Beethoven's Eroica: The First Great Romantic Symphony

by James Hamilton-Paterson

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

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, Biography

185 pages, Hardcover

Published December 5, 2017

About the author

James Hamilton-Paterson is a British poet, novelist, and one of the most private literary figures of his generation. Educated at Exeter College, Oxford, he began his career as a journalist before emerging as a novelist with a distinctive lyrical style. He gained early recognition for Gerontius, a Whitbread Award-winning novel, and went on to write Ghosts of Manila and America’s Boy, incisive works reflecting his deep engagement with the Philippines. His interests range widely, from history and science to aviation, as seen in Seven-Tenths and Empire of the Clouds. He also received praise for his darkly comic Gerald Samper trilogy. Hamilton-Paterson divides his time between Austria, Italy, and the Philippines and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2023.

Reviews

[Vivian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beethoven was a radical.

In a diary entry in 1793 he wrote, 'Do as much good as you can--love freedom above everything else. Never deny the truth, not even to the throne.'

The times were changing with the growing republicanism sweeping Europe. The piano was changing, the difference between the harpsichord and piano is enormous and it is much easier to see Beethoven's evolution in playing compared to earlier composers like Mozart and Haydn.

Beethoven acknowledged that Eroica was partially inspired by Napoleon, but after he chose to crown himself emperor some of the admiration rubbed off. Another theory thought it dedicated to Prince Louis Ferdinand, the Prussian warrior prince and musician and Beethoven's friend. More accurately, I believe is that Eroica can be seen as not attached to an individual, but the revolutions redrawing eighteenth century Europe.

Beethoven was a genius and like most geniuses was not particularly pleasant. Blunt and arrogant, no matter how well deserved, he was a love/hate person. I suppose the part of his story that always saddened me is that moment, at the height of his creative career when he knew he was going deaf. He was losing the one thing that matter in life to him. A dagger to the heart. Amazingly, while he gave up performing he continued to compose and he transcended.

In the Second World War the Nazis cheerfully exploited Beethoven's music, just as the dot-dot-dot-dash opening of the Fifth Symphony was read and used by the Allies as the Morse code letter "V" for Victory, showing that Beethoven easily eclipsed German nationalism, his inspiration and recognition being universal. Later still, the last movement of the Ninth Symphony has been shamelessly co-opted to served as the European Union's 'national anthem', the 'Ode to Joy' turned into the theme song of a remarkably joyless institution.

So, while I have and will always be a a Viennese Classical fan I understand and admire Beethoven more after reading this. He was my father's favorite composer, which as a child always seemed a bit dramatic to me, not Russian composer dramatic and over-the-top, but it wasn't until I was in my late teens that I recognized what a romantic idealist my father was.

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This was nicely done. It framed the work well within Beethoven's life and the times he lived. The analysis of the music as groundbreaking is clear, and the reader does not need to have extensive musical knowledge to understand.

More substantive review later.

[Neal Tognazzini · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read and some interesting glimpses into Beethoven’s world, but at the end of the day difficult to see who the audience is. A lot of musical knowledge is simply taken for granted rather than explained, which left me feeling a bit at sea during some of the analysis. I was hoping for something a bit more down-to-earth for those of us who aren’t already on intimate terms with the subject matter. Example from p. 99: “The key is C minor, which Beethoven has already established in works such as the Pathétique Sonata as having private associations of somewhat histrionic passion, if not always of actual lament.” I *sort of* see what’s being said here, but surely there’s a clearer way to say it for those who don’t already agree or even know the Pathétique Sonata that well. Hard to avoid thinking the author is just trying to sound erudite.

[Glenmichael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written..a joy to read, regardless of how much or how little one knows of Beethoven's Eroica. A lesson in Beethoven and in how to write about music.

[Franklin Starks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The simplified score is less helpful than hoped for but nonetheless I keep it in my library because it is inspiring and fun to use as a sort of buoy guide through a great piece of music