1 - Beethoven and Heroism in the Age of Revolutions

Summary

This chapter provides cultural context for Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, by discussing other pertinent expressions of heroism in Western culture. While these include the deeds of real-life figures such as Napoleon, the primary focus here is on literary heroes found in the epics of Homer ‘as translated in Beethoven’s time by Heinrich Voss’ and in prominent German dramas by Goethe and Schiller that date from their Sturm und Drang and Klassik periods. The underlying nature and overt actions of literary heroes such as Hector, Götz von Berlichingen, Karl Moor, the Marquis von Posa and Egmont influenced Beethoven in the articulation of his own code of values ‘evidenced by quotations in Beethoven’s letters and diary’, while the ways that Goethe and Schiller dramatised their poetic language may well have influenced the formation of the highly dramatic musical language of Beethoven’s heroic style. Varieties of heroism discussed in the chapter include the necessity of rebellion in the face of tyranny, the overriding importance of free thought and freedom in general, the rise of the autonomous individual and the triumph of free will in overcoming adversity and even overcoming one’s own self, culminating in the moral commitment to sacrifice oneself for a higher ideal.