How to Listen to Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony

Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Symphony, nicknamed the “Eroica” (Italian for “Heroic”), altered the course of musical history. Composed in 1803, the Eroica broke the established rules for the classical symphony that had been perfected by Haydn and Mozart. Many historians see the Eroica Symphony as the beginning of the Romantic era in music. But aside from its historical significance, Beethoven’s Third Symphony is a tremendously satisfying emotional and aesthetic journey.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Insert the CD into the stereo and press play. Close your eyes if you wish.

2. As you listen to the turbulent, expansive opening movement, imagine a hero struggling valiantly against forces either within or outside himself. Although many aspects of the music, including the fact that it was originally inspired by Napoleon’s rise to power, bring to mind a military conflict, your images don't have to be confined to battles. Whatever kind of struggle you want to picture in your mind, there is clearly little or no resolution to it in this movement, only strain, stress and struggle. It is a long, difficult and complex journey.

3. The somber, introspective second movement is subtitled “funeral march,” and the music certainly lives up to that billing. As you listen, imagine that our hero has finally succumbed to her adversaries and is being laid to rest in an ornate coffin as part of a dignified public ceremony honoring her life and deeds. There is sadness in these notes, but it is an elegant, restrained sadness—the brand of sorrow that befits the mourning and eulogizing of a heroic life.

4. The third and fourth movements show different aspects of heroic resurrection and triumph. The Scherzo third movement brims with youthful energy and vitality, a carefree gaiety that evokes something like a resurrected, ageless soul rising from its coffin after the death and burial of the second movement. Imagine a hero soaring from the grave, freed from the burden of earthly cares and struggles.

5. The fourth movement finale exudes a different kind of joy. Instead of the carefree, childish exuberance of the third movement, this set of themes and variations embodies an eternal, transcendent triumph that is conscious of the struggle and death that preceded it. Imagine our protagonist's soul delivered up to eternity, a timeless hero summing up the price and ultimate reward of heroism.

6. After the music has finished playing, open your eyes. If you’d like, sketch the above images and emotions the music conjured on a drawing pad.