Piano Concerto No. 1 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's **Piano Concerto No. 1** in C major, Op. 15, was written in 1795, then changed in 1800. It was possibly first shown by Beethoven at his first public concert in Vienna on 29 March 1795. It was first made public in 1801 in Vienna, dedicated to his student Princess Anna Louise Barbara Odescalchi (née Countess von Keglević), also called "Babette".

Although this was Beethoven's first piano concerto to be made public, it was actually his third, after a piano concerto in E-flat major of 1784 and the Piano Concerto No. 2. His second concerto was made public in 1801 in Leipzig after the Concerto No. 1, but was made over several years, starting in 1788.

## Movements

Like the Piano Concerto No. 2, this concerto is similar to works by Mozart and Haydn. It uses the concerto type of sonata form and is made for solo piano and an orchestra with flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, and strings. The flute, oboes, trumpets, and timpani do not play in the second movement.

### I. Allegro con brio

Tempo:  = 144

The first movement is in sonata form, but with an extra orchestral introduction, a cadenza, and a coda. It has a main theme that is played many times, and a lyrical second theme.

There are three options for the cadenza to this movement. The coda is played by only the orchestra. It takes 14-18 minutes to play this movement.

### II. Largo

The second movement is in the key of A-flat major. This movement is in ternary (ABA) form.

Performances often last more than ten minutes

### III. Rondo. Allegro scherzando

The third movement is a sonata rondo (ABACABA). The piano plays the main theme, which is then played by the orchestra.

Beethoven wrote two short cadenzas for this movement. The movement lasts eight to nine minutes.

## Recordings

|Year|Soloist|Conductor|Orchestra|Label|Catalogue number|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1954|Friedrich Wuhrer|Hans Swarovsky|Pro Musica Vienna|Vox||
|1958|Glenn Gould|Vladimir Golschmann|Columbia Symphony Orchestra|Columbia Masterworks||
|1959|Wilhelm Backhaus|Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt|Vienna Philharmonic|Decca||
|1961|Leon Fleisher|George Szell|Cleveland Orchestra|Columbia||
|1962|Wilhelm Kempff|Ferdinand Leitner|Berlin Philharmonic|DGG||
|1965|Julius Katchen|Piero Gamba|London Symphony Orchestra|Decca||
|1968|Artur Rubinstein|Erich Leinsdorf|Boston Symphony Orchestra|RCA Victor Red Seal||
|1970|Stephen Kovacevich|Sir Colin Davis|London Symphony Orchestra|Philips||
|1970|Friedrich Gulda|Horst Stein|Vienna Philharmonic|Decca||
|1973|Vladimir Ashkenazy|Sir Georg Solti|Chicago Symphony Orchestra|Decca||
|1975|Alfred Brendel|Bernard Haitink|Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra|Philips||
|1979|Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli|Carlo Maria Giulini|Wiener Symphoniker|DGG||
|1983|Alicia de Larrocha|Riccardo Chailly|RSO Berlin|Decca||
|1984|Alfred Brendel|James Levine|Chicago Symphony Orchestra|Philips||
|1984|Claudio Arrau|Sir Colin Davis|Staatskapelle Dresden|Philips||
|1984|Vladimir Ashkenazy|Zubin Mehta|Vienna Philharmonic|Decca||
|1985|Martha Argerich|Giuseppe Sinopoli|Philharmonia Orchestra|DGG||
|1987|Steven Lubin|Christopher Hogwood|Academy of Ancient Music|L'Oiseau-Lyre||
|1988|Vladimir Ashkenazy|Vladimir Ashkenazy|Cleveland Orchestra|Decca||
|1992|Krystian Zimerman|Leonard Bernstein|Vienna Philharmonic|DGG||
|1997|Mitsuko Uchida|Kurt Sanderling|Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra|Philips||
|1998|Alfred Brendel|Sir Simon Rattle|Vienna Philharmonic|Philips||
|2002|Pierre-Laurent Aimard|Nikolaus Harnoncourt|Chamber Orchestra of Europe|Warner Classics||
|2018|Jan Lisiecki|Jan Lisiecki|Academy of St. Martin in the Fields|DGG||
|2019|Boris Giltburg|Vasily Petrenko|Royal Liverpool Philharmonic|Naxos||
|2020|Elizabeth Sombart|Pierre Vallet|Royal Philharmonic Orchestra|Signum|SIGCD614|
|2020|András Schiff|Bernard Haitink|Staatskapelle Dresden|Warner Classics|9029531753|
|2020|Stewart Goodyear|Andrew Constantine|BBC National Orchestra of Wales|Orchid Classics|ORC100127|
|2022|Kristian Bezuidenhout|Pablo Heras-Casado|Freiburger Barockorchester|harmonia mundi|HMM902412|

## Infobox (musical composition)

- **name**: Piano Concerto in C major
- **subtitle**: No. 1
- **image**: Beethoven Hornemann.jpg
- **image upright**: 1.2
- **caption**: Beethoven in 1803, six years after he finished the piano concerto
- **composer**: Ludwig van Beethoven
- **opus**: 15
- **style**: Classical period (music), Classical period
- **performed**:
Vienna
- **dedication**: Princess Anna Louise Barbara Odescalchi