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Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827

Although the autograph of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C minor is dated 1800, sketches date back to as early as 1796, and the composer made revisions up to the date of publication in 1804. The premiere took place at an Akademie (benefit concert) of Beethoven’s works in April 1803, together with that of the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.

Even at the premiere the manuscript had not been finalized. Beethoven was the soloist and asked his friend, the young conductor Ignaz von Seyfried, to turn pages for him. Seyfried later wrote: “...but heaven help me! – that was easier said than done. I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as a clue for him; for he played almost all

of the solo parts from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had the time to set it all down on paper.” The Concerto was finally published in 1804 with the empty pages filled in.

The key of the Concerto, C minor, is also that of the Fifth Symphony and of the last Piano Sonata and has been considered to be Beethoven’s Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) key. This literary and musical movement, whose heyday occurred during Beethoven’s early childhood, reflected the revolutionary attitudes and stormy emotions of the period. But for Beethoven emotional upheaval was a personal constant throughout his life.

The Concerto’s first movement opens with a powerful statement of one of the composer’s deceptively simple musical ideas: a rumination on a triad, first as an arpeggio, then filled in with a descending scale. The contrast with the second theme, a graceful melody with expressive leaps and appoggiaturas, is, therefore, all the greater. In this concerto Beethoven still adhered strictly to the tradition of the classical concerto, in which a long orchestral introduction precedes the entrance of the soloist; in the last two piano concertos, the soloist plunges in from the start. At a later date, probably in 1809, Beethoven wrote a cadenza for the movement for his patron and pupil Archduke Rudolf. There is an unusual and mysterious transition at the end of the cadenza back to the orchestra.

The second movement, a gentle Largo, sharply contrasts with the first, accentuated by the surprisingly distant key of E major. It contains a lovely dialogue between flute and bassoon, accompanied by the pizzicato strings and piano arpeggios.

The Concerto ends with a Rondo and an unusual coda that suddenly takes off with a transformation of the main theme into Presto in 6/8 time. Like most compositions in minor keys through the Classical period, it concludes in C major.

Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37

Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37 Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827

Although the autograph of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto in C minor is dated 1800, sketches date back to as early as 1796, and the composer made revisions up to the date of publication in 1804. The premiere took place at an Akademie (benefit concert) of Beethoven’s works in April 1803, together with that of the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.

Even at the premiere the manuscript had not been finalized. Beethoven was the soloist and asked his friend, the young conductor Ignaz von Seyfried, to turn pages for him. Seyfried later wrote: “...but heaven help me! – that was easier said than done. I saw almost nothing but empty pages; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as a clue for him; for he played almost all

of the solo parts from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had the time to set it all down on paper.” The Concerto was finally published in 1804 with the empty pages filled in.

The key of the Concerto, C minor, is also that of the Fifth Symphony and of the last Piano Sonata and has been considered to be Beethoven’s Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) key. This literary and musical movement, whose heyday occurred during Beethoven’s early childhood, reflected the revolutionary attitudes and stormy emotions of the period. But for Beethoven emotional upheaval was a personal constant throughout his life.

The Concerto’s first movement opens with a powerful statement of one of the composer’s deceptively simple musical ideas: a rumination on a triad, first as an arpeggio, then filled in with a descending scale. The contrast with the second theme, a graceful melody with expressive leaps and appoggiaturas, is, therefore, all the greater. In this concerto Beethoven still adhered strictly to the tradition of the classical concerto, in which a long orchestral introduction precedes the entrance of the soloist; in the last two piano concertos, the soloist plunges in from the start. At a later date, probably in 1809, Beethoven wrote a cadenza for the movement for his patron and pupil Archduke Rudolf. There is an unusual and mysterious transition at the end of the cadenza back to the orchestra.

The second movement, a gentle Largo, sharply contrasts with the first, accentuated by the surprisingly distant key of E major. It contains a lovely dialogue between flute and bassoon, accompanied by the pizzicato strings and piano arpeggios.

The Concerto ends with a Rondo and an unusual coda that suddenly takes off with a transformation of the main theme into Presto in 6/8 time. Like most compositions in minor keys through the Classical period, it concludes in C major.