Pure Beethoven!

The Kölner Akademie is delighted to have been invited to one of the world’s most renowned early music festivals, the Tage Alter Musik Regensburg! On May 19, we will be guests there with an all-Beethoven program: the evening will begin with the overture to “The Creatures of Prometheus”. The ballet was written in 1801 for the Hofburgtheater in Vienna and was the second ballet music from Beethoven’s pen, after he had written the first for a “Knight’s Ballet” in his home town of Bonn for the local carnival. The ballet for “Prometheus” was commissioned by the ballet master Salvatore Viganò at a time in Beethoven’s life when he had already achieved fame. The great success of the ballet in its day is evidence of this, as it was performed 29 times, which was rather unusual for the time. Unfortunately, apart from Beethoven’s music, nothing of the ballet has survived. The overture to the ballet music was so popular that it is still often heard in concert halls today. In addition to this, one of his best-known overtures, we have two of his most beautiful piano concertos with him in our luggage – historically informed, of course!

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor op. 37 was composed over a long period of time – the first sketches date back to 1796, but it was not completed until 1804. During this time, Beethoven lived in a servants’ apartment in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna, as he was supposed to be writing his “Leonore” there. At the same time, he was also provided with a room for his own academies, where many of his works were premiered. When the third piano concerto, his first of symphonic proportions, was performed there, Beethoven himself took on the solo part, which he completed at the premiere. A few years later, Beethoven composed Piano Concerto No. 4, which was first performed at Palais Lobkovitz and then also at the Theater an der Wien. Together with the 5th Piano Concerto, this is Beethoven’s most important contribution to this genre. In it, Beethoven established new idealistic and artistic qualities. In addition to his approach to a symphonic piano concerto, he also combined the contrasting movements in terms of content.

The piano part in the Beethoven concertos will thankfully be played by the young fortepiano specialist Tomasz Ritter, who was born in Lublin, Poland, in 1995. In 2018, at the age of 23, he won the first International Chopin Competition on historical pianos in Warsaw. He is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and the Hamburg University of Music and Drama (concert exam). Since then, this exceptional musician has won many other prizes and is at the beginning of a great international career. He has already played at many important festivals and prominent concert halls, has released several CD recordings and is always enthusiastically acclaimed by critics and audiences alike.