Composed: 1800
Premiered: 1803, Vienna
Duration: 34 minutes

Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto was completed in 1800, a year often regarded as a watershed in the composer’s career. During his years in Vienna, he had thoroughly absorbed and mastered the classical Viennese style of Mozart and Haydn. Though there was no decisive break between his earlier and later styles, one senses an increased dramatic power in the works including and following this concerto, eventually leading to the searing intensity of the Eroica Symphony in 1803.

We can hear Beethoven trying out ideas that were to become hallmarks of his later manner. In particular, the characteristic remote key relationships are very striking; although the central key is C Minor, the ethereal slow movement is in the distant E Major. Beethoven directed that the damper pedal should be held down throughout this movement, giving a blurring of the harmony (an effect not feasible on a modern piano). Another vivid and unusual stroke occurs after the cadenza in the first movement. Unlike in most earlier concertos, the soloist continues to play to the end of the movement, in a brief duet with the timpani. This idea may have been suggested by Mozart’s concerto in the same key.

By this time, Beethoven was a busy and successful man, with much to occupy him. Thus, the new concerto did not have its premiere until 1803, at a concert of his own works, which also included the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives and the First and Second Symphonies. He delayed publication until 1804, probably to forestall performances by rival pianists and pirated publications. By that time, the development of pianos had led to an increased keyboard compass, and he rewrote the solo part to take advantage of this.

Program note by the late Dr. C.W. Helleiner.