Opus 58, Concerto No. 4 in G major for piano and orchestra
I) Allegro moderato – II) Andante con moto – III) Rondo – Vivace
Opus 58 – Concerto No. 4 in G major for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 58, dedicated to Archduke Rudolph of Austria, composed between 1805 and late 1806. It was published in orchestral parts in Vienna by Kunst und Industrie Comptoir in August 1808, and later in full score in Leipzig by Peters in 1861.
Orchestration. First movement: 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings; Second movement: strings only; Third movement: as in the first, with the addition of 2 trumpets and timpani.
The location of the original manuscript remains unknown. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna holds a revised copy, containing numerous autograph alterations and additions in the first and third movements. These interventions, often sketched only cursorily and not always legible, suggest a conception aimed at a more varied and freer performance. They may also reflect technical advancements in the pianoforte, particularly the extended keyboard range introduced by the end of 1808.
In his discussion of the sketches for the work, which date from 1805, Nottebohm had long since drawn attention to their contemporaneity and coexistence with those of the Fifth Symphony. This line of inquiry has been taken up in more recent scholarship by Braunstein, who has extended its implications further, also affecting the chronological placement of other Beethoven compositions. The affinity between the opening theme of the Concerto and that of the Symphony is unmistakable; and not without a certain sense of surprise, we find that an early sketch for the entrance of the Concerto’s finale reveals the bassoon theme later employed in the prisoners’ chorus of Fidelio.
The first performance took place in March 1807, with Beethoven himself at the piano, during a subscription concert held at the palace of Prince Lobkowitz, entirely devoted to the master’s works. Two other novelties were featured on the programme: the Overture to Collin’s Coriolanus and the Fourth Symphony. The first true public performance—again with Beethoven as soloist—occurred on 22 December 1808 at the Theater an der Wien. The opening of the first movement, where the orchestra (Tutti) does not enter immediately, as convention would dictate, but is instead subtly set in motion by the soloist’s statement of the primary thematic idea, immediately reveals a more integrated and organic conception of the relationship between piano and orchestra than in the earlier concertos. The various thematic elements—whether principal or secondary—are subsequently woven together in service of a single poetic idea.
Within the framework of this same poetic vision unfolds the more properly pianistic-technical dimension of the work, though it never exists for its own sake. The principal theme naturally predominates, taking on the various expressive inflections bestowed upon it by Beethoven’s consummate and alert mastery of the symphonic idiom.
The brief Andante con moto that forms the second movement is both typical and unique in its kind, linked without pause to the Finale. It is one of those pages in which the intensity of expression compensates for its brevity (as, for example, albeit in entirely different ways, in the Piano Sonata, Op. 53, and the Triple Concerto, Op. 56). This movement presents an eloquent “conflict of principles”, achieving the highest degree of dramatic tension and lyrical poignancy, and culminating in the humiliation of the former (the proud, embodied by the orchestra) before the latter, who rises and expands ever more imploringly through the voice of the piano—Orpheus overcoming the dark forces of the underworld, as Riezler so evocatively put it.
Prieger believed he had found a precedent for this passage in the Larghetto of F. W. Rust’s Sonata in F-sharp minor. Yet it seems to us that the two episodes are essentially different in the manner in which they are conceived, developed, and resolved. More significantly, perhaps, Rust offers here an early example of the dramatic potential inherent in thematic rhythm, a principle that Beethoven would later place at the very heart of the Fifth Symphony.
The Finale (Vivace), which emerges directly from the final note of the Andante with a sense of “liberation through lightness”, unfolds with a breezy fluency both in its thematic formulation and in its development, all under a tempered light that never darkens, not even momentarily. The individuality of the solo instrument now stands alongside that of the orchestral ensemble in expressing a unified emotional state, in which the conflicts of the second movement are entirely left behind.
[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]
Official title: Opus 58 Konzert Nr. 4 (G-dur) für Klavier und Orchester Widmung: Erzherzog Rudolph von Österreich NGAIII/3 AGA 68 = Serie 9/4
Creation and Publication: Conceived primarily during the years 1805–06, with the earliest sketches possibly dating from as early as 1803. The original edition in parts was published in August 1808 by the Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna. A complete score was probably already available by July 1806. On the 5th of that month, Beethoven wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel: „Ich benachrichtige sie, daß mein Bruder in Geschäften seiner Kanzley nach leipzig reist, und ich habe ihm die overtur[e] Von meiner oper im Klawierauszug, mein oratorium und ein neues Klawier Konzert mitgegeben“ (BGA 254). This may have been the revised copy that was likely used for a performance in March 1807 and also served as the model for engraving the original edition. In this copy, Beethoven sketched numerous alterations to the piano part that were not printed in the original edition. Barry Cooper and Paul Badura-Skoda suggest that this may have formed the basis for a modified solo part Beethoven used in the performance on 22 December 1808. Hans-Werner Küthen cites a number of indications that these were notes the composer wrote in preparation for an arrangement for piano and string quintet before the concerto went to print.
Beethoven’s brother, Kaspar Karl, offered Op. 58 to the publishing house Hoffmeister & Kühnel on 27 March 1806. Beethoven himself contacted Breitkopf & Härtel on 5 July 1806, but after prolonged negotiations (which also included Opp. 59, 60, 72 and 85), he received a rejection in November. Beethoven then pursued the idea of launching Opp. 58–62 simultaneously on the Austrian, German, French, and English markets as a set. Simrock in Bonn and Pleyel in Paris received parallel offers on 26 April 1807. For England, he personally signed a contract with Muzio Clementi on 20 April 1807 in Vienna. The Kunst- und Industrie-Comptoir in Vienna, with which Beethoven probably came to an agreement shortly after the rejection from Breitkopf & Härtel, planned publication for Easter 1808.
Dedication: the concerto is dedicated to Archduke Rudolph (Johann Joseph Rainer) of Austria, born 8 January 1788 in Pisa, died 23 July 1831 in Baden near Vienna, youngest son of Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1747–1792; Emperor Leopold II from 1790) and his wife, the Infanta of Spain, Maria Ludovica (1745–1792). Originally intended for a military career, Rudolph was eventually steered toward the Church due to his epilepsy and received minor orders in 1805. That same year, he became coadjutor with right of succession to the Archbishop of Olomouc. When Anton Theodor von Colloredo died in 1811, Rudolph initially declined to succeed him and only took up the post after the death of Maria Thaddäus Graf von Trautt-Mansdorff-Weinsberg in 1819. He received the cardinal’s hat on 24 April 1819 and was elected Archbishop of Olomouc on 4 June 1819. He was enthroned on 9 March 1820 in the Olomouc Cathedral—an occasion for which Beethoven had planned his Missa solemnis, though it was not completed in time.
Rudolph was a great music lover and patron, as well as a talented pianist (until 1814, when gout severely affected his hands). His first lessons in piano and composition were with the court Kapellmeister Anton Teyber (1756–1822). Rudolph’s extensive music collection included almost all first editions of Beethoven’s works from around 1805 onward, as well as a number of autograph manuscripts and specially prepared copies. In his will, Rudolph bequeathed to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde his „sämtlichen musikalischen Sammlungen, wozu auch die musikalische Bibliothek gehört, wie sie in dem Musikalienzimmer zu Kremsier aufgestellt ist“.
This also included the magnificent copy by Matthias Schwarz of all of Beethoven’s printed works up to autumn 1821, in 62 large folio volumes. Tobias Haslinger had commissioned it in preparation for a planned complete edition, and the Archduke purchased it in 1823 for 4,000 florins. In 1834, the “Rudolphine” music collection was transferred to the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.
The exact date of Beethoven’s first meeting with Rudolph is uncertain. In 1806, Rudolph still had relatively few of Beethoven’s works in his collection, notably lacking all of the early piano sonatas. He was probably not yet a student of Beethoven at that time (the oft-repeated and incorrect claim that the lessons began in 1803 or 1804 stems from Anton Schindler’s erroneous statement that Beethoven composed the piano part of the Triple Concerto Op. 56 for Rudolph). The first verifiable contact between them is documented through the dedication of the Fourth Piano Concerto. By the time the edition was published in August 1808, Beethoven was probably already visiting Rudolph regularly, as indicated by Joseph von Spaun’s notes at the Konvikt, where Franz Schubert was also present.
On 1 March 1809, Rudolph signed a contract with Beethoven along with Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian Lobkowitz (see Op. 18) and Prince Ferdinand Kinsky (see Op. 86), securing Beethoven an annual pension of 4,000 florins Banko-Zettel. While the other two patrons eventually ceased their payments, Rudolph continued to pay his share punctually and even increased his support in times of need. Sieghard Brandenburg suggests that composition lessons may have been included in this pension contract as an informal side agreement. Beethoven’s relationship with Rudolph was ambivalent: the lessons, which continued with interruptions until the end of 1824, were often a burden, and Beethoven at times invented excuses to avoid them. Yet he deeply appreciated Rudolph’s talent, friendship, and generosity. Rudolph not only supported Beethoven financially but also intervened in legal matters (such as disputes over the continuation of pension payments from the Kinsky and Lobkowitz families) and offered help where needed—including assisting Beethoven’s nephew Karl during legal troubles after the composer’s death.
Among Beethoven’s dedicatees, Rudolph holds the foremost place not only in terms of the number of dedications but also in the weight of the works. In addition to the Fourth Piano Concerto, Beethoven dedicated to him the Fifth Piano Concerto Op. 73 (1811), the cadenzas for the first four concertos and for the piano version of the Violin Concerto Op. 61, the Piano Sonata Op. 81a (1809–1811), the piano reduction of “Fidelio”, the Violin Sonata Op. 96 and the Piano Trio Op. 97 (1816), the Piano Sonatas Op. 106 (1819) and Op. 111 (1823), the Missa solemnis Op. 123 (1823/1827), the Grosse Fuge for string quartet Op. 133 and its transcription for piano four-hands Op. 134 (1827), as well as the Canon WoO 179 (1820), a theme for variations WoO 200 (1818), and a humorous note in a letter (WoO 205e , 1819). The Piano Trios Op. 70 and the incidental music to Egmont Op. 84 were also intended as dedications, but could not be added because Beethoven submitted them too late to the publisher (BGA 380 or 465). Rudolph himself made a copy of the Piano Sonata Op. 90, a precise replica of the autograph; Beethoven had asked him to return the manuscript so that the work could be published (BGA 746, 795).
The first performance most likely took place in March 1807 (after 27 February 1807) in Vienna, during one of two private concerts held at Prince Lobkowitz’s palace, devoted exclusively to Beethoven’s music.
