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.

This book is the first comprehensive collection of the letters of Johannes Brahms ever to appear in English. Over 550 are included, virtually all uncut, and there are over a dozen published here for the first time in any language. Although he corresponded throughout his life with some of the great performers, composers, musicologists, writers, scientists, and artists of the day, and although thousands of his letters have survived, English readers have until now had scant opportunity to meet Brahms in person, through his words, and in his own voice. The letters in this volume range from 1848 to just before his death. They include most of Brahm's letters to Robert Schumann, over a hundred letters to Clara Schumann, and the complete Brahms-Wagner correspondence. They are joined by a running commentary to form an absorbing narrative, documented with scholarly care, provided with comprehensive notes, but written for the general music lover--the result is a lively biography. The work is generously illustrated, and contains several detailed appendices and an index.

(Music Minus One). Performed by Geoffrey Applegate, violin Accompaniment: Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Emil Kahn Beethoven composed this work, his only violin concerto, in 1806, in the same year that he composed the Symphony No. 5, the Rasoumowsky Quartets, and the Piano Concerto No. 4. It was dedicated to Franz Clement, who at its premiere separated the first movement from the second and third movements and fiddled some of his own works in between, with the violin turned upside-down! We can assume that Beethoven never spoke to him again. And needless to say the world took this concerto to its heart, as it has never left the repertoire. A magnificent piece. Contains a printed score and two compact discs featuring the concerto with soloist in digitally remastered stereo; then again in a digital stereo accompaniment version minus the solo violin part.