Status Updates From Beethoven: Anguish and Triumph

“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.”