Concerto no. 1 for piano and orchestra (C major) op. 15

Beethoven's so-called First Piano Concerto in C major was actually not his first: the one known as the 'Second Concerto', op. 19 in B-flat major, was written much earlier. However, he spent so much time elaborating the B-flat major Concerto that the C-major Concerto preceded it into print, and is thus called his 'First'. But even the First was revised several times. Beethoven probably performed it for the first time at the Hofburgtheater during an academy of the Tonkünstler Society on 29 March 1795. This version of the concerto differed from the one known today. Beethoven's friend, Franz Gerhard Wegeler, reports the following about the days leading up to the performance: 'Only in the afternoon of the second day before the performance of his first concerto (C major) did he write the rondo, plagued by a terrible colic he suffered from so often. I helped him as best I could. Four copyists were sitting in the hallway and Beethoven handed them every single sheet. [...] At the first rehearsal, which took place the next day in Beethoven's room, the piano was tuned a semitone too low for the wind instruments. Beethoven immediately had the remaining instruments tuned to A instead of B-flat and played his part in C sharp.' (J.R.)