publication because in the days before copyright laws he wanted to retain it for his personal use as a performer for numerous concerts in Vienna and Prague. As a result, despite its listing as Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto, it was certainly composed, although not published, before the Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15.

The Concerto itself still reflects the styles of Mozart and Haydn – Beethoven was still a young man learning his trade. The development in the first movement begins with the piano’s theme but veers off into an exploration of all of the preceding musical material. The long cadenza is unusual as well, beginning with a fugal treatment of the main theme in inversion – in line with Beethoven’s habit at the time he composed it.

The second movement, which also owes a great deal to Mozart, is based on a single gentle theme consisting of two distinct motives in its two parts. Both soloist and orchestra spin out the melodies with embellishments in a style that foreshadows many of the composer’s masterful slow movements still to come. Carl Czerny, Beethoven’s pupil, compared it to a dramatic operatic scene. Czerny’s point is well taken since this movement particularly involves a musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra.

The high-spirited Rondo finale, a later addition to the Concerto, shows a more self-confident approach as well as the humor associated with the music of Franz Joseph Haydn, with whom Beethoven had studied in the 1790s. It contains an unusual rhythmic relationship between the first and second themes: the first theme is based on a trochaic poetic foot (or short-long) while the second is based on an iamb (long-short). This creates a bouncy uncertain rhythm, full of surprises, reflecting Beethoven’s fondness for offbeat accents.