Beethoven s Eroica

Product Description

An ode to Beethoven's Third SymphonyAn ode to Beethoven's Third Symphony
An ode to Beethoven's revolutionary masterpiece, his Third Symphony

In 1805, the world of music was startled by an avant-garde and explosive new work. Intellectually and emotionally, Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica, rudely broke the mold of the Viennese Classical symphony and revealed a powerful new expressiveness, both personal and societal. Even the whiff of actual political revolution was woven into the work-it was originally inscribed to Napoleon Bonaparte, a dangerous hero for a composer dependent on conservative royal patronage. With the first two stunning chords of the Eroica, classical music was transformed.

In Sinfonia Eroica, James Hamilton-Paterson reconstructs this great moment in Western culture, the shock of the music and the symphony's long afterlife.