Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21

• Beethoven composed this symphony in 1799-1800.¹
• Beethoven conducted this work’s premiere on April 2, 1800, at the Burgtheater in Vienna. The concert was the first Beethoven gave in Vienna for his own benefit (rather than to support a charitable cause or another person). The program also included the premiere of his Septet, Op. 20, and music by Mozart and Haydn.²
• Beethoven originally intended to dedicate this symphony to his former employer, Maximilian Franz, the Elector of Cologne, with whom he’d had a stormy relationship; it’s possible the dedication was intended as a gesture of reconciliation. However, the Elector died before the symphony was published, so instead, he dedicated it to Baron Gottfried van Swieten.³
  • Van Swieten was a Dutch diplomat and music patron based in Vienna. He possessed a fine library of historic scores by Bach and Handel, and organized events to promote Baroque music, especially oratorios. Van Swieten has also been a patron of C.P.E. Bach, Mozart and Haydn, and he wrote the libretti for Haydn’s oratorios The Creation and The Seasons.⁴

Movements 

1. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio 
2. Andante cantabile con moto  
3. Minuet. Allegro molto e vivace – Trio 
4. Finale. Adagio – Allegro molto e vivace⁵

1. “Symphony No. 1, Op.21 (Beethoven, Ludwig van),” IMSLP, accessed October 13, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.1,_Op.21_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van).
2. Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed October 13, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026. 
3. Ibid.
4. Edward Olleson, “Swieten, Gottfried (Bernhard), Baron van,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 15, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000027216.
5. “Symphony No. 1, Op.21 (Beethoven, Ludwig van),” IMSLP