Violin Concerto

Premiere: December 23, 1806, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, Austria

Approximate performance time is 42 minutes

Behind the music

Beethoven’s Violin Concerto — along with those by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky — represent pinnacles of 19th-century compositions for solo violin and orchestra. But like many works now celebrated as masterpieces, the Beethoven Violin Concerto received a mixed reception at its premiere. It is always tempting to assume that contemporary observers were incapable of appreciating obvious genius. But an examination of the circumstances surrounding the premiere offers greater perspective.

The soloist for that first performance was among the finest available. The Austrian violinist, Franz Clement, himself a composer, was an acclaimed virtuoso and director of the orchestra of the Theater an der Wien. Clement was particularly renowned for the grace and lyricism of his playing, as well as his impeccable intonation.

Still, there are indications that the first performance of the Violin Concerto left much to be desired. Beethoven composed the work at breakneck speed in order for the Concerto to be presented as part of a December 23, 1806 benefit concert for Clement. While the account that Clement sight-read the score at the Concerto’s premiere is, in all likelihood, apocryphal, there is no doubt that Beethoven penned revisions almost until the day of the performance. These factors no doubt helped to create uncertainty at the premiere.

The structure of the concert itself also put such a profound and organic work as the Beethoven Violin Concerto at an extreme disadvantage. After the opening movement, Clement interrupted the performance of the Concerto to offer one of his own sonatas, played on one string, with the violin held upside down! The final two movements of the Beethoven followed.

The fortunes of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto greatly improved, although not in the composer's lifetime. In fact, the work did not receive its proper due until a London concert on May 27, 1844, led by Felix Mendelssohn, in which violinist Joseph Joachim (a month shy of his 13th birthday) stunned the audience with his rendition. Joachim and his successors have been paying homage to this extraordinary work ever since.

While You Listen

• Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is in three movements. Despite its genial mood, the first movement is in many ways as revolutionary as its counterpart in Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony. It is as long as the entirety of many violin concertos of the time. There is also an extraordinary level of interplay between the soloist and orchestra.
• The opening movement is based upon three principal themes. The first is introduced in arresting fashion; after four ominous timpani beats, the oboes sing the dolce melody. After a cadenza-like passage for the soloist, the principal themes are reprised, often in the form of a dialogue between violin and orchestra.
• The lyrical second movement is a theme and set of variations. The keen sense of rapport between the solo violin and orchestra lends striking depth and poignance.
• The generally serene mood is interrupted by the strings’ curt statement of a portion of the main theme. A brief flourish by the soloist leads without pause to the Concerto’s finale, one of Beethoven’s most joyous creations, overflowing with spirit and humor. 

Performances