Concerto in C Major, Op. 56 (Triple Concerto): and Fantasia in C Minor, Op. 80 (Choral Fantasy) in Full Score

by Ludwig van Beethoven

This volume contains two of Beethoven's most unusual, highly innovative and original the Concerto in C Major, Op. 56, for piano, violin, cello and orchestra; and the Fantasia in C Minor, Op. 80, for piano, chorus and orchestra.
To this day, the "Triple Concerto" remains part of a rare breed in the literature--a fascinating symphonic framework of interaction between the classical orchestra and a trio of intimately interdependent soloists. The work remains a favorite vehicle of the great Beethoven specialists, with numerous recordings by legendary performers.
The "Choral Fantasy" is a rarity in the Beethoven canon of ensemble music, uniting the virtuoso display of a semi-improvisational solo piano with the vocal and instrumental richness of chorus and orchestra. Said to have been composed under great time pressure, the Fantasy concludes with an extensive choral setting of a text by an unknown "Schmeichelnd hold und lieblich klingen" ("Flatteringly lovely and fair are the sounds of our life’s harmonies...Accept gladly the gifts of beautiful art...").
Reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel editions, this volume offers musicians and music lovers an inexpensive, high-quality full score of two exceptional works.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

From classical composition, well-known musical works of Ludwig van Beethoven, a partially and then totally deaf German, include symphonies, concertos, sonatas, string quartets, Masses, and one opera and form a transition to romanticism.

Ludwig van Beethoven lived of the period between the late and early eras. A mother in Bonn bore him.

People widely regard Ludwig van Beethoven as one greatest master of construction; sometimes sketched the architecture of a movement and afterward decided upon the subject matter. He first systematically and consistently used interlocking thematic devices or “germ-motives” to achieve long unity between movements. He equally remarkably used many different “source-motives”, which recurred and lent some unity to his life. He touched and made almost every innovation. For example, he diversified and even crystallized, made and brought the more elastic, spacious, and closer rondo. The natural course mostly inspired him, and liked to write descriptive songs.

Ludwig van Beethoven excelled in a great variety of genres, piano, other instrumental for violin, other chamber, and lieder.

People usually divide career of Ludwig van Beethoven into early, middle, and late periods.

In the early period, he is seen as emulating his great predecessors Haydn and Mozart, while concurrently exploring new directions and gradually expanding the scope and ambition of his work. Some important pieces from the Early period are the first and second, the first six, the first three piano, and the first twenty piano, the famous “Pathétique” and “Moonlight."

The Middle (Heroic) period began shortly after Beethoven’s personal crisis centering around his encroaching. The period is noted for large-scale expressing heroism and struggle; these many of the most famous. Middle period six (numbers 3 to 8), the fourth and fifth piano, the triple and violin, five (numbers 7 to 11), the next seven piano (the “Waldstein” and the “Appassionata”), and Beethoven’s only Fidelio.

Beethoven’s Late period began around 1816. The Late-period are characterized by intellectual depth, intense and highly personal expression, and formal innovation (for example, the Op. 131 has seven linked movements, and the Ninth Symphony adds choral forces to the orchestra in the last movement). Many people in his time period do not think these measured up to his first few, and his with J. Reinhold were frowned upon. Of this period also the Missa Solemnis, the last five, and the last five piano.