Violin Concerto - Beethoven (1770-1827)

Allegro ma non troppo: Larghetto: Rondo

Beethoven's revered Violin Concerto, written in 1806, could not have had a more inauspicious birth. The composer was so late in finishing the manuscript that the soloist, Franz Clement, was sight-reading his part at the performance and the orchestra was not rehearsed. Clement, leader of the theatre orchestra in Vienna, had been a child prodigy and was considered to be a remarkable violinist with a prodigious memory. However he had a reputation as something of a charlatan in that some of his public performances were said to be circus-like. After the first movement of Beethoven's Concerto, he inserted a sonata of his own played with the violin upside down and on one string. Oh dear! No wonder that the work made little impression and sat on the shelf until the thirteen year-old Joachim and conductor Felix Mendelssohn performed it in London in 1844.

Even in the care of these masters, the Concerto was not readily accepted, lacking the showmanship that nineteenth century violin virtuosos demanded. Louis Spohr, composer of five violin concertos, said to Joachim after a performance of the Beethoven Concerto that he supposed it was fine in its own way, but that he would rather hear Joachim play a "real" violin piece. As traditions changed, interpretation began to be discussed more fully and Beethoven's monumental Concerto is now recognised as one of the great works written for violin and orchestra.

Unusually the first movement is set in motion by four repeated notes on the timpani. This and the subsequent wind phrases assume ever greater significance as the music progresses. A full blown orchestral introduction leads to the almost reflective entry of the solo violin and the subsequent closely knit working out of Beethoven's previously stated thematic ideas. The Larghetto finds the solo violin weaving delicate threads around the melodic lines of the clarinet and bassoon before taking over to an accompaniment of plucked strings. The Rondo follows immediately, changing to more of a rustic mood - Beethoven in "Pastoral" mode.

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