The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B major, Op. 19, by Ludwig van Beethoven was composed primarily between 1787 and 1789, although it did not attain the form in which it was published until 1795. Beethoven did write a second finale for it in 1798 for performance in Prague, but that is not the finale that was published. It was used by the composer as a vehicle for his own performances as a young virtuoso, initially intended with the Bonn Hofkapelle. It was published in December 1801 as Op. 19, later than the publication in March that year of his later composition the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major as Op. 15, and thus became designated as his second piano concerto.
The B major Piano Concerto was an important display piece for the young Beethoven as he sought to establish himself after moving from Bonn to Vienna. He may have premiered it on 29 March 1795, at Vienna's Burgtheater in a concert marking his public debut. He revised the concerto repeatedly, in 1790, 1793, 1794–95, 1798 and 1801. However, the pianist Peter Serkin has noted that Beethoven's writing of the cadenza of the first movement much later than the concerto proper "indicates [his] own regard for his early concerto". The version that he may have premiered in 1795 is the version that is performed and recorded today.
Movements
The work is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings; it is the only one of Beethoven's seven completed concertos that omits clarinets, trumpets and timpani.
The concerto is in three movements:
The first movement begins with a triumphant orchestral opening on the tonic chord, and maintains a playfulness while using chromatic passages to show off the soloist's technique. The second movement is characteristically serene and peaceful, while the closing Rondo brings back the youth-filled playfulness heard in the opening movement.
I. Allegro con brio
This movement is in the concerto variant of sonata form (double-exposition sonata form, in which the soloist repeats the orchestra's initial exposition of the musical material of the movement). The orchestra introduces the main theme in B major, and the subordinate theme in D major, in its exposition. In the second exposition, the subordinate theme is in F major. The development wanders in key and ends on a long B major scale. The recapitulation is similar to the expositions and is in B major.
There is a rather difficult cadenza composed by Beethoven himself, albeit much later than the concerto itself.
This rondo is the one that Beethoven wrote in 1795 and premiered in Vienna that year. It shows Haydn's influence, particularly in usage of sonata rondo form. An average performance lasts from five to six minutes.
Rondo in B major, WoO 6
Beethoven originally composed a different rondo to end the concerto. It was replaced in 1795.