Walton & Beethoven

What are you going to listen to?

Frustration led to the two monumental works of this program. Beethoven was bitter because his deafness meant he could never again perform as a pianist. Nevertheless, he managed to write his greatest work for piano and orchestra with his Fifth Piano Concerto . Walton was full of heartbreak over a faithless baroness. In writing his First Symphony , he put himself over this disappointment and even found a new love.

Imperial concert

On December 22, 1808, the curtain finally fell for Ludwig van Beethoven as a concert pianist. At a gigantic concert organized by himself, he was soloing in his Fourth Piano Concerto. But his deafness made it virtually impossible for him to hear the orchestra, so the performance was on the edge and sometimes over it. Beethoven was disillusioned and wanted to retire from public life. He even considered accepting a position at the Westphalian court in Kassel in order to escape the oppressive Viennese atmosphere and boost his then tenuous financial situation. It didn't work out, especially since Archduke Rudolph of Habsburg offered him a more lucrative contract. Beethoven stayed in the Austrian capital, resumed composing and even wrote a new piano concerto even though he knew he would never perform it himself. Perhaps that is why he pulled out all the stops and made this Fifth Piano Concerto a grand romantic work unlike any other. The first movement alone lasted twenty minutes, longer than many a complete piano concerto of the time. And that movement opened not with the usual theme presentation by the orchestra, but with three extended cadences in which the soloist could immediately show off his virtuoso talent. However, there was no question of a performance for the time being. Vienna had been occupied for the second time by Napoleon's French troops in 1809 and all public life was at a virtual standstill. It was not until 1811 that the premiere took place in the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Its success was enormous and it is still Beethoven's most beloved piano concerto.

By the way, the composer had nothing to do with the title of the piano concerto. It was his good friend from London, Johann Baptist Cramer, who edited the English edition of the work and gave it the title "Emperor. What Beethoven thought of that is not known, but the title has always remained.

With malice and melancholy

Heartbreak is of all times, and music inspired by a broken heart can be found throughout the history of music. William Walton could talk about it. In the late 1920s, he began a relationship with a noble German woman, Imma von Doernberg. Because of his own low birth, they could not marry, but they lived together for several years. Until she fell ill, fell in love with the attending physician and finally left Walton in 1934, much to his dismay and great anger. It all played out while he was working on his Symphony No. 1. He began working on it in 1932 but, slow worker as he was, the composition process was extremely slow. When the first, rather dramatic movement was finished, the struggles with his lover began. The middle movements undoubtedly attest to this. The rowdy scherzo is marked "con maliza," which means as much as "with malice," and the adagio is to be played "with melancholy. Walton also more or less confirmed this intention afterwards, saying, "this horrible and stormy symphony is entirely her fault.

And then things fell silent and Walton put the symphony aside, according to critics a "writers block" because of the love affair. Eight months he let it lie and a few performances were given with the three completed movements. Meanwhile, Walton had managed to get over Imma and had even begun a new relationship with another noble lady: Alice Viscountess Wimborne. And this can be heard beautifully in the grand finale. No more maliza or malinconia but triumphant brioso (lively) and ardantemente (passionate). The success of the November 6, 1935 premiere with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was enormous: "The applause afterwards was overwhelming, and when Mr. Walton, a small and shy man, entered the stage he was applauded for five minutes," according to The News Chronicle reporter the next day.

Kees Wisse