AX PLAYS BEETHOVEN Saturday, July 5 * 8pm CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Cindy Mctee: Circuits (Chicago Premiere) Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 Mahler: Symphony No. 1.
The premiere probably took place at a private performance in Bonn or Vienna. Beethoven played either the Concerto in B-flat Major or the Concerto in C Major on his public concert of March 29, 1795, in Vienna. Later performances in Prague and Berlin with the composer as soloist are better documented. The score calls for solo piano and a relatively modest-sized orchestra including one flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and the strings.
For many years, Beethoven jealously guarded the Piano Concerto in B-flat Major as a vehicle for his own virtuosity. "Musical policy demands that one should keep one's finest concertos to oneself for a time." His possessiveness had unfortunate consequences, for Beethoven seemed unable or unwilling to cease tinkering with the music. Despite constant revision, the concerto never attained a satisfactory form. All references in his letters are qualified by the disclaimer, "not one of my best compositions."
A 20-year struggle with musical architecture and thematic substance, from the late-1780s until about 1809, resulted in more than 17 independent sketches and at least four distinct, complete versions of the concerto. The original--now lost but probably including the Rondo in B-flat Major, WoO 6, as a finale--dated from his youthful Bonn period. That version accompanied Beethoven in 1792 to Vienna, where he began counterpoint lessons with Haydn. Within a year, he produced another version. Beethoven replaced the two final movements in 1794-95. In fact, he composed two Adagios, one in D major and the other (eventually adopted) in E-flat major.
These numerous modifications delayed publication. Beethoven deftly deflected urgent pleas from Leipzig printer Franz Anton Hoffmeister for the agreed-upon score. The composer even cut his fee in half because of tardiness and the work's "inferior" quality. Beethoven notated the solo-piano part for the first time soon before sending the parts to Hoffmeister with apologies for his "not very legible handwriting." The B-flat-major work--his first mature piano concerto--did not appear in print until late-1801, after the Concerto in C Major officially had become "No. 1." Charles Nikl, a nobleman at the Imperial Court in Vienna, received the dedication. Beethoven composed the first-movement cadenza for Archduke Rudolph, his patron and pupil, in 1809.
The reasons for Beethoven's tireless struggle for perfection are complex. First, this fiercely determined young man never shrank before an artistic challenge. Though he quickly conquered Vienna with sensational virtuosity and unsurpassed improvisations, his compositional technique and knowledge of instrumental forms lagged far behind. His wild flights of fantasy did not easily conform to schemes established by Haydn and Mozart. Second, Beethoven began experimenting with details of instrumental forms even before he had mastered their conventions. In the Concerto No. 2, half-step tonal motion and a solo-piano recitative in the Adagio anticipate compositional idiosyncrasies more fully developed in later instrumental works.
Beethoven displays Classical, specifically Mozartian, inclinations in the Allegro con brio. The full orchestra offers a pair of attractive themes-alternately loud and soft, piquant and elegant-then builds dynamically for the piano entrance. After a restrained segue, the solo bursts to the foreground, never relinquishing the listener's attention during the entire development, restatement of themes and cadenza. Two melodies provide material for solo embellishment in the Adagio. In the last few bars, Beethoven substitutes a narrative, single-line piano passage (in the character of a vocal recitative) for a more typical cadenza. The Rondo whirls and dances in a vigorous 6-8 meter, always returning to the familiar opening theme.
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