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Ludwig van Beethoven - Piano Concerto No.1, Op.15

Further Information

• In 1792, music-mad Vienna, having recently been deprived of the genius of Mozart, had found a new pianist to adore, the Abbe Gelinek, a talented gentleman who was, no doubt, enjoying his time in the spotlight. Then, in the best tradition of Western movies, a stranger came swaggering into town, a young hotshot who spoke so proudly of his own ability that he attracted the rather annoyed attention of the resident star. "I'll fix him!" Gelinek reportedly remarked, and a duel was arranged, not with swords or pistols, but a duel of pianistic skills. It wasn't quite the OK Corral, but the message was the same: there isn't room in this town for both of us.

  Later, Carl Czerny recalled Gelinek's description of the occasion: "That young fellow," Gelinek supposedly lamented, "must be in league with the devil. I have never heard anyone play like that! I gave him a theme to improvise on, and I assure you that I have never heard even Mozart improvise so admirably. Then he played some of his own compositions which are marvelous, really wonderful, and he manages difficulties and effects at the keyboard that we never even dreamed of." Then Gelinek, so laudatory of his opponent's ability, spoke less favorably of the man's appearance and personality: "He is a small, ugly, swarthy young fellow, and seems to have a willful disposition. Prince Lichnowsky brought him from Germany to Vienna some years ago to let him study composition with Haydn, Albrechtsberger and Salieri, and his name is Beethoven." On that day, this young unknown from Bonn won both the battle and the war, defeating Gelinek specifically and Vienna generally. Only twenty-one years old, he won the lasting admiration of one of the world's most musical cities.

  Although Beethoven performed on many such private occasions during these first few years, his official Viennese debut did not occur until April 1800, when he was the featured soloist and composer in a Hofburgtheater concert given late on a Wednesday afternoon. The program included Beethoven's Septet, his Symphony no. 1, and his opus 15 Piano Concerto, along with a Mozart symphony and selections from Haydn's oratorio The Creation. The concerto, known ever since as his Piano Concerto no. 1, was actually his third attempt at the genre. Around age fourteen, Beethoven had completed a concerto in E-flat major, and in 1794, he completed another concerto, this one in the key of B-flat. However, since the C major concerto was the first to appear in print, it was given the number "one." The B-flat concerto was called "two." The E-flat concerto (not to be confused with the Emperor Concerto in E-flat of later years) was never published and remained unnumbered, although an old vinyl recording of it does exist.