WoO 4 Concerto in E flat major for piano and orchestra (piano editing), 1784. GA. no. 310 (series 25/47) (published by G. Adler, as a supplement to the first edition) – B. 276 – KH. (WoO)4 – P. 7 – Sch. p. 170.

Only one manuscript copy for piano exists of this work, which is now preserved in the library of the University of Tübingen, in the bequest of the already existing Preussische Staatsbibliothek. However, the indications of All and of Alone recur in it; and reference is sometimes made to specific instruments: flutes, horns, violins. On the basis of these indications, the score has been reconstructed by Willy Hess. First edition: 1943 (Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag G.M. B.H., Leipzig); second edition: 1961 (Alkor, Kassel).  Modernly also by Roberto Diem Tigani, Unpublished, Volume 2 of the series.

In 1784 Beethoven wrote only this composition, which was panned by Forchel’s Musikalischer Almanach, which defined the works he had composed up to that time at the level of “(…) of a novice student in the third and fourth year who is practicing.” [1]

We do not have the original manuscript of this first Concerto for piano and orchestra, but a non-autograph copy that shows only the piano part, some interludes for string quartet and simple orchestral tracks. There are two hypotheses that are made in this regard: the first is that it is a simple exercise made by the young Beethoven; the second is that the complete original score has been lost and this is the most accredited hypothesis.

Published incomplete in 1890 in Leipzig by Guido Adler, it was later taken up by Willy Hess in 1943 who completed it and published it in a second edition in 1962.

Today the vision on this concert is certainly less severe than the past. It is a composition that, while denoting Beethoven’s still very youthful hand, is not without some interesting moments. The most successful movement is certainly the Finale which imitates the Galante style of Johann Christian Bach and which is also close, however, as Della Croce reminds us, to the “French” style typical of the Mannheim school: as we already know, during the previous autumn’s trip to Rotterdam, Beethoven probably met Carl Stamitz who was an authoritative representative.

I would like to focus on the second Movement, the Larghetto which, although certainly inferior to Beethoven’s greatest future Adagios, in my opinion, anticipates their characteristics. Della Croce also asserts on this movement that: “(…) retains its ecstatic purity and reveals in the adolescent composer a desire, still naïve, for elevation.” [2]

Recently, the mourned Roberto Diem Tigani has revised the score and, trying to maintain as much as possible what was the original spirit desired by Beethoven, has moved away from the somewhat pompous orchestration, especially of the first movement, carried out by Willy Hess.

• [4]H.C. Robbins Landon: Beethoven. La sua vita e il suo mondo in documenti e immagini. Rusconi Editore
• [5] Luigi Della Croce Ludwig van Beethoven. Le nove sinfonie e le altre opere per orchestra. Edizioni studio tesi