BEETHOVEN AND BONAPARTE

(this is some information that I received from Dr. Michael Ballam, this information is unedited notes of Dr. Ballam, hence there are the spelling error and typos. It is my intent to not edit them for the purpuse of not risking to change the meaning of the text. It is my desire to inform you of these errors so as to not take away any credibiliy from Dr. Ballam because of possible impressions that these mistakes may have on people to lower his credibility.)

BEETHOVEN AND BONAPARTE
In 1804 a very amazing event took place at the premiere of the Eroica (Heroic, or Third) Symphony in E-flat, op.55 of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). It seems that Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who the year before was made Consul for life of the empire, was in Vienna with his troops during the first performance. Beethoven had originally titled the symphony as “sinfonia grande: Buonaparte” in homage to Bonapart. But, the evening in which many of Bonaparte’s storm troopers were in attendance, Beethoven prefaced the performance by tearing the title page from the score, saying the when he had written the work, some time before, Napolean was a man of nobility, courage and heroism. However, with his announcement and self-proclamation to be named Emperor, he was no longer a hero, but a tyrant. Beethoven rededicated the symphony to be “Sinfonia eeroica composta per festeggiar il sovvenire d’un gran uomo” (Heroic Symphony Composed to Celebrate the Memory of a Great Man). Given the hostile and volatile circumstances surrounding the performance it defies logic that Beethoven should not have been publicly censured, if not even executed for such an outburst of open criticism of the man who crowned himself Emperor, not allowing or recognizing the Pope’s power to do so. For some reason the soldiers allowed the concert to proceed without interruption. When Napoleon was appraised of the incident, he made no attempt to bring Beethoven to any sort of condemnation or disciplinary action. It is consistent with Napoleon’s statement: “Give me power over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not for who shapes it’s laws”. In essence Napoleon believed that music and art had greater influence over shaping a nation and being remembered in history than do politics and wars. History has shown him to be correct.