Program Notes | Discover Beethoven’s Eroica

Ludwig van Beethoven
Born: December 16, 1770, in Bonn, Germany
Died: March 26, 1827, in Vienna, Austria
Composed: 1803–1804
World Premiere: Private performances in 1804 for Prince Lobkowitz; Beethoven conducted the first public performance in Vienna on April 7, 1805 at the Theater an der Wien
Duration: 47 minutes
Instrumentation: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings

When Beethoven began his Third Symphony, Napoleon Bonaparte was First Consul of France. Beethoven idealized Napoleon, perceiving him as the hero of revolutionary France, and planned to dedicate the symphony to the French leader. The work's original subtitle was "Bonaparte." That changed when Napoleon declared himself Emperor in May 1804. Beethoven exploded in protest. According to his amanuensis Ferdinand Ries, he cried out:

"Is he then, too, nothing more than an ordinary human being? Now he, too, will trample on all the rights of man and indulge only his ambition. He will exalt himself above all others, become a tyrant."

He then tore the title page of his new symphony in pieces. When he recopied it, he wrote "Sinfonia eroica." It was published 1806 with the subtitle “To celebrate the memory of a great man.”

"Eroica" means "heroic" in Italian, and the symphony is monumental in every sense. When Beethoven completed it in summer 1803, it was the longest symphony ever written. The "Eroica" was pivotal in Beethoven's development not only as a symphonist but also as a composer. With this one work, he divested many 18th-century conventions and vaulted forward into uncharted territory.

Two fortissimo chords announce immediately that we are to sit up and take notice; this is not background music. More than two centuries later, their effect is still electrifying, setting the tone for the entire work. The development section is exceedingly long —the longest in Beethoven, in fact —and, directly after its climax, introduces an entirely new theme for flute and oboe, in the remote key of E-minor. Beethoven recalls that theme in the recapitulation, where it becomes the subject of a coda so extensive that it nearly matches the development in length.

The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge referred to the famous slow movement march as "a funeral procession in deep purple." It features one of the great oboe solos in the orchestral repertoire. Beethoven also provided rich material for bassoon and flute. In the quasi-military section in major mode, we can hear intimations of the Fifth Symphony, which would follow the "Eroica" by four years. Timpani is a powerful presence in this slow movement, functioning both as bass and even occasionally as a melodic instrument, rather than mere punctuation.

After a whirlwind scherzo that reduces three beats to one per measure (and features the entire horn section in its Trio), Beethoven ices his cake with variations. The theme was familiar to Viennese audiences from Beethoven's ballet score, The Creatures of Prometheus (1800). Nobility of spirit, capricious humor, funeral march, fugue, poignant tenderness: all these and more find their way into Beethoven's cosmic finale, his ultimate tribute to the unnamed hero.

Markus Stenz has held several high-profile positions including Principal Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Guest of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and most recently Conductor-In-Residence of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He was General Music Director of the City of Cologne and Gürzenich-Kapellmeister for 11 years, conducting Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Wagner’s Ring cycle, Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, as well as Janáček’s Jenůfa and Katya Kábanová and Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons.

Stenz made his opera debut in 1988 at Teatro La Fenice in Venice, where he has returned for numerous successful concert weeks with the Orchestra. Last season he conducted a new production of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer and will return in subsequent seasons for Ariadne auf Naxos and Lohengrin.

The 2023-2024 season also sees Stenz’s return to Orchestre National de Lyon and, following a very successful debut with the CBSO in Mahler Symphony No. 2 in 2022, he returns this season for Bruckner Symphony No 7. He conducts both Orchestra della Toscana and Fondazione Haydn di Bolzano in Italy, returns to the New Jersey Symphony on a program featuring Anna Clyne’s ATLAS, and makes his debut with Naples Philharmonic Orchestra in Florida.

Markus Stenz studied at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne under Volker Wangenheim and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. He has been awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and the ‘Silberne Stimmgabel’ (Silver Tuning Fork) of the state of North Rhein/Westphalia.

Diego García, a multi-talented musician from Colombia, has established himself as a fierce advocate for music education and a reputation for cultivating young talent. As a conductor, cellist and educator, he has collaborated with renowned institutions including The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music and the Eastman School of Music.

García is currently the Artistic Director of the New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra, as well as Music Director of Orchestras at the Dwight-Englewood School and the Thurnauer School of Music. This fall, García will be joining the Cello Faculty and serving as Guest Conductor at the NYU Steinhardt School of Music. He was most recently Lead String Director for Summer Performing Arts with Juilliard in Geneva, Switzerland. From 2019–2022, García was on the conducting faculty of the Mannes School of Music Pre-College Division. He previously held the position of Music Director of the Eastman Youth Chamber Soloists.

As a conductor, he has shared the stage with prominent artists such as Joshua Bell, Sharon Isbin, Anthony McGill, Philippe Quint, Julian Schwartz, Steven Masi and Naomi O’Connell. He has conducted and performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vienna’s Rathauseplatz Concert Series. García has made appearances with contemporary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Harry Connick Jr and Jennifer Lopez. His first album as cellist and arranger was praised by All About Jazz: “… García perform[s] intricate counterpoint that enhances the overall beauty of the whole without being obtrusive, also playing arresting lead parts.”