In a letter to J.F.Roschlitz, Beethoven writes: "...I have finally broken with Schikaneder, whose empire has been completely eclipsed by the brilliant and attractive French operas...I have begun work on a new French libretto ("Leonore ou l'amour conjugal")..." which was to become his only opera "Leonore", later called "Fidelio".
@Third Symphony@2
"The Symphony is really entitled Bonaparte, and in addition to the usual instruments there are, specially, three obligato horns. I believe it will interest the musical public", Beethoven wrote to the publishers Breitkopf and Haertel, concerning his Third Symphony.
We shall never know if it was General Bernadotte the French Ambassador in Vienna, or someone else, who suggested that Beethoven write a Symphony honoring Napoleon Bonaparte.
Beethoven considered the First Consul a public man -- the passionate champion of freedom and restorer of order and prosperity. For Beethoven, Napoleon was the symbol and embodiment of a new world of optimistic hopes, which were born with the Revolution.
Two months earlier, Napoleon had proclaimed himself Emperor. It was Ferdinand Ries who, for posterity, left the famous story of Beethoven's destruction of the "Bonaparte" title upon hearing the terrible news:
"I was the first to bring him the news that Bonaparte had proclaimed himself Emperor, whereupon he flew into a rage and 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!'
"Beethoven went to the table, took hold of the title page by the top, tore it in two, and threw it on the floor. The first page was rewritten and only then did the Symphony receive the title Sinfonia Eroica."
This is a new work of such great proportions, that in the first editions Beethoven added the following remark: "This Symphony, being purposely written at greater length than usual, should be played nearer the beginning than the end of a concert; and shortly after an Overture, an Air, and a Concerto; lest, if it be heard too late, when the audience are fatigued by the previous pieces, it should lose its proper and intended effect."
It was Czerny who said that during the first performance of the "Eroica" Symphony, he heard someone in the gallery shout: "I'd give a kreutzer if it would stop!"
