The Emperor Concerto: A Horn Player’s Perspective

The concerto featured in this season’s Masterworks 1 performances, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5 (known as the “Emperor”), has a special place in my heart. I think that every musician would agree that this work is a masterpiece, but it has special meaning for me personally because this concerto was the piece that made me realize that I wanted to play in an orchestra for a living. It was the very first piece I ever played with an orchestra, and I fell in love with orchestral playing. Before then, I knew I wanted to do something with music when I grew up, but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I wanted to do.

A fine community orchestra near my hometown of Cannon Falls, MN needed a horn player, and my horn teacher recommended me. At 16 years old, I had only played in bands and I’d never played in an orchestra. I got the music sent to me in the mail, which included the 2nd horn part to Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto. The music was for Horn in Eb, not Horn in F, which is what I usually saw in my band music. I thought that was interesting- I had been working on transposition for some time in my horn lessons and was very comfortable with Eb transposition, but I had never actually been required to use a transposition in a group performance, only in the etudes, concertos and solos I’d been working on during my lessons. However, the word “solo” appeared throughout the part, and it puzzled me. 2nd horn solos? So what was the 1st horn doing?
(Pictured left: Julia Rose, HS Senior photos, 1989)

I found out at the first rehearsal. It seemed that when the word “Solo” was in bold print with a capital letter, it was the piano soloist it was referring to. But when the word “solo” was printed in smaller, lowercase letters, they were all 2nd horn solos, except for 2 solo duets with the 1st horn in the 1st movement. How weird! Those really WERE 2nd horn solos for the most part, and I got the chance to play them in my very first orchestra rehearsal. It was an amazing feeling. I was liking this orchestra thing already- you didn’t have to play 1st horn to get solos! I remember thinking that was very neat.

Then we began rehearsing the 2nd movement. I didn’t have anything to play for 27 bars, but what I heard from the folks in front of me blew me away. I had never been a part of an ethereal, sublime performance of great ensemble music before then, only tooting away in the school band (my school was too small to have a string program). I loved hearing the strings, which were foreign but beautiful to my ears, and the woodwind playing was lovely, not forced like how the students played in my band. And when the pianist finally came in, wow, Beethoven’s music seemed to be floating down directly from heaven. I was completely floored, and after the rehearsal I felt completely invigorated and energized, though it was about 10 pm at night. My ears were opened. I knew right then that I HAD to play in an orchestra for a living.

Since that first performance of mine, I’ve played Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #5 at least 10 times, and practically all of those performances have been on 1st horn, not 2nd. But it’s all the same- great music is great music, and it’s always a joy to be a part of it. During “Emperor” rehearsals with the Columbus Symphony back in 2010, conductor Andreas Delfs reminded us that somewhere in the audience, there was someone hearing this magnificent work for the 1st time. I remember the first time I heard and performed Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in an orchestra like it was yesterday.

-Julia Rose
Associate Principal Horn