Beethoven: Violin Concerto / Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5

In this recording, the Violinist is Wolfgang Schneiderhan, the Orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic and the Conductor is Eugen Jochum (Beethoven only)

## Beethoven: Violin Concerto

Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was composed in 1806. Its first performance by Franz Clement was unsuccessful and for some decades the work languished in obscurity, until revived in 1844 by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Since then it has become one of the best-known violin concertos.

### Background

Beethoven had previously written a number of pieces for violin and orchestra. At some point in 1790–2, before his musical maturity, he began a Violin Concerto in C, of which only a fragment of the first movement survives. Whether the work, or even the first movement, had ever been completed is not known. In any event, it was neither performed nor published. Later in the 1790s, Beethoven had completed two Romances for violin – first the Romance in F and later the Romance in G.

These works show a strong influence from the French school of violin playing, exemplified by violinists such as Giovanni Battista Viotti, Pierre Rode and Rodolphe Kreutzer. The two Romances, for instance, are in a similar style to slow movements of concerti by Viotti. This influence can also be seen in the D major Concerto; the 'martial' opening with the beat of the timpani follows the style of French music at the time, while the prevalence of figures in broken sixths and broken octaves closely resembles elements of compositions by Kreutzer and Viotti.

### Performance history

Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the day, who had earlier given him helpful advice on his opera Fidelio. The work was premiered on 23 December 1806 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, the occasion being a benefit concert for Clement. The first printed edition (1808) was dedicated to Stephan von Breuning.

It is believed that Beethoven finished the solo part so late that Clement had to sight-read part of his performance. Perhaps to express his annoyance, or to show what he could do when he had time to prepare, Clement is said to have interrupted the concerto between the first and second movements with a solo composition of his own, played on one string of the violin held upside down; however, other sources claim that he did play such a piece but only at the end of the performance.

The premiere was not a success, and the concerto was little performed in the following decades.

The work was revived in 1844, well after Beethoven's death, with a performance by the then 12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim with the orchestra of the London Philharmonic Society conducted by Felix Mendelssohn. Ever since, it has been one of the most important works of the violin concerto repertoire, and is frequently performed and recorded today.

### Performance practice

It has been said that not only in this piece, but generally, "Recordings demonstrate that ... it was the practice in the early twentieth century to vary the tempo considerably within a movement," and that in the concerto, there is "often one big trough (slowing?) in the central G major passage."

### Instrumentation

The piece is scored for the following instruments: Solo Violin, Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani, and Strings.

### Movements

The movements are named as follows:

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Larghetto
3. Rondo. Allegro

### Cadenzas

Cadenzas for the work have been written by several notable violinists, including Joachim. The cadenzas by Fritz Kreisler are probably most often employed. More recently, composer Alfred Schnittke provided controversial cadenzas with a characteristically 20th-century style; violinist Gidon Kremer has recorded the concerto with the Schnittke cadenzas. New klezmer-inspired cadenzas written by Montreal based klezmer clarinetist and composer Airat Ichmouratov for Alexandre Da Costa in 2011 have been recorded by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra for Warner Classics.

The following violinists and composers have written cadenzas:

* Leopold Auer
* Joshua Bell
* Ferruccio Busoni
* Stephanie Chase
* Ferdinand David
* Jakob Dont
* Isaak Dunayevsky
* Mischa Elman
* Carl Flesch
* Maxim Vengerov
* Joseph Hellmesberger Sr.
* Jenő Hubay
* Joseph Joachim
* Patricia Kopatchinskaja
* Fritz Kreisler
* Christiaan Kriens
* Airat Ichmouratov
* Ferdinand Laub
* Hubert Léonard
* Nathan Milstein
* Bernhard Molique
* Miron Polyakin
* Manuel Quiroga
* Camille Saint-Saëns
* Wolfgang Schneiderhan (In this recording)
* Alfred Schnittke
* Ödön Singer
* Sayaka Shoji
* Louis Spohr
* Henri Vieuxtemps
* Henryk Wieniawski
* August Wilhelmj
* Eugène Ysaÿe

## Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5

   Wolgang Amadeus Mozart's 5th Violin Concerto in A major, K. 219, often referred to by the nickname "Turkish", was written by in 1775, premiering during the Christmas season that year in Salzburg. It follows the typical fast-slow-fast musical structure.

### Background

Mozart composed the majority of his concertos for string instruments from 1773 to 1779, but it is unknown for whom, or for what occasion, he wrote them. Similarly, the dating of these works is unclear. Analysis of the handwriting, papers and watermarks has proved that all five violin concertos were re-dated several times. The year of composition of the fifth concerto "1775" was scratched out and replaced by "1780", and later changed again to "1775". Mozart would not use the key of A major for a concerto again until the Piano Concerto No. 12 (K. 414).

The autograph score is preserved in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

### Instrumentation

The piece is scored for the following instruments: Solo Violin, 2 Oboes, 2 Horns and Strings.

### Movements

The movements are named as follows:

1. Allegro aperto
2. Adagio
3. Rondeau. Tempo di Menuetto

The cadenzas in this recording were written by Wolfgang Schneiderhan.

## Program Note - Charms of the Violin

Wolfgang Schneiderhan was the last great violinist born in Austria when an emperor still reigned over the country. He studied with Otakar Ševčik, the legendary "drill-sergeant", and Julius Winkler, a pupil of Joachim. He made his first appearance in public at the age of five, but eschewed the career of a child prodigy. He was first concertmaster with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (1933-37), and with the Vienna Philharmonic (1937-50), and also played first violin in a string quartet which was regarded as one of the best in the German-speaking world (1937-51). He formed a piano trio with Edwin Fischer and Enrico Mainardi (1951-56). He was a sought-after and influential teacher in both Salzburg and Vienna, as well as later in Lucerne, where he and his assistant Rudolf Baumgartner founded the celebrated Lucerne Festival Strings in 1956.

Albrecht Roeseler, in his book on the great violinists of the 20th Century (Munich, 1987), wrote of the 1967 performance of the Mozart A major Concerto: "The recordings of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra do justice to both the soloist and the chamber musician. The violin sound is completely supple and relaxed (which is not the same thing as relaxing); intonation of bell-like clarity and taut bowing technique might have led to a degree of coolness, an appearance of disinterestedness, but the perfect command never dips into routine, the sensual warmth sustains a pleasing musicianly flame." Schneiderhan could play the A major Concerto with the confidence of one acknowledged as the leading Mozart stylist of his day, but his adaptation of the cadenzas Beethoven wrote for the piano version of his Violin Concerto again: "Schneiderhan's interpretation of Beethoven is said to have become more resolute, to some degree more heroic and more masculine in later performances. In later years, moreover, he preferred his own transcription of the cadenzas which Beethoven composed for the piano arrangement of his violin concerto to those of Joachim and Kreisler. That seems to me a serious misconception. What was written to be played simultaneously in two parts of the piano can be rendered only successively on the violin, the melodic continuity is broken into fragments which happen to end up next to each other instead of together." Wolfgang Schneiderhan's Beethovenian cadenzas have hardly ever been played by any other violinist; yet they remain an eloquent testimony to his serious endeavour to discover what Beethoven could have had in mind for his lyrical yet symphonic violin concerto.

*Karl Schumann*

*(Translation: Mary Whittall)*

## Reviews

When people talked about Mozart, Beethoven and the violin around 1950, Wolfgang Schneiderhan's name would always be mentioned. While the Europe of his birth lay in ruins, the violinist, born in Vienna in 1915, knew how to conjure a better world - one which knew lyrical emotion, reflectiveness and charm. He was most at home in the Concerto in A major, K.219, composed when Mozart was 18. In his 1967 recording with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Schneiderhan followed the tradition of combining the functions of soloist and conductor - as Mozart himself had done.

He recorded Beethoven's Violin Concerto in 1962 with Eugen Jochum (1902-87), whose south German temperament suited Schneiderhan. Their interpretation has become a classic of the gramophone:

"Jochum's beautifully moulded introduction to the concerto sets a standard from which there is no deviation." HiFi News & Record Review

"Among the greatest recordings of this work: the serene spiritual beauty of the slow movement ... has never been surpassed on record, and the orchestra under Jochum provides a background tapestry of power and dignity." Penguin Guide

## Links

For the playlist of the album, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui5vpYUptRQ&list=OLAK5uy\_kkU\_l50uMwbvDkDTuBNVGJb\_QFQcXT93k

For more details on the album, click here: https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/catalogue/products/beethoven-mozart-violin-concertos-schneiderhan-8074

For the official Deutsche Grammophon website, click here: https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en

## Notes

* Art Direction - Hartmut Pfeiffer
* Composers - Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
* Conductors - Eugen Jochum, Wolfgang Schneiderhan
* Engineers - Günter Hermanns, Hans-Peter Schweigmann
* Executive-Producer - Elsa Schiller
* Liner Notes - Mary Whittall, Hélène Chen-Ménissier, Karl Schumann, Gabriele Cervone
* Orchestra - Berlin Philharmonic
* Photographer - Max Jacoby
* Producers - Rainer Brock, Wolfgang Lohse
* Violinist - Wolfgang Schneiderhan
* Sound - Stereo
* Recording dates - May 1962 (Beethoven), Feburary 1967 (Mozart)
* Recording venues - Berlin, Jesus-Christus Kirche (Beethoven), Berlin, Ufa-Studio (Mozart)
* Total duration - 74'36