The Piano Concerto in C major, Op. 39 by Ferruccio Busoni, is one of the largest works ever written in this genre. The concerto lasts around 70 minutes and is in five movements; in the final movement a men's chorus sings words from the final scene of the verse drama Aladdin by Adam Oehlenschläger, who also wrote the words of one of the Danish national anthems.
The first performance of the concerto took place in the Beethoven-Saal, Berlin, Germany, on November 10, 1904, at one of Busoni's own concerts of modern music. Busoni was the soloist, with Karl Muck conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche). The reviews were decidedly mixed, some being filled with outright hostility or derision. A year later, the work was performed in Amsterdam, with the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Busoni himself and Egon Petri as soloist. The century following its premiere has seen relatively few performances, owing to the large orchestration, complex musical texture, the use of a male chorus, and the staggering demands put on the soloist.
It seems to have been Beethoven who first included a chorus in a concerted work with piano and orchestra, in his Choral Fantasy, Op. 80, of 1808; since then only a handful of works have been scored for similar forces, including Daniel Steibelt's Piano Concerto No. 8 (first performed March 16, 1820, in Saint Petersburg) and the Piano Concerto No. 6, Op. 192 (1858) by Henri Herz which also have a choral finale.
Busoni intended to dedicate the concerto to his friend William Dayas, but he died in 1903. His daughter Karin Dayas gave the first American performance of the concerto in 1932.
Movements
Although the five movements are laid out separately in the score, Busoni stated that the concerto should be played as a continuous whole, without breaks.
Introductio: Andante sostenuto
Prima pars: Andante, quasi adagio
Altera pars: Sommessamente
Ultima pars: a tempo
The first movement, marked "Prologo e introito" is a little over fifteen minutes long on average, and is a broad Allegro movement which features a clangorous piano part.
The second movement, a kind of Scherzo, is mostly a light-fingered affair for the piano that makes use of "Italianate" rhythms and melodic material, even if the melodies are more evocative of Italian popular music than actual quotations from indigenous Italian folk music.
The third and longest movement is the "Pezzo serioso", a massive meditation and exploration in four parts in the key of D flat major which has a central climax that is once again pianistically challenging and brilliantly scored for both the piano and the orchestra.
The fourth movement "All' Italiana", is perhaps the most variegated in its use of the orchestra, with a terrifically virtuosic piano part, arguably more difficult than anything that has come before it in the work. There are also two cadenzas to this movement – one, included in the printed score; the other, an insert in the two-piano score that is an amplification of the one printed in the two-piano edition.
The final movement, "Cantico" with male chorus, brings full circle many themes that have been heard earlier in the work. The words sung by the chorus are from the final scene of Oehlenschläger's verse drama Aladdin.
Instrumentation
The concerto is scored for a large orchestra. (For the instrumentation in Italian see below.)
Piano solo
Woodwind
1 piccolo I (2nd and 4th movements) 3 flutes (III doubling piccolo II in 4th movement) 3 oboes (III doubling cor anglais in 2nd, 3rd and 5th movements) 3 clarinets (III doubling bass clarinet in 2nd and 3rd movements) 3 bassoons Brass 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; 1 tuba Strings 12 violins I; 10 violins II; 8 violas; 8 violoncellos;8 double basses (2 with five strings)
Percussion
3 timpani
3 additional percussion players: bass drum (2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th movements) cymbals (2nd, 4th and 5th movements) triangle (2nd, 4th and 5th movemens) tambourine (2nd and 4th movements) tam-tam (3rd movement only) snare drum (4th movement only) glockenspiel (4th and 5th movements) Male chorus 48 (8 each) tenors I & II, baritones I & II, and basses I & II
Problems of performance
Apart from the immense demands required of the soloist and the large forces needed, there is a further difficulty that can affect performances of this work: the role of the soloist.