I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante con moto
III. Rondo: vivace
This concerto was probably composed for the most part, and it was surely
completed, in 1806, although Schindler, on advice from Ries, named 1804
as the year, and an edition of the concerto published by Breitkopf &
Härtel states that the year 1805 saw the completion.
The concerto was performed by Beethoven in one of two private
subscription concerts of his works given in the dwelling house of Prince
Lobkowitz, Vienna, in March, 1807. The first public performance was in
the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, December 22, 1808.
The score was dedicated “humbly” by Beethoven to “his Imperial Highness,
the Archduke Rudolph of Austria.”
I. _Allegro moderato_, G major, 4-4. The first movement, contrary to the
tradition that prevailed at the time, begins with the pianoforte alone.
The pianoforte announces the first four measures of the first theme,
five measures if an introductory chord be counted. (These measures are
to be found in a sketchbook of Beethoven which is dated 1803, but in
this book they end in the tonic, and not in the dominant.) The orchestra
then enters in B major, but soon returns to G major, and develops the
theme, until after a short climax with a modulation a second theme
appears, which is given to the first violins. There is a third theme
_fortissimo_ in G major, with a supplement for the wood-wind
instruments, and still another new theme, an expressive melody in B flat
major.
II. _Andante con moto_, E minor, 2-4. This movement is free in form.
Beethoven put a footnote in the full score to this effect: “During the
whole _andante_, the pianist must use the soft pedal (_una corda_)
unintermittently; the sign ‘Ped’ refers to the occasional use of the
ordinary pedal.” This footnote is contradicted at one point in the score
by the marking “_tre corde_” for five measures near the end of the
movement. A stern and powerful recitative for strings alternates with
gentle and melodic passages for the pianoforte. “The strings of the
orchestra keep repeating a forbidding figure of strongly marked rhythm
in _staccato_ octaves; this figure continues at intervals in stern,
unchanging _forte_ through about half the movement and then gradually
dies away. In the intervals of this harsh theme the pianoforte as it
were improvises little scraps of the tenderest, sweetest harmony and
melody, rising for a moment into the wildest frenzied exultation after
its enemy, the orchestra, has been silenced by its soft pleading, then
falling back into hushed sadness as the orchestra comes in once more
with a whispered recollection of its once so cruel phrase; saying as
plainly as an orchestra can say it, ‘The rest is silence!’”[12]
III. _Rondo_: _vivace_. The first theme, of a sunny and gay character,
is announced immediately by the strings. The pianoforte follows with a
variation. A short but more melodic phrase for the strings is also taken
up by the pianoforte. A third theme, of a bolder character, is announced
by the orchestra. The fourth theme is given to the pianoforte. The
_rondo_, “of a reckless, devil-may-care spirit in its jollity,” is based
on this thematic material. At the end the tempo becomes _presto_.