Beethoven, Piano Concerto No 4

At the same time that the Viennese public held him in the highest esteem as the most prestigious composer of the capital of the Empire, Ludwig van Beethoven was becoming hopelessly deaf, when the nineteenth century had not yet completed its first decade. The year 1808 marks his last public performance as a soloist, conducting from the piano an improvised orchestra for the premiere of the Concerto No. 4 in G major.

Napoleonic forces had invaded Vienna in 1805 and would do so again in 1809. Perhaps intuitively, Viennese people were enjoying an intermezzo of relative peace when the marathon session of December 22, 1808, was scheduled for the new but unbelievably chilly Theater an der Wien, run by the impresario and former Mozart librettist Emanuel Schikaneder.

On the same day, a concert was scheduled at the Burgtheater in aid of a foundation of musicians' widows. Therefore, Beethoven had to struggle to put together an orchestra to accompany him in a concert for his own benefit (as well as that of Schikaneder and the musicians), with a program that only included works of his own authorship.

Bust of Beethoven
made from a life mask

A marathon evening

But the evening did take place, and Beethoven premiered there the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, the Choral Fantasy, the Mass in C major, and the Piano Concerto No. 4. As usual, the program also included an Italian Scena for female voice. The Viennese audience, perhaps aware of the historical hiatus, endured the relentless cold with nobility during the evening's four long hours.

Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 4 in G major

Composed in 1806-07, the concerto had a private performance well before its public premiere, in March 1807, at the home of Prince von Lobkowitz, one of Beethoven's noble friends. It is dedicated to his pupil, also a friend and patron, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, whom the composer favored with numerous dedications, among others, the Emperor Concerto, the Triple Concerto, and several sonatas.

The oblivion

Although at the time critics regarded it as the most admirable, personal, and complex concerto Beethoven had ever composed, the work was long forgotten until a year before his death when Felix Mendelssohn performed it on his last visit to London in 1846. Today, it is an essential part of the standard repertoire of piano concerto literature.

The rendition is by the Chilean maestro Claudio Arrau, accompanied by the Bavarian Broadcast Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein, in Munich, 1976. It must have been impressive to have witnessed the effusive mutual recognition between the two great masters, what we can see at the end of the video.

Movements:

00 Allegro moderato  -  Unusually, the theme is introduced by the piano, a theme rhythmically close to the famous motif of the Fifth Symphony.

21:22 Andante con moto  -   Soloist and orchestra dialogue in this simple and straightforward movement, yet full of contrasts.

27:01 Rondo. Vivace   -   Joyful and optimistic, it is taken without pause after the Andante.