Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 ’Eroica’ Opening Comparison (35 Performances)

FULL ROSTER of performers/conductors listed below. For Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Opening, click here: Beethoven’s secretary, Ferdinand Ries said: I was the first to tell him the news that Buonaparte had declared himself Emperor, whereupon he broke into a rage and exclaimed, “So he is no more than a common mortal! Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition; now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant!“ Beethoven went to the table, seized the top of the title-page, tore it in half and threw it on the floor. The page had to be recopied, and it was only now that the symphony received the title Sinfonia eroica. Composed mainly in 1803–1804, the work was instrumental in breaking the boundaries of form, length, harmony, and perceived emotional and possibly cultural content. It has therefore widely been considered an important landmark in the transition between the Classical and the Roma