Posted January 6, 2025
Instrumentation: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings
Ludwig van Beethoven
(Born in Bonn, Germany in 1770; died in Vienna, Austria in 1827)
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, “Emperor,” Op. 73
- Allegro
- Adagio un poco mosso
- Rondo: Allegro
Beethoven wrote five exquisite piano concertos in his career. His most beloved, his fifth and final one, nicknamed the “Emperor,” was composed between 1809-11 near the end of Beethoven’s middle, or “heroic period.” This period was a stunning decade of remarkable output, inventiveness, and musical growth, and the “Emperor” is one of this its sunniest and most lyrical masterworks. The “Emperor” Concerto has been adored ever since its 1811 premiere in Vienna and indeed, (most likely apocryphal) it acquired its nickname at that very premiere from an audience member who excitedly exclaimed “It’s an Emperor of a Concerto!”
From the Concerto’s very beginning Allegro (fast), Beethoven conveys a sense of joyful regality. Three bold, introductory chords are played by the orchestra, and each chord is responded to by an expansive, cadenza-like flourish from the solo piano. It’s an introduction that is at once grandiloquent and rhapsodic. Even though these cadenza-like flourishes occur throughout the movement, Beethoven never commits to a proper cadenza, thereby adding a delightful sense of mischief to its majesty. Even so, plenty of virtuosity is required of the soloist in this happily effervescent movement.
After the glow of the first movement’s radiance, the expressly tender Adagio (slowly) shines as one of the loveliest movements in Beethoven’s oeuvre. Built as a short set of variations on a simple chorale theme, the piano here is primarily the soloist, left to its own gentle reverie, quietly singing above a chamber orchestra-like accompaniment.
Near the end of the Adagio’s meditations comes an afterthought. A lingering bassoon note drops down a half pitch and the piano tentatively begins a new thought – a few ascending notes – unfinished and unhurried. Here, Beethoven delightfully creates the illusion of a motive germinating into a full theme in front of our very ears, until, suddenly, it dances free with the start of the final movement, Rondo, Allegro. And it is as robust and joyous as just about anything Beethoven wrote. And at long last, the piano is finally given what promises to be a cadenza during the Rondo’s closing moments, but with an unexpected accompanist – the timpani. Here, the piano and kettledrums slowly wind down the movement’s exuberance, becoming quieter and slower, as the Rondo’s vitality becomes ever gentler. As tempo, time, and harmony finally come to a halt, one last joyful exclamation then erupts to end one of Beethoven’s most prized masterpieces.
© Max Derrickson