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The Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, known as the Emperor Concerto in English-speaking countries, is a piano concerto composed by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Beethoven composed the concerto in 1809 under salary in Vienna, and he dedicated it to Archduke Rudolf, who was his patron, friend, and pupil. Its public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist and Johann Philipp Christian Schulz conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Beethoven, usually the soloist, could not perform due to declining hearing.
The work's military aspects and symbolism characterize its heroic style. Beethoven used novel approaches with the piece, such as beginning the solo entrance without orchestral introduction, lengthening the concerto, and creating a new relationship between piano and orchestra. The first of its three movements, Allegro, is in sonata form and is longer than any opening movement of Beethoven's earlier piano concertos. The second movement, Adagio un poco mosso, is a nocturne that directly builds into the third movement. The last movement, Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo, is in seven-part rondo form. The concerto is approximately forty minutes.
The origin of the epithet Emperor is uncertain; it may have been coined by Johann Baptist Cramer, the English publisher of the concerto. The concerto has no association with any emperor, and according to Donald Tovey and Betsy Schwarm, Beethoven would have disliked it due to his disapproval of Napoleon's conquest. As part of his repertoire, Franz Liszt frequently performed the concerto throughout his life. Since its first recording in 1912, it has been recorded numerous times by classical pianists.
Beethoven's return to Vienna from Heiligenstadt in 1802 marked a change in musical style and is now often designated as the start of his middle or heroic period characterized by many original works composed on a grand scale.
In the autumn of 1808, after being rejected for a position at the Royal Theatre, Beethoven received an offer from Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte, the king of Westphalia, for a well-paid position as Kapellmeister at the court in Cassel. To persuade him to stay in Vienna, Archduke Rudolf, Prince Kinsky, and Prince Lobkowitz pledged to pay him a pension of 4000 florins a year. Archduke Rudolf paid his share of the salary on the agreed date. Kinsky, immediately called to military duty, did not contribute and died in November 1812 after falling from his horse. When the Austrian currency destabilized in 1811, Lobkowitz went bankrupt. To benefit from the agreement, Beethoven had to obtain recourse from the law, which in 1815 brought him some payment.
Beethoven felt the Napoleonic Wars reaching Vienna in early 1809 and completed writing the piano concerto in April while Vienna was under siege by Napoleon's armies. He wrote to his publisher in July 1809 that there was nothing but drums, cannons, men, misery of all sorts around him. To save his hearing, he fled to his brother's cellar and covered his ears with pillows. The work's heroic style reflects the war-ridden era in its military topics and heroic tone. Beethoven experimented with new techniques, such as the piano entrance beginning earlier than typical and with a cadenza.
The concerto's public premiere was on 28 November 1811 in Leipzig, with Friedrich Schneider as the soloist. Beethoven's hearing loss did not prevent him from composing music, but it made playing at concerts increasingly difficult. The concerto debuted in Vienna on 12 February 1812, with Carl Czerny, Beethoven's pupil, as the soloist. The English premiere was on 8 May 1820 with Charles Neate as soloist. Felix Mendelssohn gave an English performance on 24 June 1829. Archduke Rudolf of Austria was Beethoven's aristocratic patron, and in 1803 or 1804, Rudolf began studying piano and composition with Beethoven. They became friends, and their meetings continued until 1824. Beethoven dedicated many pieces to him, including this concerto.
The origins of the concerto's epithet, Emperor, are obscure and no consensus exists on its origin. An unlikely and unauthenticated story says that at the first Vienna performance, a French officer said, C'est l'Empereur! Other sources say that Johann Baptist Cramer coined it. According to Donald Tovey and Betsy Schwarm, Beethoven would have disliked the epithet due to his disapproval of Napoleon's conquest. Beethoven had previously reconsidered the dedication of his third symphony; initially dedicated to Napoleon, Beethoven changed it after Napoleon assumed the title of emperor in 1804. According to Yan Shen, musicologists agree that the concerto has no connection to an emperor.
The concerto is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭ (clarinet 1 playing in A in movement 2), two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani in E♭ and B♭, and strings. In the second movement, the 2nd flute, 2nd clarinet, trumpets, and timpani are tacet. The concerto is divided into the following three movements:
-Allegro in E♭ major, (4/4)
-Adagio un poco mosso in B major, (4/4)
-Rondo: Allegro ma non troppo in E♭ major, (6/8)
Beethoven began innovating the piano concerto genre with his third piano concerto and continued through his fifth piano concerto. While Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's piano concertos consisted of the piano and orchestra working in tandem, in Beethoven's last two piano concertos, the pianist was the hero, the dominant and directional soloist. Also, in Mozart's concertos, the soloist was a virtuoso and more important than the composer; in Beethoven's, the pianist is a vector for the composer. Beethoven created the tradition of linking movements in concertos, especially the middle and the last. Subsequent composers connected and transitioned through all movements in an attempt to create unity in a piece.
More information: Interlude
art deserves that, for it and knowledge
Ludwig van Beethoven
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