First hailed as a virtuoso pianist with
remarkable skill in improvisation,
Beethoven was enjoying life in the salons
of Vienna, where the admiration of his
high-born audience fed his ego. With
so much adulation showered upon him,
lessons with Joseph Haydn seem to have
become a bore. Although Beethoven had
much to learn, counterpoint sessions with
the master did little to alter his style. In later
life, so the story goes, Beethoven would
tell his pupil, Ferdinand Ries, that he never
learned anything from Haydn. On the other
hand, Haydn, trained in youth to respect his
betters, probably resented the brashness of
an opinionated student. When Haydn left in
January, 1794 for his second visit to England,
Beethoven went to study on a three-timesper-
week basis with the noted teacher,
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Records
show that he also took lessons from the
violinist, Ignaz Schuppanzigh and, when his
course with Albrechtsberger came to an end,
there were further lessons with the Imperial
Kapellmeister, Antonio Salieri.
Beethoven had not as yet made a public
appearance, but was planning to do so.
In order to dazzle an audience, it was
necessary to have works on hand that
would show his virtuosity to advantage.
So he composed two concertos, first one
in B-flat and, sometime later, another in
C. In order to keep the works for his own
personal use, he made no effort to have
them published. So when they finally
came out, the chronological order of
composition happened to be reversed:
the C Major Concerto became Opus 15
(no. 1), and the B-flat Major work became
Opus 19 (No. 2).
On March 29, 1795, Beethoven made
his first appearance in public as a
composer-virtuoso. Directed by Salieri,
the concert took place at the Burgtheater
as a benefit for the widows and
orphans of musicians. It is recorded that
Beethoven played “a concerto of his own
composition,” but there is no reference
as to which one. There were no critics in
Vienna at the time to assess the success
or failure of the work or to mention it by
name, but it is generally agreed today that
the Concerto in C was not yet finished and
that it was the Concerto in B-flat that was
played. Beethoven performed it again at
a December concert, and it is interesting
to note that this was a concert under the
direction of Joseph Haydn, who was now
back from London with three new, and
rather experimental symphonies of his
own. Beethoven’s place on the program
indicates Hayden’s esteem for a rather
difficult student.
The Concerto in C opens forcefully, with
all the vigor of youthful inspiration, in a
nice safe tonic-dominant tonality. This
soon shifts to a second theme in E-flat,
is then taken through distant keys, but
not completed until the solo instrument
gives it all its due. The cadenza, which
Beethoven wrote out many years later
when keyboards were larger, never
could have been played on the light
wooden-framed instrument of the 1790s
with its limited spread of a little more than
five octaves. The gentle Largo in A-flat
Major comes as a sweet release from the
bluster of the first movement. It also shows
Beethoven’s fondness for unlikely keys
between movements. The last movement,
Allegro scherzando, is a vigorous rondo,
allowing for many possibilities, with a
delectable main theme that romps and
frisks and receives a hearty welcome at
each looked-for return.