November 28 is the anniversary of the first performance of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto. It made its debut in Leipzig, at the Gewandhaus, in 1811, and its Vienna debut took place in 1812.
Gewand means "garment" and the Gewandhaus was the guildhall of the Leipzig cloth merchants. The original building also housed the town's arsenal (good thing they didn't play Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture!) . A new concert hall, with the same name, was built in the 1780's, but was destroyed during the war. The third Gewandhaus was built in the 1970's. Besides the Beethoven concerto, the Gewandhasu also held the debut performances of Schubert's Symphony in C Major and Mendelssohn's violin concerto. Mozart's only appearance in Leipzig was at the Gewandhaus
Anyway, back to Beethoven. He had started going deaf in 1796 (age 26), and in 1811, at age 41, he tried and failed to play the concerto. He never performed in public again. By 1814, he was almost totally deaf. What is stunning is that he continued to write music, including the 9th symphony (1824, three years before his death). The story goes that after he finished conducting it at its premier, he had to be turned around to "see" the audience applauding.
The 5th piano concerto is known as the "Emperor" (referring to Napoleon). Beethoven dedicated it to Archduke Rudolph. It was named the Emperor concerto by a fellow composer and music publisher Johann Cramer. It could be that the name was given because its debut in Vienna was as part of an event celebrating Napoleon's birthday. Beethoven had previously admired Napoleon and originally named his 3rd symphony after him. But after he found out that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor, he changed the name of the 3rd symphony. Beethoven had to hide in his brother's cellar during the bombardment of Vienna by Napoleon's forces in 1809. This may have delayed the completion of the 5th piano concerto.
There are, of course many, recordings of this concerto. One that I really like is by the great Italian pianist Arturo Beneditti Michelangeli. You can see and hear it at
An old black and white single-file version, is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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