Opus 19 Concerto in B flat major for piano and orchestra
(second edition)
I) Allegro con brio – II) Adagio – III) Rondo – Allegro molto
Opus 19 – Concerto in B flat major for piano and orchestra (second edition) op. 19, dedicated to Carl Nicklas Edler von Nickelsberg, 1798, published in detached parts in Vienna, Hoffmeister & Kiihnel, and Leipzig, Bureau de Musique, December 1801; in score in Frankfurt, Dunst, late 1834. GA. no. 66 (series 9/2) – B. 19 – KH. 19 – L. I, p. 180 -N. 19 – P. 52 – T. 58
This second and definitive redaction was carried out, it seems, on a performance given in Prague by Beethoven himself in 1798. The solo part, however, was completed only in April 1801. The original manuscript (not complete in the piano part) is preserved in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. The sketches are found in a notebook of 1798 described by Nottebohm, which also contains those of the Quartet in D major op. 18 no. 3, of the song Der Kuss, of the Opferlied (second edition) and of the Rondo for piano in G major op. 51 n. 2.
That the Concerto in question as a whole must be considered prior to the other in C major published ten months earlier (with op. no. 15) by the publisher Mollo, is shown by a letter from Beethoven to the Breitkopf and Härtel house in Leipzig dated 22 April of the same year: «Hoffmeister publishes one of my first concertos which, obviously, It’s not one of my best compositions. Mollo also publishes a concerto that was composed later, it’s true, but this is not one of my best compositions of the genre either».
The score includes 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strings. In the first movement, the witty entrance of the soloist, the melodic breath of the second theme and the graceful attitudes that are discovered at times even in the more properly piano parts are noteworthy. In the Adagio, orchestra and soloist dialogue and intertwine in a melodic line that is at first quite sustained, then gradually more confident, finally summarized as in a clear farewell of the piano to which the instrumental mass responds, understanding and submissive.
The refrain of the Rondo is characterized by a rhythmic accent of the theme different from the more common and plain one of the first redaction, which at the end only, in an episodic return in G major of a few bars, reappears as a diversion from the dominant tone and rhythm.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Title official: Opus 19 Concerto No. 2 (B flat major) for piano and orchestra Dedication: Carl Niki Edler von Nikelsberg NGA III/2 AGA 66 = Series 9/2 SBG III/4 (Source 1.5, Hess 14)
Creation and publication: There are sketches and fragments of the score for an early version of the concerto dating from 1786-1792, before Beethoven moved to Vienna. Around 1793 he reworked the concerto (the Rondo WoO 6 served as a finale) – a further revision and the elaboration of the new final movement took place in 1794/95. At the end of 1798 the surviving transcription of the score was probably the result of another major revision and Beethoven did not write the solo part for the press until early 1801, at the latest on 22 April. The original edition in parts was published in November/December 1801 by Hoffmeister & Comp, in Vienna and by the Bureau de Musique in Leipzig. On 22 April 1801 Beethoven wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel about the order in which his first two piano concertos were composed: “bev mollo hier kommen wenn mir recht ist, bis 8 Werke heraus [darunter Op. 15], bev Hofmeister in leipzeig ebenfals Vier Werke [darunter Op. 19] – ich merke dabey bloß an, daß bey Hofmeister eins von meinen erstem Konzerten heraus kömmt, und folglich nicht zu den Besten von meine[nl Arbeiten gehört, bey mollo ebenfalls ein […] zwar später verfertigtes Konzert, aber ebenfalls noch nicht unter meine besten von der Art gehört” (BGA 59).
Douglas Johnson’s in-depth examination of the sketches for both concertos confirms that an early version of Op. 19 was composed during Beethoven’s years in Bonn. The concerto op. 15 was not outlined until 1793 (Johnson/Fischhof vol. 1 p. 350-362, 364-385). Two score fragments and sketches for a cadenza for the first movement suggest that at least an early version of the first movement was available for possible performances in Bonn. As reported in the musical correspondence of 13 July 1791, Beethoven performed piano concertos in his hometown, although it is not clear whether these were his own compositions. Douglas Johnson and Hans-Werner Küthen also point out that, having studied the autograph of the Rondo WoO 6 in B flat major for piano and orchestra, as well as the sketches for this composition dating from before 1792, they conclude that the first version of op. 19 may have already had an earlier version of WoO 6 as its ending.
In 1793 the (new) autograph of the rondo WoO 6 in B flat major was written, which at that time served as the final movement of the concerto. A fragment of the score of the 1st movement from this period may indicate that both the first movement and perhaps the 2nd movement also underwent a reworking in 1793. Since there are sketches for a cadenza for the 1st movement, perhaps elaborated in Vienna the same year, Küthen thinks that a performance of the concerto for Lichnowsky’s Freitagskonzerte may have been conceived (Küthen/NGA III/2 KB p 8). A group of sketches and another fragment of the score, intended as an insertion into an existing autograph, document a revision of the concerto in 1794/95, in which the original final movement (WoO 6) was also replaced by a new finale.
This was at the latest in the weeks preceding the performance of the concert on March 29 or December 18, 1795. Another extensive revision of op. 19 – of the 1st movement – took place in the last months of 1798, as evidenced by the sketches contained in the notebook called “Grasnick 1”. The autograph of the latest version of op. 19 was probably written soon after or at the latest – as Johnson states – at the beginning of 1799).
The notebook contains a major revision for the 1st movement, perhaps planned before the solo part was elaborated, at the latest on 22 April 1801 (BGA 60). Beethoven did not complete this revision, probably because time was short and Hoffmeister was in a hurry to finish the publication of the work and because perhaps he feared that the revision would stray too far from his original conception. On 15 December 1800 Beethoven offered Op. 19 to the Leipzig publishing house Hoffmeister & Kühnel: “3tens ein Konzert fürs Klawier [Op. 19], welches ich zwar für kein’s von meinen Besten ausgebe, so wie ein anderes [Op. 15], was bey mollo hier herauskommen wird, (zur Nachricht an die Leipziger Rezensenten), weil ich das Bessern noch für mich behalte, bis ich selbst eine Reise mache, doch dörft es ihnen keine schände machen es zu stechen” (BGA 49) .
On January 15, 1801, questioned by the publisher, he reiterated the price: “the concert strikes only 10 #, because, as already written, I don’t pass it off as one of my best” (BGA 54). After acceptance by Hoffmeister on 24 January 1801, the delivery of the engraver’s draft to Hoffmeister & Comp in Vienna was delayed. On 22 April 1801 he reported on the condition of the manuscript: “Thus, for example, the piano part was not written in the score for the concerto, according to my custom, and I wrote it now, therefore they receive it from my own handwriting, which cannot be read, because of its acceleration” (BGA 60). Caspar Josef Eberl, Viennese managing director of the publishing house Hoffmeister & Kühnel, sent the model for the engraver to Kühnel on 24 April 1801 (BGA 61). The title and dedication arrived at the publisher at the end of June (BGA 64). In the summer of 1801, when Franz Anton Hoffmeister traveled to Vienna, Beethoven received a printed proof of the concerto (BGA 75). On December 2, five sample copies were sent to Beethoven. On December 12, the composer delivered a list of errors to Hoffmeister & Comp, Vienna. Eberl reported to Hoffmeister & Kühnel in Leipzig: “only today he would hand me some errors that are to be found in both pieces [Op. 19 and 21], which he asks for Endern in the Blate, I probably answered him that you are not to blame because you had no score, and there are many mistakes in writing; he is content with that, and cursed the copyist” (BGA 75). Eberl received the answer: “Engraving errors reported to Beethoven come from copyists, because no score of them was given, there were also very many, want to have the indicated in the plates and ex. [emplaren] corrected” (BGA 76).
Dedication: Carl Niki Edler von Ni(c)kelsberg (spelling varies), born around 1738 in Bohemia and died on 15 March 1805 in Vienna, presumably the son (of a second marriage?) of the accountant and later court accountant (Hofbuchhaltungsrats) Johann Wolf (gang) Nicki (Nickhel) (1691? —1751). Carl Niki married Regina Dietmayr (Regine Dietmayer) von Dietmannsdorf (1738–1812) in January 1763. On 10 April 1787 he was elevated to the rank of nobility by Emperor Joseph II and from then on, he was allowed to call himself “Edler von Nickisberg”. In 1797 it became “in Rücksicht auf […] die langjährigen guten Dienste und schätzbaren Einsichten” (Wiener Zeitung of 13 September 1797) Hofrat to the k.k. Office of Finance and Commerce. Friedrich Slezak conjectures that Nikelsberg’s influential position in the tax administration is a possible reason for Beethoven’s dedication. It is also conceivable that Beethoven wanted to use the dedication to create favorable conditions for his brother Kaspar Karl, who had been hired in 1800 as a trainee at the Universal-Staatsschuldenkassa. Both a son and daughter from Nikelsberg are mentioned as good pianists in Schönfeld’s “Jahrbuch der Tonkunst” of 1796. The first performance of the concert is not clearly documented. Since the concerto was written in its earliest version in Bonn, further premieres in the Rhine city and/or Vienna cannot be ruled out. Beethoven may have played an earlier version, revised in 1794/95, at one of the two Vienna concerts of 1795. Vaclav Tomäsek reports that op. 19 was performed during Beethoven’s stay in Prague in 1798 (Tomaschek/Autobiography, p. 374.
The sketches will be covered in an article specially created for the Beethoven Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org
