In two private performances for Prince Lobkowitz in the spring of 1804, two new works by Beethoven were played for the first time: his Third Symphony op. 55 and the Triple Concerto op. 56 for piano, violin, cello and orchestra. The art-loving patron Lobkowitz was thus able to appraise two freshly composed works, and Beethoven was able to make many an improvement before publication. The first public performance of the Triple Concerto presumably took place only four years later in February 1808 in Leipzig’s Gewandhaus. Since then, this work has belonged to the standard repertoire of every symphony orchestra. The piano reduction of this Urtext edition is based on the score of the Beethoven Complete Edition, which was likewise made by Bernard van der Linde. The editor’s preface provides detailed information about the complicated source situation of this concerto for three soloists.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
