Concerto for Violin & Orchestra

Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written in 1806.

The work was premiered on December 23, 1806 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the day, who had earlier given him helpful advice on his opera Fidelio. The occasion was a benefit concert for Clement. However, the first printed edition (1808) was dedicated to Beethoven’s friend Stephan von Breuning.

It is believed that Beethoven finished the solo part so late that Clement had to sight-read part of his performance.^[1] Perhaps to express his annoyance, or to show what he could do when he had time to prepare, Clement is said to have interrupted the concerto between the first and second movements with a solo composition of his own, played on one string of the violin held upside down;^[2] however, other sources claim that he did play such a piece but only at the end of the program.^[3]

The premiere was not a success, and the concerto was little performed in the following decades.

The work was revived in 1844, well after Beethoven's death, with performances by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Ever since, it has been one of the most important works of the violin concerto repertoire, and it is frequently performed and recorded today. In 1993, violinist Stephanie Chase and the Hanover Band made the first recording on period instruments,^[4] with cadenzas composed by Chase.

Structure

The work is in three movements:

1. Allegro ma non troppo (D major)
2. Larghetto (G major)
3. Rondo. Allegro (D major)

It is scored, in addition to the solo violin, for single flute, and pairs of oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, and timpani along with strings. Cadenzas for the work have been written by several notable violinists, including Joachim. The cadenzas by Fritz Kreisler are probably most often employed. More recently, composer Alfred Schnittke provided controversial cadenzas with a characteristically 20th-century flavor; violinist Gidon Kremer has recorded the concerto with the Schnittke cadenzas.

The first movement is unusual in that it starts with four beats on the timpani as the opening notes, and it has an extremely long duration of about 25 minutes.

Perhaps due to the Violin Concerto's lack of success at its premiere, Beethoven revised it in a version for solo piano and orchestra, which was later published as Opus 61a. For this version, which is present as a sketch in the Violin Concerto's autograph alongside revisions to the solo violin part^[5], Beethoven wrote a lengthy, somewhat bombastic first movement cadenza which features the orchestra's timpanist along with the solo pianist. This and the cadenzas for the other movements were later arranged for the violin by the 20th-century violinists Max Rostal and Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

Notes

References

• Beethoven, Ludwig van: Concerto for Violin and orchestra in D major op. 61. Score. Eulenburg 2007. EAS 130
• Beethoven, Ludwig van: Konzert für Violine & Orchester D-dur Opus 61. (Facsimile edition of autgraph full score) Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien, Mus. Hs. 17.538. Edited, with commentary (in German) by Franz Grasberger. Graz, 1979.

External links

• Complete performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Complete performances from the Internet Archive by Jascha Heifetz/Arturo Toscanini & Fritz Kreisler/John Barbirolli.
• Theme from third movement
• Violin Concerto: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.