Status Updates From Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph

“The Fifth tells a story of personal victory and inner heroism painted in broad strokes on an epic canvas. The ecstasy of the Eroica’s end is humanity rejoicing. The ecstasy at the end of the fifth symphony as a Personal cry of victory.”

“Now, as with all artists, his own suffering became grist for the mill.” (411) Regarding the highly productive period around 1805.

“In an ideal sense, Beethoven might imagine becoming the kind of ethical and spiritual leader he recognized in poets and philosophers like Goethe and Schiller. Bonaparte was aimed toward lifting him to such heights. In the process, it would show the world what a sinfonia grande could truly be and do. Here was a conception worthy of the Aufklärung and of his gifts and ambitions.”