Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto
The year 1803 was a turning point for Beethoven. Having come to terms with his growing deafness, he also came into his own as a composer, breaking free from the classical, Viennese style in which he had begun his career and asserting his own voice in a new, “heroic” style marked by his Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica.” The next five years were a busy, fertile time for him, and saw the composition of a number of his most famous works, including the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” piano sonatas, Nos. 21 (1803–4) and 23 (1804–5), the Piano Concerto (1805–6), the first version of his opera Fidelio (1805), and his fourth and fifth symphonies — both completed in 1806, the year he composed the Violin Concerto.
The concerto was written for 26-year-old violinist Franz Clement, a conductor at the Theater-an-der-Wien for which Beethoven had begun his work on Fidelio. Beethoven completed the concerto in a rush, finishing either close to or on the day of the performance. Clement not only sight-read the part, but between the first and second movements he also threw in a couple of compositions of his own — which he played with the violin turned upside-down. Such showmanship was typical of musical performances of the period, but though the audience appears to have enjoyed the event, critical response to the concerto was lukewarm. It was not until 1844, almost 20 years after Beethoven’s death, that the work gained popularity when another young virtuoso, 13-year-old Joseph Joachim, took the piece on a European tour with his friend Felix Mendelssohn conducting.
The first movement, Allegro, ma non troppo, begins with five soft taps on the timpani. Detractors saw the series of quiet, throbbing beats as a mere attention-getter (one wag called this the “Kettledrum Concerto”), but these beats form the rhythmic and melodic basis for the entire movement. Repeated, pulsing notes interrupt the gentle first theme sounded by the woodwind chorale, or form an ostinato in the strings under the introduction of the second theme, again by woodwinds. In between, a roll of the timpani accompanies a surprising outburst of D-sharp, a repeated intrusion that has been referred to as the ‘dark’ in a work that moves “between sunshine and shadow.” The pulses can be ominous, as when they herald a restatement of the second theme in minor, or heroic, as when they cap the movement’s vigorous, rising motif with emphatic drumbeats. The development moves gradually — indeed, this movement is one of the most expansive of any of Beethoven’s works — and provides the soloist with increasingly wider-ranging figurations, leading to an extended cadenza. The frequently tender nature of the soloist’s part, even in this outer movement, was likely influenced by Clement’s particularly lyrical and polished style.
A soulful lyricism abounds in the hymn-like second movement, Larghetto. The movement is a single theme with variations — yet rather than repeat the theme in ever more complex developments, as is traditional for the form, Beethoven varies only the instrumental color, beginning with strings, then repeating the theme verbatim with solo instruments (horn, clarinet, bassoon) against the lightest of accompaniment. Critic Sir Donald Tovey writes that the movement is “one of the cases of sublime inaction achieved by Beethoven and by no one else.” The thematic material is carried almost entirely by the orchestra, with the solo violin providing intricate commentary.
An abrupt outburst from the full orchestra interrupts this reverie, and the
soloist’s cadenza segues to an attacca entrance into the third
movement, a brisk Rondo. It is a dancing, pastoral movement, with a
jaunty folk-like melody introduced by the soloist and complemented by hunting
calls
in the horns; the off-beat bass pattern has been compared to the earnest
lumbering of the so-called “country band” episode from the third movement of
Beethoven’s sixth symphony (the Pastorale). In each episode of the
development the soloist is called upon to deliver displays of increasing
virtuosity, ending with a flashing cadenza. The final restatement, though
veering briefly into the minor, closes this movement as energetically as
it began.
October, 2002