Piano Concerto No. 2 (Beethoven)

Piano Concerto in B-flat major
Piano Concerto in B-flat major
No. 2
by Ludwig van Beethoven
	The composer portrayed in 1801. He made his public debut in Vienna in 1795, possibly playing this concerto at the Burgtheater
Opus	19
Style	Classical period
Performed	29 March 1795: Vienna
Published	1801
Movements	3 (Allegro con brio; Adagio; Rondo. Molto allegro);
Scoring	Piano; orchestra;

The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 19, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed primarily between 1787 and 1789, although it did not attain the form in which it was published until 1795. Beethoven did write a second finale for it in 1798 for performance in Prague, but that is not the finale that was published. It was used by the composer as a vehicle for his own performances as a young virtuoso, initially intended with the Bonn Hofkapelle.^[2] It was published in December 1801 as Op. 19, later than the publication in March that year of his later composition the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major as Op. 15, and thus became designated as his second piano concerto.^[3]

The B-flat major Piano Concerto was an important display piece for the young Beethoven as he sought to establish himself after moving from Bonn to Vienna. He may have premiered it on 29 March 1795, at Vienna's Burgtheater in a concert marking his public debut.^[1]^[a] Prior to that, he had performed only in the private salons of the Viennese nobility. While the work as a whole is very much in the concerto style of Mozart, there is a sense of drama and contrast that would be present in many of Beethoven's later works.^[2] Beethoven himself apparently did not rate this work particularly highly, remarking to the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister that, along with the Piano Concerto No. 1, it was "not one of my best."^[4] However, the pianist Peter Serkin has noted that Beethoven's writing of the cadenza of the first movement much later than the concerto proper "indicates [his] own regard for his early concerto".^[5] The version that he may have premiered in 1795 is the version that is performed and recorded today.

^ ^a ^b Kerman, Joseph; Tyson, Alan (2001). "Beethoven, Ludwig van". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
^ ^a ^b Lockwood, Lewis (2005). Beethoven: The Music and the Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 94, 144, 174–5, 553. ISBN 0-393-05081-5.
^ Steinberg, Michael (1998). The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 52–59. ISBN 0195103300.
^ DeNora, Tia (1997). Beethoven and the construction of genius: musical politics in Vienna, 1792–1803. University of California Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-520-21158-2.
^ "Pianist Peter Serkin talks Beethoven before Del. Symphony performance". WHYY. Retrieved 23 February 2021.

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[KermanTyson-1] Kerman, Joseph; Tyson, Alan (2001). "Beethoven, Ludwig van". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.

[l-3] Lockwood, Lewis (2005). Beethoven: The Music and the Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 94, 144, 174–5, 553. ISBN 0-393-05081-5.

[4] Steinberg, Michael (1998). The Concerto: A Listener's Guide. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 52–59. ISBN 0195103300.

[DeNora-5] DeNora, Tia (1997). Beethoven and the construction of genius: musical politics in Vienna, 1792–1803. University of California Press. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-520-21158-2.

[6] "Pianist Peter Serkin talks Beethoven before Del. Symphony performance". WHYY. Retrieved 23 February 2021.

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