Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major op. 61 (1806) was composed for the violinist Franz Clement (1780-1847), a fascinating musician. Beethoven first heard the prodigy at age 14 and wrote: Go forth on the way in which you hitherto have travelled so beautifully, so magnificently. Nature and art vie with each other in making you a great artist.” Clement was also a composer who played his own violin concerto on the same concert with Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony (1805). In addition to his performances and compositions, Clement had a tremendous musical memory. After listening to just a few performances, he completed a complete piano transcription of Haydn’s massive oratorio “The Creation” that was approved by Haydn without any changes. Even more apropos, Clement served as the concertmaster of the orchestra of the Theater an der Wien where he participated in the infamous Beethoven Academy of 1808 (see our Beethoven Symphony 5 notes below) as well as the Choral 9th Symphony (1824).
Clement had a distinctive, lyric style on which Beethoven modeled his composition. In a contemporary description, Clement’s playing was characterized as “not the marked, bold, strong playing, the moving, forceful Adagio, the powerful bow and tone which characterize the Rode-Viotti School; rather, his playing is indescribably delicate, neat and elegant; it has an extremely delightful tenderness and cleanness that undoubtedly secures him a place among the most perfect violinists. At the same time, he has a wholly individual lightness, which makes it seem as if he merely toys with the most incredible difficulties, and a sureness that never deserts him for a moment, even in the most daring passages.”
However, the premiere of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in 1806 was not successful and there were few performances in Beethoven’s lifetime. To get a response from the audience, Clement, after the conclusion of the Beethoven concerto, played a ditty of his own on one string-- with the violin upside down! It was not until decades later that the Violin Concerto assumed it’s deserved stature as among the greatest of violin concertos. The occasion the re-launched the Concerto was a performance by the 12-year-old Joseph Joachim making his London debut playing the concerto under the baton of conductor Felix Mendelssohn. A contemporary account described the occasion: The concerto "has been generally regarded by violin-players as not a proper and effective development of the powers of their instrument" but that Joachim's performance "is beyond all praise, and defies all description" and "was altogether unprecedented.” Joachim published his virtuosic solo cadenza (Beethoven left the cadenza to the soloist to compose or improvise) which, along with the Fritz Kreisler, are the most popular additions to the Concerto to this day.
The first movement “Allegro ma non troppo” (fast but not too fast), opens with five strokes of the timpani which must have thoroughly confused that 1806 audience – “is this a military piece or a concerto?” This rhythm, astonishingly, in some form or other, supports over half of the following 535 measures serving to unify the entire, extended movement. In contrast to the brusqueness of the opening, the melodic themes are noble, elegant, and broadly lyrical. The melodic journey travels through the landmarks of the classical concerto sonata form with an expansiveness usually associated with Schubert’s “heavenly length.” The second movement “Larghetto” (slowish) is a set of variations, not on a tuneful theme but on a statement and response which finishes its unique 10 measures with a phrase of loving warmth. There is a magical final variation where the solo violin is accompanied by hushed, plucked orchestral strings. After all this lyricism, the Rondo finale has an abundance of wit and vigor to propel the piece to an exciting conclusion.