Publisher Description

Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the only significant work of this genre to appear between Mozart's five concertos of 1775 and Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto of 1844. This handbook explores the background to Beethoven's work, its genesis, its place in the composer's oeuvre and the influences which combined in its creation. It describes contemporary reactions to the work both in the musical press and in the concert hall during its first crucial years, and explains how it was eventually accepted into the repertory, spawning numerous recordings and editions. The principal sources and many of the work's textual problems are considered, including discussion of the composer's version for piano and orchestra, Op. 61a. A detailed account of the work itself is followed by a review of the wide variety of cadenzas that have been written to complement the concerto through its performance history.

Author Biography

Robin Stowell is Professor of Music and Director of the Centre for Research into Historically Informed Performance at Cardiff University. Educated at the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, he is also a violinist/period violinist and has performed, broadcast and recorded with The Academy of Ancient Music and other period-ensembles. Since his pioneering book Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (1985) he has published widely on issues of performance practice, organology, music of the 'long eighteenth century', violin

Table of Contents

1. Towards the Violin Concerto op. 61; 2. The genesis of op. 61; 3. Reception and performance history; 4. The textual history; 5. Structure and style I: 1. Allegro ma non troppo; 6. Structure and style II: 2/3. Larghetto - Rondo: Allegro; Larghetto; Rondo: Allegro; 7. Cadenzas.

Promotional "Headline"

The first individual study of Beethoven's Violin Concerto.

Description for Bookstore

Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the only significant work of this genre to appear between Mozart's five concertos of 1775 and Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto of 1844. This is the first individual study of the Concerto, exploring the work's background and its indifferent initial reception.

Description for Library

Beethoven's Violin Concerto was the only significant work of this genre to appear between Mozart's five concertos of 1775 and Mendelssohn's E minor Concerto of 1844. This is the first individual study of the Concerto, exploring the work's background and its indifferent initial reception.

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