Beethoven composed his third piano concerto in 1800 the same year that saw the premier of his first symphony. He was the soloist for the first performance on April 5, 1803, which also saw the premiers of his second symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives.
The work is in three movements:
The first movement is a sonata-form movement (exposition-development-recapitulation-coda). The question is: should the exposition be presented by the orchestra or by the soloist? One solution was to have a double exposition where the orchestra give the expository material and then the soloist enters with its own "version of events". It is this construction that Beethoven chooses.
The opening theme is a terse statement outlining the c minor chord that is the key of the movement. The mood is brash and fiery. This is contrasted by the second theme, a lyrical melody in the relative major: Eb. Because of this presentation of the material, it is as thought the audience is witnessing a symphony. Beethoven uses the double-exposition idea to great effect building the anticipation of the entrance of the soloist.
Short and emphatic runs up the keyboard by the solo piano provide the perfect segue for the solo statement of the C Minor theme which takes on a percussive quality when played on the piano. The adventurous writing for the soloist is counterbalanced by bursts of texture from the orchestra in the Development section as the music travels to the bright key of D Major. There is no mistaking the reiteration of the stark opening theme as the Recap begins, but as Beethoven moves to the second theme, now it is in C Major. The fatalistic C Minor returns abruptly with a Coda complete with cadenza. Though Beethoven wrote the cadenza on tonight's performance, other noted composers have written cadenzas for this movement, Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann among them. The coda brings with it all the drama of the opening of the movement and with and ending emanating from very quiet trills and growing to a regal, yet dark, climax.
In keeping with tradition the audience would have expected the second movement to be in the key of the relative major, Eb, or possibly even in the parallel major- C. Instead, Beethoven chooses the distant key of E major- at the time a radical departure from the norm. But of course the is quintessential Beethoven. This tonality is embarked upon, in contrast to the first movement, by the solo piano in a beautiful hymn-like passage. As stark as the new key is, so too is the abrupt intonation of G Major after a mere 8 bars. Again, it was unheard of before Beethoven to juxtapose such distant keys because it was asserted that there was no relationship between them. It is one of Beethoven's enduring legacies that he did see a relationship; and he was able to not only demonstrate the relationship, he was able to exploit it. Though the tempo is very slow- Largo, some of the most demanding writing for the soloist occurs in this movement. The color provided by the orchestral forces throughout is transparent and ethereal.
The finale returns us to the key of C minor (where we will surely not remain). It is a rondo movement. Rondo form is that form which utilizes clearly defined sections of music in which the opening section is alternated with new sections thus: ABACABA. Though any number of new sections is possible, ABACADA......, Beethoven chooses ABACABA. The C section is distinct from the others (and indeed from the rest of the work) in that the soloist is not the piano, but rather the Clarinet takes the lead with a beautiful, lyrical melody- accompanied by the other orchestral forces and the solo piano.
As we expect by now with this composer, the final A section isn't the end. Again Beethoven breaks with tradition and supplies a Coda firmly in the key of C major now and in 6/8 meter rather than 2/4. It is vintage Beethoven 'upping the ante' with a new section where the meter, the key, and even the tempo (Presto) have all changed. It brings to a rousing conclusion this most satisfying piece by one of the true masters of the form.
It is clear from an account of the first performance that the composer hadn't had time to finish committing the piece to paper. The account was that of Beethoven's friend, Ignaz von Seyfried, who served as the composer/soloist's page turner:
"I saw almost nothing but empty leaves; at the most, on one page or another a few Egyptian hieroglyphs wholly unintelligible to me were scribbled down to serve as clues for him; for he played nearly all the solo part from memory since, as was so often the case, he had not had time to set it all down on paper."
- © 2020; Darrell Lee Music