Work composed: 1785-8, rev. 1794-5, for the annual charity concert for Widows and Orphans of the Society of Musicians. Dedicated to Prince Carl Nicklas von Nickelsberg, an Austrian bureaucrat.
World premiere: Beethoven conducted and performed the solo part at the premiere on March 29, 1795, at Vienna’s Burgtheater
Instrumentation: solo piano, flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings.

Estimated duration: 28 minutes

One of Ludwig van Beethoven’s earliest works for orchestra, this concerto served as the young composer/pianist’s formal introduction to Viennese society, and reflects Beethoven’s mastery of Classical form and style. Beethoven began sketching it possibly as early as 1785, when he was 15, finished it in 1795, and made his final revisions to it in 1798. This concerto is a youthful work, and the iconoclasm we associate with Beethoven is not evident. Underneath the Classical structure, orchestration, and style of this concerto, however, we can hear glimpses of the mature Beethoven, especially in his use of unexpected harmonies. The powerful, muscular solo passages also showcase Beethoven’s particular performing style.

(N.B. The B-flat Concerto No. 2 was actually written before Beethoven’s C major Concerto No. 1, but published after it, which accounts for the numbering confusion.)

Beethoven was both conductor and soloist for the premiere in Vienna’s Burgtheater. In the days before the concert, Beethoven was battling a nasty bout of colic, and dulled both the pain and his mental faculties with medication. As a result, he finished the concerto only two days before the premiere. As Beethoven completed each page, it was given to a group of copyists who worked in an adjacent room frantically making copies for the orchestra. Typically, Beethoven did not commit the solo part to paper beforehand. In 1801, Beethoven finally wrote down the soloist’s part and sent it off to his publisher with profuse apologies for its illegibility.

The concerto was a resounding success with both audience and critics, but Beethoven was dissatisfied with it, and wrote an apologetic letter to his publisher: “A concerto for pianoforte which, it is true, I do not make out to be one of my best.”

The Allegro con brio is full of short, pithy melodic ideas, strung together seamlessly like a strand of pearls. The most notable aspect of this movement is its remarkable cadenza, which Beethoven improvised at the premiere. Fourteen years later he wrote out a cadenza, which, in scope and style, almost swamps the movement preceding it. The lyrical Adagio’s delicate, exposed lines require subtlety and nuance, as the soloist emphasizes phrasing and tone rather than showy virtuosity. In the closing Rondo, Beethoven employs an unusual accented short-long-short long rhythm as the main theme, and this off-balance motif hints at Beethoven’s irreverent sense of humor.