Stumbled upon this video last night after I got off of work...YouTube loves to direct me to videos late at night that peak my interest and prevent me from sleep.

Many people I know have come to discover my fascination with Beethoven's Third Symphony in E-flat Major, aka the "Eroica" Symphony, it was one of the first Symphonies I posted on a year back and even wrote a paper on it for a class non-musically related. The "Eroica" is one of the few works in music history where the story of the composition has become as illustrious as the symphony itself. The one work that, maybe along with the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies have evolved a legacy of their own, greater than what Beethoven ever intended.

The video is of a program called "Discovering Beethoven." A feature presented by Michael Tilson Thomas, now the director of the San Francisco Symphony on the BBC with the London Symphony Orchestra. The video presents the symphony through the perspective of Beethoven himself and how, not only struggling with his ability as a composer but a progressing hearing ailment as well, he came in the end to realize, the strongest form of achievement he had ever reached came from writing to his own heart, rather than the noble as he attempted with the Eroica or for the styles of the time. Plus an intriguing source of inspiration that the entire symphony was created from.

Enjoy Discovering Beethoven

Part One


Beethoven and the background of Bonn before he came to Vienna.

Part Two


The source of Beethoven's initial conflict...Beethoven vs. Steibel? The first true opponent in Beethoven's career that would eventually end for the better.

Part Three


The two themes, the music that was to change his life forever. And the creation of the Finale movement that started the entire symphony.

Part Four


The inspiration comes full circle, back to the days of beginning in Vienna when he was struggling to make his mark on the crowd. There's not enough talk about the second movement in my opinion, including the heart-wrenching double fugue in the middle of the movement.

Part Five


Then Beethoven came to the most important realization of his career. After writing about mythological figures (the ballet "Creatures of Promotheus" one of the first pieces to use the theme used in the Eroica finale), celebrated revolutionaries of the day (Napoleon Bonaparte), what he really has to write about, is himself.

"It is within himself to be the hero, he is the hero and all he wants to do is communicate to us, and with every performance all he's saying is, can you hear me?"