It was in some haste that Beethoven, in December 1806, completed his only surviving Violin Concerto. He had attempted the form before, in Bonn, with a Concerto in C major, for which the two later Romances for violin and orchestra might have provided alternative slow movements, but the only complete and surviving concerto is that in D major, Opus 61, written for the violinist and conductor Franz Clement. Born in Vienna in 1780, Clement had in the 1790s played in London for Salomon in concerts in which Haydn participated and in 1802 became conductor at the Theater an der Wien, a position he held for the next nine years. He was known for his rapid powers of memory and at the first performance of Beethoven's concerto, finished, it seems, two days before the performance, he also included in the programme some variations played with the violin upside down (mit umgekehrter Violine), an example of his technical, if not of his musical skill. Beethoven inscribed the autograph of the concerto with the dedicatory words: Concerto par Clemenza pour Clement primo Violino e direttore al theatro a vienna.

In April 1807 Beethoven received a visit from the London pianist, publisher and piano-manufacturer Muzio Clementi, with whom he agreed on the provision of three quartets (the Razumovsky Quartets, Opus 59), a symphony (Symphony No. 4, Opus 60), an overture (Coriolan, Opus 62) and a violin concerto which Clementi described as beautiful and which he had asked Beethoven to arrange as a piano concerto, as well as an original piano concerto (Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Opus 58). Clementi informed his London partner Collard that Beethoven had promised to adapt the violin concerto himself and this he seems, in the main, to have done, although the actual labour of transcription he may have left largely to a copyist or arranger, acting on his instructions. His original contribution to the concerto is heard in the addition of cadenzas for the solo piano. These were arranged in more recent times for the violin by the violinist Max Rostal.The two versions of Opus 61 were published in Vienna in August 1808 by the Bureau des Arts et d'Industrie, the violin version dedicated to Stephan von Breuning and the piano version to his new wife, Julie von Breuning, who was to die within a year of her marriage.

The concerto opens with the usual orchestral exposition, although less usual is the importance given to the timpani, which opens the work with a rhythm that is to have continued importance. The orchestra introduces the first and second subjects, before the entry of the soloist with the notes of the dominant seventh chord and an opening cadenza, before launching once again into the first subject. There is a linking passage, with opportunity for elements of virtuoso display, before the clarinets and bassoons usher in the second subject, which is at once developed further. The central development explores the possibilities of the material, with the constant re-appearance of the opening rhythmic figure. The recapitulation seems about to establish the wrong key, that of C major, but a shift of tonality allows an adjustment of key. Eventually the recapitulation proper begins in the orchestra and clarinets and bassoon are again entrusted with the secondary theme, on its return Beethoven's piano cadenza recalls the earlier material, followed by a brief return of the principal theme in conclusion. The G major Larghetto is introduced by muted strings, the piano at first adding a decorative element, before embarking on its own thematic material, the two elements providing, in turn, the substance of the movement. The soloist starts the final Rondo, the principal melody then echoed by the orchestra before the first episode, with its opportunity for solo display. The second contrasting episode is in G minor and the material of the first theme and first episode return in a recapitulation, before the cadenza and the final coda, dominated by the rhythm and substance of the principal theme.