Beethoven Symphony No 3 in E-flat major (Eroica) Op 55 Allegro con brio Marcia funebre (Adagio assai) Scherzo (Allegro vivace) Finale (Allegro molto) Beethoven’s notebooks indicate that work on the‘Eroica'Symphony commenced in 1803. It was completed in May of thefollowingyear, and first performed privately at the house of Prince Lobkowitz.The first public performance took place ayear later, on 7 April 1805, at the 'Theater an der Wien’, in one of Franz Clement’s concerts, with Beethoven himself conducting. It wasfor Clement that Beethoven was to compose theViolin Concerto Op 61 in 1806.The orchestral parts only of the Symphony were published in Vienna in 1806, as was then the custom. The full score was eventually published by Sim rock in 1820. Ries, Beethoven’s Contemporary,suggested that the Symphony was inspired by Beethoven’s admiration of Napoleon Bonaparte as the First Consul of France, in whom he initially sawthe Champion of liberty, equal to the great consuls of ancient Rome. However when Beethoven learned that Napoleon had proclaimed himself Emperor, he was enraged, declaring his hero to"no betterthan other men”. He destroyed the manuscript's title page, which accordingto Ries, simply bore the inscription "Buonaparte - Luigi van Beethoven”.The printed inscription on the 1820 published score was to read "Sinfonia Eroica’, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man”. This account of Ries of the genesis of the purpose and dedication of the Symphony has encouraged the idea prevalent during the igth Century that the Symphony had a ‘Programme’, closely following the various episodes of the Napoleonic drama. Berlioz certainly maintained this view. More sustainable is Wagner's interpretation of the Symphony. He saw in Beethoven’s hero an archetype of man.capable of experiencing all the human emotions of love, sorrow and strength. Certainly with the'Eroica’, Beethoven introduced into the form of the symphony a ränge and intensity of emotion not previously experienced. The first movement, marked Allegro con brio, Starts after two brisk staccato chords with a simple theme directly quoted from the Overture to Mozart’syouthful opera Bastien and Bastienne.The enunciation of this theme isfollowed by a bridge passage characterised by
