Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, "Emperor," Ludwig van Beethoven
In 1809 Austria was once again at war with France, for the fourth time in eighteen years. Napoleon's troops were in the Vienna suburbs, and the French artillery began its terrifying assault on the city. On the worst night of all, May 11, Beethoven sought refuge in the basement of his brother Caspar's house, where he covered his ears with pillows to help preserve what little remaining hearing he had. "Nothing but drums, cannons, human misery of every sort!" Beethoven wrote to his publisher on July 26, 1809. By the end of the summer he had regained his powers of concentration and produced several great works, including the Piano concerto No. 5. Beethoven never again composed as prolifically as he had between 1802 and 1808. This period has been called the composer's "heroic decade," of which the Fifth Piano Concerto marks the high point and the termination of such remarkable creativity.
In English- speaking countries , this concerto is called the"Emperor," but the origin of the name is obscure. Some historians feel that an early publisher of the piece put the title on the cover, and there is the story, probably apocryphal, that at the first Viennese performance a French officer cried out at some point, "C'est l'Empereur!"
Beethoven never performed this concerto in public as he had all of his previous concerti. His hearing had deteriorated to the point that he dare not risk a public hearing. This is perhaps also the reason that it is his last piano concerto.
When he began to sketch out the Fifth Concerto, Beethoven once again, as he had so done in the Fourth Concerto, turned his thoughts to how he might begin in an original and striking way. He introduces the piano far sooner than an audience of two hundred years would have expected, in a series of cadenza-like flourishes. The orchestra intones three enormous E-flat chords, and the piano responds with fountains and cascades of arpeggios, trills, and scales, exploiting virtuoso piano techniques. The first movement is the longest Beethoven ever wrote and is constantly inventive in this department.
The exquisite slow movement, marked Adagio ,un poco mosso(slow but moving a bit)is a chorale introduced by muted strings. The piano's first entrance is an aria marked pianissimo, espressivo(very soft and expressive)and mostly in triplets or groups of three. There are two variations on the chorale melody, the first played by the piano and the second given to the orchestra with the piano accompanying, deliberately off rhythmically by a fraction of a beat.
The music becomes still, and Beethoven makes one of his characteristically drastic shifts, dropping the pitch down one half- step, from B-natural to B-flat. This half -step descent is played by bassoons, horns, and pizzicato strings, all at the pianissimo dynamic level. Continuing in the tempo of the slow movement and still pianissimo, Beethoven introduces a new theme, a simple German dance, which suddenly bursts forth in a lively tempo, played very loudly, and the Finale has begun. It is an expansive rondo, combined with sonata form. Just before the end the timpani becomes very prominent, in a passage of hushed quiet. This unexpected slow, soft section is undone by a coda as lively as it is brief.
