Ludwig van Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C major, Op. 56, commonly known as the Triple Concerto, was composed from 1803 to 1804, or beyond, and published in 1807 by Breitkopf & Härtel. The choice of the three solo instruments effectively makes this a concerto for piano trio, and it is the only concerto Beethoven ever completed for more than one solo instrument, and the only one he wrote for cello.

A typical performance takes about 37 minutes.

History Beethoven's early biographer Anton Schindler claimed that the Triple Concerto was written for Beethoven's royal pupil, the Archduke Rudolf of Austria.Steinberg, Michael (1996), The Concerto: A Listener's Guide, Oxford University Press, p. 76. Rudolf, who became an accomplished pianist and composer under Beethoven's tutelage, was only in his mid-teens at the time, and it seems plausible that Beethoven's strategy was to create a showy but relatively easy piano part that would be backed up by two more mature and skilled soloists. But there is no record that Rudolf ever performed the work, and several Beethoven scholars have questioned Schindler's claim.e.g.: Lockwood, Lewis (2003/2005), Beethoven. The Music and the Life, W. W. Norton & Co, p. 239

The Triple Concerto premiered in May 1808, at the summer Augarten concerts in Vienna. The violin soloist was Carl August Seidler, and the cellist was Nikolaus Kraft, who was known for "technical mastery" and a "clear, rich tone". The concerto was Beethoven's first work to use advanced cello techniques.

In the published version, the concerto bore a dedication to a different patron, Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz.

A piano trio version of the concerto was arranged by Carl Reinecke.

Music

In addition to the violin, cello, and piano soloists, the concerto is scored for one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. The flute, oboes, trumpets, and timpani are tacet during the second movement.

The concerto is divided into three movements:

I. Allegro The first movement is broadly scaled and cast in a moderate march tempo, and includes decorative solo passagework and leisurely repetitions, variations, and extensions of assorted themes. A common feature is a dotted rhythm (short-long, short-long) that lends an air of graciousness and pomp that is not exactly "heroic," but would have conveyed a character of fashionable dignity to contemporary listeners—and perhaps a hint of the noble "chivalric" manner that was becoming a popular element of novels, plays, operas, and pictures. The jogging triplets that figure in much of the accompaniment also contribute to this effect.

In this movement, as in the others, the cello enters solo with the first subject. Unusual for a concerto of this scale, the first movement begins quietly, with a gradual crescendo into the exposition, with the main theme later introduced by the soloists. Also unusually, the exposition modulates to A minor instead of the expected G major. (Beethoven's friend Ferdinand Ries later did the same mediant transition in his sixth concerto.) This movement takes 16 to 19 minutes.

II. Largo The slow movement, in A major, is a large-scale introduction to the finale, which follows it without pause. The cello and violin share the melodic material of the movement while the piano provides discreet accompaniment. This movement takes about five to six minutes.

There is no break between the second and third movements.

III. Rondo alla polacca Dramatic repeated notes launch into the third movement, a polonaise (also called "polacca"), an emblem of aristocratic fashion during the Napoleonic era, in keeping with the character of "polite entertainment" that characterizes the concerto as a whole. The bolero-like rhythm, also characteristic of the polonaise, can be heard in the central minor theme. This movement takes about 13 to 14 minutes.

Recordings Popular recordings of the Triple Concerto include: John Corigliano Sr., Leonard Rose, and Walter Hendl, under Bruno Walter, New York Philharmonic, 1949 David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, and Lev Oborin, under Sir Malcolm Sargent, Philharmonia Orchestra, 1958 Jaime Laredo, Leslie Parnas, and Rudolf Serkin, under Alexander Schneider, Marlboro Festival Orchestra, 1962 Yehudi Menuhin, Maurice Gendron, and Hephzibah Menuhin, under István Kertész, London Symphony Orchestra, 1964 Isaac Stern, Leonard Rose, and Eugene Istomin, under Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1964 David Oistrakh, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Sviatoslav Richter, under Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, 1969 Suk Trio, under Kurt Masur, Czech Philharmonic, 1974 Franzjosef Maier, Anner Bylsma, and Paul Badura-Skoda, Collegium Aureum, 1974 Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, and Mark Zeltser, under Herbert von Karajan, Berlin Philharmonic, 1979 Trio Zingara, under Edward Heath, English Chamber Orchestra, 1988 Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim, under Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Philharmonic, 1995 Dong-Suk Kang, Maria Kliegel, and Jenő Jandó, under Béla Drahos, Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia, 1997 Renaud Capuçon, Mischa Maisky, and Martha Argerich, under Alexandre Rabinovitch, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, 2003 Thomas Zehetmair, Clemens Hagen, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard, under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, 2004 Gordan Nikolitch, Tim Hugh, and Lars Vogt, under Bernard Haitink, London Symphony Orchestra, 2005 Ilya Gringolts, Mario Brunello, and Alexander Lonquich, under Claudio Abbado, Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, 2006 Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, and Truls Mørk, under David Zinman, Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, 2006 Wouter Vossen, Bart van de Roer, and Marc Vossen (Storioni Trio), under Jan Willem de Vriend, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, 2013 Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yo-Yo Ma, and Daniel Barenboim, West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, 2019 Dmitry Sinkovsky, Alexander Rudin, and Alexei Lubimov, under Alexander Rudin, Musica Viva, 2020 Isabelle Faust, Jean-Guihen Queyras and Alexander Melnikov, under Pablo Heras-Casado, Freiburger Barockorchester, 2021

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