When Beethoven learns he is going deaf, he is determined to write a great symphony. As war rages in Europe he thinks he has found his inspiration in the heroic deeds of Napoleon. But has he?

Author's Note:
The Heroic Symphony tells the true story behind the creation of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, commonly known as the Eroica Symphony (Italian for “heroic”). The events in this story and its central characters are all drawn from 19th-century sources.

When Beethoven first arrived in Vienna in 1792, he was best known for his skills as a performer. As a peer explained, “His playing dashed along at full tilt like a waterfall frothing wildly.” Letters written by Beethoven indicate that his hearing difficulties began in the mid-1790s. When the doctor in Heiligenstadt told him that his deafness was incurable, he wrote his brothers a letter now known as “The Heiligenstadt Testament.” This is one of the most fascinating documents in music history. Written over a period of several days (October 6-10, 1802), the letter reflects Beethoven’s inner thoughts, including his brief contemplation of suicide and eventual decision to carry on as a composer.

My descriptions of the Heroic Symphony’s four movements are drawn from reviews published shortly after its premiere. As inspiration for the fourth movement, Beethoven reused a melody he wrote for a ballet about Prometheus. According to Beethoven the melody represented “a sublime spirit who came upon the people of his time and refined them through science and art.”

The connection between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Heroic Symphony was not common knowledge during Beethoven’s lifetime. In fact Napoleon’s influence was not made public until 1838 (11 years after Beethoven’s death), when Ferdinand Ries published a biographical study of the composer:

“I was the first to tell [Beethoven] the news that Bonaparte had crowned himself emperor, whereupon he shouted: ‘So he too is nothing more than an ordinary man. Now he will trample all human rights underfoot and only pander to his own ambition; he will place himself above everyone else and become a tyrant!’” Beethoven reportedly then took the score, “ripped it all the way through, and flung it to the floor. The title page was written again, and only then did the symphony receive the title Sinfonia eroica.”

Unfortunately Beethoven’s original manuscript of the symphony no longer exists. But a copy of it with corrections made in Beethoven’s hand can be found at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. This copy bears the revised title page described in this book.

The Heroic Symphony was not Beethoven’s only Napoleon-inspired composition. In 1813 he celebrated Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo with a symphonic work entitled Wellington’s Victory. — Anna Harwell Celenza

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