Eivind Aadland
Paul Lewis Ludwig van Beethoven

Already at 13, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was so skilled at the piano that he could earn his own money as a musician in the court orchestra in his hometown of Bonn. And he had enough confidence as a composer to start writing a piano concerto.

When Beethoven moved to Vienna in 1792, the first attempt was left in the desk drawer. In the suitcase was Piano Concerto No. 2 in B Major, which he wrote late in the 1780s and revised for years. It was not printed until 1801, after Piano Concerto No. 1.

Like Mozart, Beethoven used his concerts to demonstrate that he was the best pianist of his time. His role model also inspired the music, but Beethoven’s distinctive features, such as strong contrasts and dramatic shifts, are clear already in the first concertos.

In the beginning, Beethoven always played the soloist part himself, and he played it from memory—the part was not even written down. None of the piano concertos was printed until 1801. He most likely wrote Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor in 1800 and played it for the first time in 1803.