Parallel copy
The person to whom Beethoven dedicated the greatest number of works was his honoured pupil Archduke Rudolph. The Fifth Piano Concerto in E-flat major op. 73 was also dedicated to Rudolph. The copy of the solo part shown here - unfortunately only the first movement of the concerto has survived - was in the music-loving Archduke's collection. The old call numbers from his library can still be seen on the title page.
Beethoven was by no means a bad businessman - he had sold his Fifth Piano Concerto to two publishers. Clementi published it in late summer 1810. The Leipzig publishers Breitkopf & Härtel had secured the rights for the continent. Their edition appeared a little later in spring 1811. Clementi's original edition shows an earlier stage of the composition. Beethoven revised the work for the German edition. The copy shown here, however, contains the final version and was therefore made later. It is not an engraver's model but was probably done parallel to the engraver's model of the solo part for Breitkopf & Härtel. (J.R.)
