Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is home to a great Beethoven tradition. How many Beethoven milestones can you name? Here are five noteworthy examples.

Which Beethoven work is most frequently programmed at Carnegie Hall?

It’s the Symphony No. 5 with 328 performances. It was first performed on May 9, 1891, during the Hall’s opening festival week the New York Symphony Orchestra conducted by Walter Damrosch.

Which legendary composer-conductor led a Beethoven cycle at Carnegie Hall?

Gustav Mahler conducted the New York Philharmonic in the 1909–1910 season. The concerts included symphonies nos. 4, 5 (two performances), 7, and 9. Additionally, there were some rarities: the three Leonore overtures and the Choral Fantasy.

How many pianists have performed all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas in one season at Carnegie Hall?

Six. Artur Schnabel (performed in 1936), Robert Goldsand (1943), Alfred Brendel (1983), Maurizio Pollini (1995–1996), Daniel Barenboim (2003), and Sir András Schiff (2007–2008).

How many students of Beethoven performed at Carnegie Hall?

None. Beethoven had only one student of note, composer-pianist Carl Czerny. However, one of Czerny’s students was Franz Liszt, who tutored many great pianists, including Arthur Friedheim (who performed at Carnegie Hall in 1891), Moriz Rosenthal (1896), Emil Sauer (1899), and Eugen d’Albert (1905). Twentieth-century pianists Wilhelm Backhaus, Claudio Arrau, and Edwin Fischer (to name but a few) were the students of those legends, keeping alive the lines that trace back to Beethoven.

Which Beethoven work was performed at the legendary 85th anniversary celebration of Carnegie Hall, the famous “Concert of the Century”?

Leonard Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3.