Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61

Composer: BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van
  • Beethoven composed this concerto late in 1806.1 It premiered on Dec. 23 of that year, and it was performed by violinist Franz Clement.2
  • Clement and Beethoven got into an interesting cycle of writing violin concertos in response to one another. Clement had played the premiere of his own Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major at the same concert that witnessed the public premiere of Beethoven’s Eroica. A year later, Beethoven wrote his Violin Concerto, in the same key as Clement’s, for Clement to perform. After that, Clement wrote his 2nd Violin Concerto, inspired in turn by Beethoven’s concerto. Musicologists have found cross-pollination of musical ideas between these three concertos by two friends.3
  • On the manuscript of his Violin Concerto, Beethoven wrote the following self-deprecating dedicatory pun: “Concerto par Clemenza pour Clement” (“Concerto, by [his] clemency, for Clement”–in other words, “a concerto for Clement, who I hope will regard it with clemency.”4

Sources

  1.  Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed February 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
  2.  John Moran and Ned Kellenberger, “Clement, Franz,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 11, 2021, https://proxy.multcolib.org:2669/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000050011. 
  3.  Stephen Pritchard, “Home Listening: Step Up, Franz Clement and Henry Litolff,” The Guardian (February 9, 2020), accessed February 11, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/09/franz-clement-violin-1-2-mirijam-contzen-wdr-goebel-review-henry-litolff-piano-trios-leonore-bbc. 
  4. Moran and Kellenberger, “Clement, Franz,” Grove Music Online. 

Cut IDs

40266 40915 10000 41783 42992 48717 49969 10694 12893 15180 20252 21838