Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized in Bonn, Germany, on December 17, 1770, and died in Vienna, Austria, on March 26, 1827. The first performance of the Violin Concerto took place at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on December 23, 1806, with Franz Clement as soloist. In addition to the solo violin, the Concerto is scored for flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. Approximate performance time is forty-two minutes.

Beethoven’s only Violin Concerto – along with those by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky – represent the pinnacle of 19th-century compositions for solo violin and orchestra. But like many works now celebrated as masterpieces, the Beethoven Violin Concerto received a mixed reception at its premiere. It is always tempting to assume that contemporary observers were incapable of recognizing obvious genius. But an examination of the circumstances surrounding the premiere of the Beethoven Violin Concerto offers some perspective.

The soloist for that first performance was among the finest available. The Austrian violinist, Franz Clement (1780-1842), himself a composer, was an acclaimed virtuoso and leader and director of the orchestra of the Theater-an-der-Wien. Clement was particularly renowned for the grace and lyricism of his playing, as well as his impeccable intonation.

Still, there are indications that the first performance of the Violin Concerto left much to be desired. Beethoven composed the work at breakneck speed, in order for the Concerto to be presented as part of a December 23, 1806 benefit concert for Clement. While the account that Clement sight-read the score at the Concerto’s premiere is in all likelihood apocryphal, there is no doubt that Beethoven penned revisions almost until the day of the performance.

The structure of the concert itself also put such a profound and organic work as the Beethoven Violin Concerto at an extreme disadvantage. After the opening movement, Clement interrupted the performance of the Concerto to offer one of his own sonatas, played on one string, with the violin held upside down! The final two movements of the Beethoven followed.

The fortunes of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto improved considerably, although not in the composer’s lifetime. In fact, the work did not receive its proper due until a London concert on May 27, 1844, led by Felix Mendelssohn, in which violinist Joseph Joachim (a month shy of his 13th birthday) stunned the audience with his rendition of the Concerto. Joachim and his successors have been paying homage to this extraordinary work ever since.

The Beethoven Violin Concerto is in three movements. Despite the genial mood, the first movement (Allegro, ma non troppo) is in many ways as revolutionary as its counterpart in Beethoven’s stormy 1803 Third (“Eroica”) Symphony. It is as long as the entirety of many violin concertos of the time. There is also an extraordinary level of interplay between soloist and orchestra. 

The movement is based upon three principal themes. The first is introduced in arresting fashion; after four hushed timpani beats, the oboes sing the dolce melody. The oboes, clarinets, and bassoons offer the arching second theme in the major key, to which the strings respond with a minor-key version. A related ascending theme, played by the violins and woodwinds, serves to close the orchestral exposition. 

After a cadenza-like passage for the soloist, the principal themes are reprised, often in the form of a dialogue between violin and orchestra. The lyrical second movement (Larghetto) is a theme and set of variations. The keen sense of rapport between the solo violin and orchestra invests the Larghetto with a treasurable depth and poignancy. The generally serene mood is interrupted by the strings’ curt statement of a portion of the main theme. A brief flourish by the soloist leads without pause to the finale (Rondo. Allegro); one of Beethoven’s most joyous creations, overflowing with spirit and humor.