0:00:01 > 0:00:07MUSIC: Beethoven's Symphony No. 5
0:00:07 > 0:00:10Fate knocking at the door. V for victory.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15The most famous sequence of notes in the whole of music...
0:00:17 > 0:00:19..from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
0:00:19 > 0:00:21MUSIC CONTINUES
0:00:21 > 0:00:24In this series, we'll discover how the symphony emerged
0:00:24 > 0:00:27from the world of aristocratic privilege.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34How it accompanied the rise of nations and the fall of empires.
0:00:34 > 0:00:39How it became a symbol of freedom and a tool of totalitarianism.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44How the symphony taught the orchestra how to speak.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46MUSIC: Beethoven's Symphony No. 40: First Movement
0:00:46 > 0:00:51And how it established itself as the ultimate expression of the composer as an artist.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56MUSIC: Berlioz's Symphonie: Fantastique March Of The Scaffold, 4th Movement
0:00:58 > 0:01:04It's an epic journey that takes us from bands of musicians playing in the palaces of princes
0:01:04 > 0:01:09to orchestras of well over 100 performing in vast concert halls.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13MUSIC: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9: 4th Movement
0:01:15 > 0:01:19But how, ultimately, alongside these public statements
0:01:19 > 0:01:23it became the vehicle for the most profound expression of private thoughts and emotions
0:01:23 > 0:01:27that we, the audience, can understand and relate to today.
0:01:27 > 0:01:31MUSIC: Beethoven's Symphony No. 3: Eroica, Fourth Movement
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Above all, it's the story of great composers.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36In this first episode we'll meet Ludwig van Beethoven,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41the epitome of the great composer, the artist as hero.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45I think he felt that he had an heroic capacity as a creator
0:01:45 > 0:01:49to take music to a place that nobody thought it could ever go.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57the genius who wrote his first symphony at the age of eight...
0:02:02 > 0:02:06..and Joseph Haydn, the giant of 18th century music
0:02:06 > 0:02:09who was dubbed the Father of the Symphony.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27It's New Year's Day 1791.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, 58 years old, in rude health,
0:02:32 > 0:02:33is sailing from Calais to Dover.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36It's a voyage that will take a full ten hours.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47He'd left home a month earlier.
0:02:47 > 0:02:51This is his first trip beyond the borders of his home
0:02:51 > 0:02:54in a small corner of the vast Austro-Hungarian empire.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Leaving the security of three decades of service
0:02:58 > 0:03:00as a musician for the aristocratic Esterhazy family,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05he's jolted over 800 miles in a horse-drawn coach,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08bad weather, bad roads, probably bad food,
0:03:08 > 0:03:13and across Europe, the rumblings from the aftermath of the French Revolution are still being heard.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23Haydn was, as ever, pragmatic, but he was also very excited.
0:03:23 > 0:03:24"I remained on deck," he said,
0:03:24 > 0:03:28"so as to gaze my fill of that mighty monster, the ocean.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33"Then when the highest waves were whipped up by the wind, I became a little frightened,
0:03:33 > 0:03:37"but I overcame it all and arrived on shore without, excuse me, vomiting."
0:03:39 > 0:03:42MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 104: London, 4th Movement
0:03:48 > 0:03:53He's come with a large trunk of scores but, unfortunately, during the chaos of the luggage transfer,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56he's lost one vital symphonic manuscript.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59But this epic journey was nearly over.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02In just two days' time, he'd be welcomed into London,
0:04:02 > 0:04:03more than welcomed.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08He'd be received as the first ever bona-fide musical superstar.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17His first six months will be non-stop,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20contracted to deliver six symphonies and already missing one score,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23but Haydn is no ordinary composer.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26He is the most extraordinary of ordinary men.
0:04:26 > 0:04:27And here he is.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32Joseph Haydn, painted in the year of his arrival in England in 1791
0:04:32 > 0:04:34by the society portraitist John Hoppner
0:04:34 > 0:04:36on the orders of King George III himself,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39as a sign of the man's celebrity.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Haydn came from a humble background,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44but here he holds himself with immense self-assurance.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Is there the sharp light of curiosity in his eyes?
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Haydn was always enthusiastic about exploring the world around him.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Today, his name is associated above all with the symphony,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58the form he more than anybody in the 18th century worked to develop.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02In his hands, the symphony became what the dictionary now defines it as:
0:05:02 > 0:05:05a large-scale work, usually in four sections or movements,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10and regarded as the most exalted form a composer can use.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14And his London symphonies were to bring the works of his genius
0:05:14 > 0:05:16to the widest possible audience.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26Haydn had this capacity to write music that would speak immediately to all hearers.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29What comes out more than anything else
0:05:29 > 0:05:31is a sense of a new sound world.
0:05:33 > 0:05:38London was the most prosperous and fastest growing city in the world.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42By the 1790s, the fashion for opera that had dominated upper class taste
0:05:42 > 0:05:45for most of the 18th century was now on the wane and the new middle class,
0:05:45 > 0:05:50who felt that they'd earned their wealth rather than inherited it, was keen for something new
0:05:50 > 0:05:55that would reflect their sense of themselves as discerning and cultured.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No 95, LPO
0:05:57 > 0:06:01Haydn was intensely interested in all aspects of British life.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05He visited palaces and naval dockyards.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08He was horrified by the levels of public drunkenness he witnessed,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and he kept detailed notes about the people that he met
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and the music that they listened to.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18He stayed with one short interval for four years.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23The invitation had come from the violinist,
0:06:23 > 0:06:26composer and concert organiser Johann Peter Salomon,
0:06:26 > 0:06:28a German by birth
0:06:28 > 0:06:33and a man known to be highly efficient in business matters.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Salomon had assembled the finest musicians in the city,
0:06:37 > 0:06:40and hired a recently-opened elegant concert hall
0:06:40 > 0:06:43on the corner of Hanover Square in fashionable Mayfair.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50The series of concerts the two men would now promote here,
0:06:50 > 0:06:53with Haydn as composer and Salomon as orchestra leader,
0:06:53 > 0:06:59would position the symphony at the centre of London's rapidly growing social and cultural life.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04This site occupies the exact footprint
0:07:04 > 0:07:10of the Hanover Square Rooms when Haydn first saw them in 1791.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16Salomon had taken a canny commercial gamble with this concert season, but it would more than pay off.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22"All the modish world appear fond of nothing else, my dear.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26"Folks of fashion eager seek 16 concerts in a week."
0:07:26 > 0:07:29And this is the kind of orchestra that you might have found
0:07:29 > 0:07:32in the Hanover Rooms in the early 1790s,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and this combination and arrangement of instruments
0:07:35 > 0:07:39established a blueprint for the symphonic repertoire for the next 100 years or so.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43At the back, we have the woodwind, the brass, the percussion sections.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46They were raised on a platform, a novelty in Haydn's time,
0:07:46 > 0:07:50no doubt enhanced the visual excitement as well as helped with the balance of sound.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55In front, we have the string section, double basses, cellos, violas, violins.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59He would divide them into two sections, the seconds and the firsts.
0:07:59 > 0:08:04In the front sat the leader, who on this occasion is Maggie,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07but for many of Haydn's concerts would have been Salomon himself.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10And in the centre was Haydn the composer, leading the operation,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13but not conducting in the way we might understand it today.
0:08:13 > 0:08:20- These symphonies were designed to be shared by the audience and the players together.- And to be seen.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23To be seen - the drama inherent in,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"How will Mr Haydn treat his orchestra in this? What surprises will we get?"
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Symphony 98 is one of the greatest London symphonies.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37Actually written in England to replace the one he'd lost crossing the channel,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40it contains a typical Haydn surprise.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43His take on the British National Anthem.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01In the second of four movements, he takes this tune, varies it, transforms it,
0:09:01 > 0:09:05and this is the key to the symphony in Haydn's hands.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07He takes a musical idea on a journey,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11and through the course of that journey, everything changes.
0:09:42 > 0:09:47Haydn's sense of playing around is very evident in the 98th Symphony, isn't it?
0:09:47 > 0:09:48Oh, yes.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And he knew how to respond to the occasion too, didn't he?
0:09:51 > 0:09:57And his music produced such incredible reactions of joy and delight and surprise.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59It's difficult to imagine nowadays, isn't it,
0:09:59 > 0:10:04the way audiences always behave very po-faced and quiet.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06And anybody who coughs is criticised.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09If you liked something in a Haydn symphony,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11everybody exclaimed and clapped.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 98: 4th Movement
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Haydn and Salomon's symphony concerts were an unprecedented success,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22but it wasn't long before the composer needed some time to himself.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28And this house deep in the Lee Valley in Hertfordshire
0:10:28 > 0:10:32was where he stayed for the summer of 1791.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Of all the places Haydn lived and worked during his four-year stay,
0:10:39 > 0:10:42this one, Roxford, is the only survivor,
0:10:42 > 0:10:45and it was here that he composed Symphony 98.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50It was a retreat from the social whirl
0:10:50 > 0:10:53that he was very much caught up in London
0:10:53 > 0:10:55to a sort of countryside life
0:10:55 > 0:10:58that he would have been familiar with from Austria,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01back to a place where he could think about people he'd met,
0:11:01 > 0:11:04he could think about musical interests of people
0:11:04 > 0:11:08and he could write the kind of compositions that they were interested in.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11"I work industriously," he wrote to a friend,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13and then added with a touch of homesickness,
0:11:13 > 0:11:17"Early every morning when I walk alone in the wood with my English grammar,
0:11:17 > 0:11:21"I think of my creator and of my family and friends left behind."
0:11:21 > 0:11:24Despite his homesickness,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28the last movement of Symphony 98 is full of playfulness and joy
0:11:28 > 0:11:32with a whole series of startling ideas and effects.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 98: 4th Movement
0:11:36 > 0:11:38The last movement is very fast and lively -
0:11:38 > 0:11:41presto, it's marked, which is as fast as you can get.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51It's like a motor rhythm that never wants to stop,
0:11:51 > 0:11:55it powers its way forward, and it's just when you're expecting a repeat of the theme,
0:11:55 > 0:12:00because you've already heard it, he then takes you by surprise.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03And they start again with the theme a bit slower.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06But he's got... he's got the ace up his sleeve.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09He makes himself play on the forte piano.
0:12:16 > 0:12:23A little, very trivial, little sort of inner voice as the violins play the tune for the last time.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29And it's so lovely that it would have delighted the audience.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32You can imagine, "Oh, tonight," you know,
0:12:32 > 0:12:38"the great Doctor Haydn gave us a little virtuoso display on the forte piano."
0:12:49 > 0:12:53You almost don't hear it at first, do you? You think oh, my gosh...
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Yes, it's like it's inside, isn't it?
0:12:55 > 0:12:59It's the sort of haemoglobin of the music, keeping the whole thing alive.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07So where did Haydn's genius spring from?
0:13:07 > 0:13:10Indeed, where did the symphony itself come from?
0:13:10 > 0:13:15I'm going to travel back in time to Haydn's early life and career in rural Austria.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25A journey that will allow us to understand the development of the symphony in the 18th century.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33He was born not far from the Hungarian border
0:13:33 > 0:13:37in the spring of 1732, the second eldest of 17 children.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45His father was a wheelwright, and both his parents sang for pleasure.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Sent to a local school, he learned to read and write and to sing.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53"They taught me so much," he said,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56"although I received more thrashings than food."
0:13:56 > 0:14:03Then one day, the school was visited by the choirmaster from Vienna's main cathedral, St Stephens,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and eight-year-old Joseph was auditioned.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11So the small, talented boy from the provinces
0:14:11 > 0:14:14joined the mighty Stephansdom Choir in Vienna.
0:14:14 > 0:14:15We can picture him,
0:14:15 > 0:14:19an undistinguished looking little fellow, even at the age of nine wearing a wig.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23MUSIC: Poglietti's Ave Reginia Coelorum
0:14:23 > 0:14:24When his voice begins to break,
0:14:24 > 0:14:29the priest suggests castrating him in order to preserve his beautiful treble.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32But luckily for little Joseph, his father intervenes.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Finally, he's dishonourably discharged from the choir
0:14:35 > 0:14:39after an incident which sees him cutting off another boy's pigtail.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46For the next few years he struggles, hungry to the point of starvation
0:14:46 > 0:14:50and tormented by the affluent city life he sees around him.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 1: 3rd Movement
0:14:54 > 0:14:59Joseph Haydn's life was saved by his talent.
0:15:01 > 0:15:07Once his first compositions began to be played around Vienna's salons and beer gardens,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11it didn't take long for him to be singled out as someone special,
0:15:11 > 0:15:15and by the time he was 25, his hungry years were over.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23In the 18th century, artists generally were employed by the Church,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26a royal court or a member of the aristocracy.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29No king, prince or nobleman worth his salt was without his house band.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33And Haydn was fortunate in that he was asked to work for
0:15:33 > 0:15:37one of the most noble and wealthiest families in Europe, the Esterhazys.
0:15:38 > 0:15:44MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 12: 3rd Movement
0:15:44 > 0:15:48The family palace was in the remote location of Eisenstadt in Eastern Austria,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52but having his own orchestra gave Haydn exactly what he needed.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56As well as being able to fulfil all the normal duties of a composer,
0:15:56 > 0:15:58such as church music and opera,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02he was able to experiment with new instrumental forms.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10He arrived in 1761,
0:16:10 > 0:16:14just as Nikolaus I inherited the Esterhazy title.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17The new prince was rich, extravagant and, crucially,
0:16:17 > 0:16:21his palace had a particularly fine music room.
0:16:21 > 0:16:25So here it is, the crucible of Haydn's laboratory.
0:16:25 > 0:16:30No, not just the crucible, the Large Hadron Collider.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Over 70 symphonies and 30 years,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Prince Nikolaus was obsessed with music, and in order to feed his veracious appetite,
0:16:44 > 0:16:49Haydn needed to find a form that would show off the full range and virtuosity
0:16:49 > 0:16:51of the prince's orchestra.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55At the beginning, they were only a tiny group of musicians, no more than 14 of them,
0:16:55 > 0:17:00and yet Haydn was inspired by both the quality of their playing
0:17:00 > 0:17:04and the beauty of the music room to produce extraordinary symphonies.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06One of the first is Le Matin. Morning.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09It starts with a sunrise that,
0:17:09 > 0:17:15in its detailed, tiny way is a little masterpiece in its own right.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 6: Le Matin, 1st Movement
0:17:42 > 0:17:44In the course of this little masterpiece,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48various members of this little ensemble get moments of glory.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01It wasn't just the size of Haydn's house band
0:18:01 > 0:18:03that was so different from a modern symphony orchestra.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05It was the instruments as well.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12The early brass and woodwind were primitive and hard to play,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16but Haydn's solo writing demonstrates that he could
0:18:16 > 0:18:18count on some real virtuosity from his players.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45Before Haydn, the symphony certainly existed, but what precisely was it?
0:18:45 > 0:18:49The word "symphony" literally means "sounding together", making music.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53Its earliest use was to distinguish between vocal church music,
0:18:53 > 0:18:55the sound of angels perhaps,
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and the music that instrumentalists might play by themselves
0:18:58 > 0:19:01as their contribution to a church service.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06Earthly music, music that grounds us in the world of the here and now
0:19:06 > 0:19:11before the choir claims our souls, imaginations and our ears for God.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 22: 1st Movement
0:19:24 > 0:19:27Haydn wrote symphonies on demand for a variety of occasions.
0:19:27 > 0:19:32One of his greatest early Eisenstadt works is a church symphony,
0:19:32 > 0:19:35No. 22, written to be performed during Mass.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38It later acquired the nickname of The Philosopher,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42possibly because its first movement is exceptionally solemn,
0:19:42 > 0:19:47demonstrating the emotional depths of which the symphony was going to be capable in Haydn's hands.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57The form of early symphonies came from the opera house originally,
0:19:57 > 0:20:01when the instrumental movements at the beginning of an evening
0:20:01 > 0:20:04constituted a suite not designed to be an artistic whole,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07but a way to lead the audience in to the entertainment.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09Now, from those beginnings,
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Haydn realised that he could extend the contrasts
0:20:12 > 0:20:15into making a four movement package.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Very often, this could be fast, then a long, slow movement
0:20:25 > 0:20:28that gave a sense of gravitas to the whole event.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30Then a dancing minuet to sort of clear the air,
0:20:30 > 0:20:32and then a final fast movement.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49The Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt truly was Haydn's laboratory.
0:20:49 > 0:20:55The symphony as he developed it draws from a combination of church music, the world of opera
0:20:55 > 0:20:59and having talented musicians to write for.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01With all these factors in place,
0:21:01 > 0:21:04he was able to perfect the four movement symphony.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10And beyond that he experimented with other elements,
0:21:10 > 0:21:14the unexpected juxtaposition of mood, unusual instrumentation,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17theatrical effects, surprises, jokes.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20The symphony became a finely wrought interplay of forces,
0:21:20 > 0:21:23each one a unique and enthralling journey.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31As a symphonist, Haydn is in many ways like a master chef
0:21:31 > 0:21:35who combines different ingredients to create new dishes.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37In his kitchen garden in Eisenstadt,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41he planted out his own selection of herbs, and here I met Sigrid Weiss,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43who is an expert on Baroque cookery.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46How lovely to meet you. This is gorgeous.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49- Let me walk you around a little. - So what do we have here?
0:21:49 > 0:21:50Here we have thyme...
0:21:50 > 0:21:54'The lean and hungry years of his youth gave Haydn an obsession with food.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58'In his letters, he's always either praising or complaining about his diet.'
0:21:58 > 0:22:03They liked to use these strong smelling herbs on the meat in the Baroque,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07because of course they had no refrigerators so their meat was not always as fresh.
0:22:09 > 0:22:10Mint here.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13'Haydn the gardener and Haydn the gourmet
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'are all part of the complete picture of Haydn the master craftsman.'
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- And this one?- Roman sorrel. - Can we eat it?
0:22:19 > 0:22:23'We could liken symphonic development in one of Haydn's opening movements
0:22:23 > 0:22:26'to the preparation of a carefully balanced meal
0:22:26 > 0:22:28'of the sort which the composer often enjoyed.'
0:22:28 > 0:22:31- Oh, it's lovely. - It's like lemon.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42All the themes are gathered together at the beginning of the piece
0:22:42 > 0:22:46in the same way one might gather and prepare ingredients then cook a simple starter.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52This is what's called the exposition,
0:22:52 > 0:22:56a tasty first course that whets your appetite for what's to come.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59Thank you very much.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Guten appetit!
0:23:05 > 0:23:07The next stage, the development,
0:23:07 > 0:23:12blends together, reshapes and cooks up all these ingredients, allowing new flavours to emerge.
0:23:14 > 0:23:20Finally, in the recapitulation, all the themes and harmonies are brought together and resolved,
0:23:20 > 0:23:22just like the finished main course.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27This is one of Haydn's particular favourites - braised rabbit with dumplings and cherries.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29Fantastic!
0:23:29 > 0:23:32- That looks totally delicious.- Wow!
0:23:35 > 0:23:39In the 1760s, Prince Nikolaus decided to build an elaborate new pleasure palace
0:23:39 > 0:23:4450 kilometres east from Eisenstadt, over the Hungarian border.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48So every summer the entire court, including Haydn and his orchestra,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52decamped to the fairytale palace of Esterhaza.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57However, although there were music rooms, ball rooms,
0:23:57 > 0:24:00banqueting pavilions and a full scale opera house,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04there was only very limited accommodation for the many musicians.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Families had to stay in Eisenstadt.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12No wives, no girlfriends, no families.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14The musicians were understandably miserable.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19But Haydn came up with his own rather witty version of industrial action.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22MUSIC: Haydn's Symphony No. 45: 4th Movement, The English Concert
0:24:22 > 0:24:24Symphony 45 was one of the three dozen symphonies
0:24:24 > 0:24:28written for the summer festivities at Esterhaza.
0:24:28 > 0:24:30It's a serious, sometimes stormy work,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34but at the end comes Haydn's protest,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38a gesture that gives the work its familiar nickname, The Farewell.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43As the last restless movement comes to a close,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45the music suddenly slows down
0:24:45 > 0:24:48and the players begin to leave the stage, one by one,
0:24:48 > 0:24:52each snuffing out the candle on his music stand as he goes.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56Finally, there are just two violins left playing pianissimo,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59and the music evaporates into silence.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04The prince took the hint.
0:25:04 > 0:25:10The following day, the court returned home to the domestic comforts of Eisenstadt.
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Haydn was to stay in Esterhazy for nearly 30 years,
0:25:17 > 0:25:18but this was very unusual.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22Most composers of the time led a much more nomadic existence,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24moving from place to place,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27and this was of course how musical ideas were moved around.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30One of these travelling musicians was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
0:25:30 > 0:25:37and in 1764, not long after Haydn had arrived in Eisenstadt, he visited London.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41MUSIC: Mozart's Symphony No. 1: 1st Movement
0:25:41 > 0:25:44Mozart spent a large part of his childhood on an interminable tour of Europe
0:25:44 > 0:25:47accompanied by his father and his older sister.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52The family arrived here in London and moved into lodgings above a barber's shop,
0:25:52 > 0:25:59which now, delightfully, is an antiquarian booksellers specialising in music.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05The whole thing must have been a bit of an ordeal.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09There were reports of all three of them being ill at one time or another.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13But it did produce at least one unexpected benefit.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18Whilst his father was bedridden, the eight-year-old Wolfgang decided to write his first symphony.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Now remember, he was eight.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45This symphony has been criticised as being derivative,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47and some have said it was written by his father,
0:26:47 > 0:26:50and I'm sure his father helped him a great deal.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53But the important point, surely, is that it's a symphony
0:26:53 > 0:26:56written by an eight-year-old, and it's structurally perfect,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59exquisitely balanced and very, very nice to listen to.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17In his teens, Mozart criss-crossed Europe,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20picking up ideas wherever he went.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24One of the key centres was Mannheim in South West Germany,
0:27:24 > 0:27:29where the court orchestra was a finely tuned, virtuoso ensemble.
0:27:29 > 0:27:30The court composer was Johann Stamitz,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34who wrote 60 proto-type symphonies for them.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43They became well known for their novel, dynamic effects,
0:27:43 > 0:27:45an opening coups d'archet,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47a loud bang at the beginning of a piece of music
0:27:47 > 0:27:50that would wake the audience up and grab their attention.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52The Mannheim Rocket,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55a cluster of notes that soared thrillingly heavenwards,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59and a big orchestral crescendo that was so unexpected
0:27:59 > 0:28:03that apparently ladies in the audience used to faint with excitement.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17In preparing the music with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment,
0:28:17 > 0:28:22Mark Elder was keen to work on some of the effects achieved by these symphonic pioneers.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Obviously what we've got to try and show in this,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29this very exciting music, is the style.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33And they were specialists in a sort of bravura attack. Here it is.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36THEY PLAY
0:28:39 > 0:28:43And the coups d'archet was the way everybody attacked
0:28:43 > 0:28:45the bow in the same way, as they all did there.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47Can we just try that once again?
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Bravo, well done.
0:29:12 > 0:29:14The idea of getting louder
0:29:14 > 0:29:18from playing very soft and going to very loud is something we're all so familiar with.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22We do it all the time. But the idea that this was a new way of musicians together
0:29:22 > 0:29:28expressing the same energy and the same emotion gave the music a new excitement and a new daring.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49So celebrated did Mannheim become that in 1777,
0:29:49 > 0:29:53the 22-year-old Wolfgang Mozart visited the orchestra,
0:29:53 > 0:29:56bringing with him the score of his latest symphony.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06When Mozart decided to premiere this symphony, his 31st,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09with them in this very room, he was test-driving his work,
0:30:09 > 0:30:12which included several of the crowd-pleasing
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Mannheim special effects.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25At this stage in his life Mozart really needed a success.
0:30:25 > 0:30:30In Paris there were many wealthy, sophisticated music lovers
0:30:30 > 0:30:32and his carefully crafted symphony
0:30:32 > 0:30:36might land him a commission or even a job.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42Paris in the middle of the 18th century
0:30:42 > 0:30:44was very different from the modern city.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46The Eiffel Tower and the famous boulevards
0:30:46 > 0:30:48weren't built until the 19th century.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51And in 1778, when Mozart arrived,
0:30:51 > 0:30:53the area around here was dominated
0:30:53 > 0:30:56by a vast Renaissance palace, the Tuileries,
0:30:56 > 0:30:58where the fashionable and cultured aristocracy -
0:30:58 > 0:31:03this was before the Revolution, remember - flocked to hear music.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13Mozart's symphony, later to become known as the Paris Symphony,
0:31:13 > 0:31:15was first heard here in June 1778.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25Every detail was honed to accord with contemporary Parisian taste.
0:31:25 > 0:31:26"In the middle of the first movement
0:31:26 > 0:31:30"is a section I knew would excite them," he later wrote to his father.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Sure enough, the audience was carried away by it.
0:31:33 > 0:31:37"Since I knew when I wrote it that it would have this sort of effect,
0:31:37 > 0:31:39"I used it again at the end."
0:31:48 > 0:31:52The symphony was a mild success.
0:31:52 > 0:31:54Perhaps he'd so conformed to local taste
0:31:54 > 0:31:57that the work didn't particularly stand out.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00After the concert, he wrote, "I was happy,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"so as soon as the concert was over I rushed over to the Palais-Royal,
0:32:03 > 0:32:08"ordered myself a large ice cream, said my rosary and went home."
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Mozart wasn't the only symphonist keen to conquer
0:32:16 > 0:32:19the discerning audiences of Paris.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23Five years later, half a dozen new symphonies by Joseph Haydn
0:32:23 > 0:32:25arrived to great acclaim.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Although Prince Esterhazy didn't allow his composer to travel,
0:32:31 > 0:32:35he was happy for Haydn's scores to spread his fame.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39And when Mozart, now living in Vienna,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41heard these Paris Symphonies,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45they were to inspire his final great symphonic outpouring.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55In 1788, a year before revolution convulsed France, and indeed Europe,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Mozart preformed here in this Viennese cafe,
0:32:58 > 0:33:00but perhaps more significantly
0:33:00 > 0:33:03he also wrote three symphonies in a matter of weeks -
0:33:03 > 0:33:04the noble No. 39,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08the dark, turbulent No. 40, unusually in a minor key,
0:33:08 > 0:33:10and the extrovert No. 41,
0:33:10 > 0:33:12later nicknamed The Jupiter,
0:33:12 > 0:33:16a piece of almost extravagant technical virtuosity.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Mozart's final years are something of a mystery.
0:33:30 > 0:33:31We have lots of small details,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34how frequently he changed apartment, for instance,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37but about the bigger picture there's nothing at all.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39What he thought about the music he was writing,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41his ambitions, his hopes and his fears,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44and about the last few symphonies, no information.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53These symphonies were completed
0:33:53 > 0:33:56three years before his sudden and tragic early death.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01But we have no idea what occasioned them
0:34:01 > 0:34:05and there is no record of them ever having been actually performed in his lifetime.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14These last symphonies are emotionally rich
0:34:14 > 0:34:19and full of sadness, just when you least expect it.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38The palate of emotional intensity
0:34:38 > 0:34:42is very, very marked.
0:34:42 > 0:34:43And one feels that,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47whether or not he could have written any more symphonies, that these were
0:34:47 > 0:34:50a summation for him of what he could achieve in the form.
0:34:50 > 0:34:54And each of them has such a different character.
0:34:54 > 0:34:57Now, to me, the character comes from the choice of key.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01And we know, before he wrote them, that he received a new score
0:35:01 > 0:35:03of three of Haydn's symphonies
0:35:03 > 0:35:06and that they were in these same three keys -
0:35:06 > 0:35:11E flat, G minor and C major - which are the keys of Mozart's last three symphonies.
0:35:16 > 0:35:19He was inspired and wanted to give something
0:35:19 > 0:35:22to the form that he hadn't hitherto managed.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33Mozart clearly admired the symphonic innovations
0:35:33 > 0:35:37that Haydn had discovered in his laboratory in Eisenstadt,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41and when the two composers met for the first time in the late 1780s,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43Haydn repaid the compliment.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46"Some have said that I might have some genius," he remarked,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49"but Mozart is always my superior."
0:35:50 > 0:35:54Suddenly in 1790 everything changed.
0:35:54 > 0:35:58Prince Nikolaus died unexpectedly and the next prince, his son Anton,
0:35:58 > 0:36:00immediately began to dismantle
0:36:00 > 0:36:04his father's extravagant and expensive musical establishment.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Despite a generous pension,
0:36:05 > 0:36:08Haydn must have wondered what the future would bring.
0:36:08 > 0:36:10And then one night as he was sitting at home,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13there was a loud knock on the front door.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21A stranger was let in and declared boldly,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24"I am Salomon of London and I have come to fetch you."
0:36:31 > 0:36:33It was a decisive moment in Haydn's life
0:36:33 > 0:36:35and in the history of the symphony.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05Just before setting off on his epic journey,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09Haydn joined Salomon and Mozart for a farewell meal.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12Salomon was keen to sign Wolfgang up for a British tour,
0:37:12 > 0:37:16but the young composer seemed more concerned about his colleague's welfare.
0:37:16 > 0:37:18"You're not young any more," he said.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21"But I'm still in good health," Haydn replied.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25"You're too unworldly and speak too few languages," Mozart said.
0:37:25 > 0:37:31"No," Haydn replied firmly, "my language is understood all over the world."
0:37:36 > 0:37:38And now we're back where we started
0:37:38 > 0:37:40in the last decade of the 18th century
0:37:40 > 0:37:43with Haydn's triumphal arrival in London.
0:37:43 > 0:37:47After 30 years as a sort of musical servant in Austria,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50he's welcomed here as the greatest composer of his age.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54As the Sun newspaper of 1794 put it,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59"His music is exquisite, rich, fanciful, bold and impressive."
0:38:11 > 0:38:14London gave Joseph Haydn a new lease of life.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21Four years of wildly successful concerts,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25twelve new symphonies premiered, the last in 1795
0:38:25 > 0:38:30here at the Theatre Royal Music Rooms in the Haymarket.
0:38:30 > 0:38:32As one enamoured critic gushed,
0:38:32 > 0:38:36"Would Haydn ever get to the bottom of his genius box?"
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Well, the answer to that surely must be no.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Although he would write over 100 symphonies
0:38:50 > 0:38:53over the course of a long working life,
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Haydn himself would have recognised neither
0:38:56 > 0:38:58the dizzying upward spiral of numbers -
0:38:58 > 0:39:01from his first Symphony in D Major written in 1759
0:39:01 > 0:39:04to his 104th written some 40 years later -
0:39:04 > 0:39:08nor the affectionate nicknames that some of the pieces acquired -
0:39:08 > 0:39:12The Philosopher, The Farewell, The Surprise, The Military.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21For the first time in his life,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25Haydn had escaped the aristocratic bubble of Eisenstadt.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29The London symphonies reflect both his new experiences of the world
0:39:29 > 0:39:32and his encounters with a wider audience.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40In London there was hunger for music that spoke to
0:39:40 > 0:39:44the tensions around the French Revolution
0:39:44 > 0:39:47and the anxieties that the British had
0:39:47 > 0:39:51when revolution turned into attack on other countries.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Now symphonies were not only being played in public,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14but becoming public statements in themselves.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24The Military Symphony, the eighth of the London symphonies,
0:40:24 > 0:40:28written in 1794 and a masterpiece.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31It was Haydn's greatest success during his visit to England.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35It's war music that the audience regarded as acutely topical.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37It's difficult with our modern ears
0:40:37 > 0:40:40to grasp the impact this work had on the British public.
0:40:40 > 0:40:42Amongst other things, Haydn shocked them
0:40:42 > 0:40:46with his use for the first time of Turkish percussion.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09"Encore, encore, encore," resounded from every seat,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12the ladies themselves could not forbear.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19It is the advance into battle and the march of men.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23The sounding of the charge, the thundering of the onset.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36The clash of arms, the groans of the wounded
0:41:36 > 0:41:40and what may be called the hellish roar of war
0:41:40 > 0:41:43increases to a climax of horrid sublimity.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01Haydn writing for London audiences
0:42:01 > 0:42:04in the 1790s was very much aware
0:42:04 > 0:42:07that they saw themselves as a manly, military society
0:42:07 > 0:42:11and Haydn absolutely captured that.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14When Haydn left London to return home to Austria
0:42:14 > 0:42:17he made a brief stop along the way
0:42:17 > 0:42:19in the provincial German town of Bonn.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Here he was to meet for the first time the composer
0:42:22 > 0:42:26who would carry the symphony forward into the next century -
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Ludwig van Beethoven.
0:42:30 > 0:42:34Haydn was 60 and the sullen young viola player -
0:42:34 > 0:42:37he was a member of the Elector Of Bonn's Orchestra - was 22.
0:42:37 > 0:42:40He was already showing some promise as a composer.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43He'd written two attention-grabbing Imperial Cantatas
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and Haydn agreed to take him on as a student.
0:42:47 > 0:42:49It was never an easy relationship.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52"You will have thoughts that no-one has had before," said Haydn,
0:42:52 > 0:42:56"but the rules will always be sacrificed to your moods."
0:43:00 > 0:43:04England had changed Haydn. Mozart had died whilst he was away
0:43:04 > 0:43:07and he returned to Austria an old man.
0:43:07 > 0:43:09Papa Haydn they now started calling him.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15He left behind him the court at Esterhazy and came to Vienna
0:43:15 > 0:43:19to take up his rightful place as a senior member of Viennese society.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22And significantly he stopped writing symphonies
0:43:22 > 0:43:25but he had by no means retired.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32Before he left London, Salomon had given him a manuscript,
0:43:32 > 0:43:36an anonymous libretto in English based partly on the Book Of Genesis
0:43:36 > 0:43:39and partly on Milton's poem Paradise Lost.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45The result was The Creation,
0:43:45 > 0:43:48a large, complex, elegant work
0:43:48 > 0:43:51that brought together the very best of Haydn's symphonic technique
0:43:51 > 0:43:54with his love of writing for voices.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01It was to prove both popular and influential.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11This vast, ambitious, cosmic work, although not itself a symphony,
0:44:11 > 0:44:14opens up a myriad of possibilities for orchestral music.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19On the threshold of the new century,
0:44:19 > 0:44:21Haydn demonstrated that music could be
0:44:21 > 0:44:24more than entertainment at a polite social gathering
0:44:24 > 0:44:26and become a profound and thought-provoking
0:44:26 > 0:44:29dramatic experience for its audience.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42The last performance Haydn attended
0:44:42 > 0:44:45was here in a room at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
0:44:45 > 0:44:49on 27th March, 1808, a year before he died.
0:44:49 > 0:44:50It was his 76th birthday
0:44:50 > 0:44:54and the aged and ill composer was brought in to loud acclamation.
0:44:54 > 0:44:59His former pupil Beethoven was also here and apparently wept during the performance.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01At the point early on in the piece,
0:45:01 > 0:45:06when God creates light, the audience burst out into spontaneous applause.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10But Haydn, in response, indicated upwards, as if to say, "Not from me."
0:45:10 > 0:45:13"Everything comes from up there."
0:45:28 > 0:45:33He became known as the father of the symphony, ie, not necessarily the first,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37but the person who gave us so many great symphonies
0:45:37 > 0:45:43that he managed to explore the potential of the symphonic orchestra of his day.
0:45:43 > 0:45:46And that would take the idea of what a symphony could be
0:45:46 > 0:45:49further and further along the path.
0:45:49 > 0:45:54Haydn, over the course of a long 40-year career, turned out over 100.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Mozart, in his short life, wrote about 40.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Ludwig Van Beethoven wrote only nine.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04But each symphony redrew the musical landscape
0:46:04 > 0:46:08and threw down a challenge that no future symphonist could possibly ignore.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11In 1800, as Europe stood on the threshold of a new century,
0:46:11 > 0:46:14the Viennese public were treated to the premiere of a new work -
0:46:14 > 0:46:18Beethoven's first symphony in C Major,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22which, much to their surprise, began with a discord.
0:46:22 > 0:46:26MUSIC: Symphony No 1: 1st Movement by Beethoven
0:46:40 > 0:46:43At this point, the symphony was seen primarily as a means of entertainment,
0:46:43 > 0:46:47not as the vehicle for the exploration of political, social and moral ideas.
0:46:49 > 0:46:55In 1790, the philosopher Kant dismissed instrumental music as more pleasure than culture.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59His grounds for this remark were the fact that music couldn't incorporate concepts.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04Any ideas it might seem to generate were in his words "accidents".
0:47:31 > 0:47:32If you say to me,
0:47:32 > 0:47:36"Sum up what makes Beethoven different in one sentence."
0:47:36 > 0:47:38He broke the rules.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54This is pure Beethoven, but it is a youthful Beethoven.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57But, having said that, he did not complete his first symphony
0:47:57 > 0:47:59until he was 29 years of age.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Now, in prodigy terms, that's middle-aged.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07Haydn and Mozart had knocked off loads of symphonies by the time they were 29.
0:48:07 > 0:48:15Why did Beethoven wait so long? Because he was aware of the legacy of the likes of Mozart and Haydn.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29If the first symphony represents a noble and steady start,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32then the second is a sudden wrench forwards into the future.
0:48:32 > 0:48:37MUSIC: # Symphony No 2, Scherzo from the 3rd Movement by Beethoven
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Premiered in the year that Britain declared war on France
0:48:41 > 0:48:46it has at its heart the 31-year-old Beethoven's first major symphonic innovation.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49He replaces the old-fashioned aristocratic dance movement,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53the minuet, with a scherzo, which literally means "joke".
0:48:53 > 0:48:55An energetic and sometimes confrontational movement
0:48:55 > 0:48:59that captures the speed and violence of early 19th-century urban life.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06This is a joke which, repeated often enough, begins to sound like a threat.
0:49:11 > 0:49:17It is a crude monster, like a wounded dragon that refuses to die,
0:49:17 > 0:49:22writhing and bleeding, lashing out furiously with its tail.
0:49:31 > 0:49:35The summer of 1802 he spends in a rural village north of Vienna
0:49:35 > 0:49:37called Heiligenstadt.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40He's composing his second symphony, but, as he works,
0:49:40 > 0:49:44he becomes more and more aware that his hearing is starting to fail.
0:49:46 > 0:49:49Heiligenstadt was for Beethoven a place of despair.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52"Dissatisfied with many things," he wrote,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56"more susceptible than any other person and tormented by my deafness,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59I find only suffering in the company of others."
0:50:00 > 0:50:02He's acknowledged to himself he's deaf
0:50:02 > 0:50:06and the great miracle of art is that the moment he's acknowledged it,
0:50:06 > 0:50:10we enter what's cornily called the heroic period.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14We get the great, great works of art, because he's overcome it.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18MUSIC # Symphony No 3: 1st Movement by Beethoven
0:50:21 > 0:50:26To tell the next part of the story, we need to return to Paris
0:50:26 > 0:50:28and to a hero's grave.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33Just as Beethoven defined his era in music,
0:50:33 > 0:50:37so Napoleon Bonaparte towered over his era in world politics
0:50:37 > 0:50:41although, of course, he himself was quite a small man.
0:50:41 > 0:50:45The name of Napoleon was so potent, his military prowess was so fearsome,
0:50:45 > 0:50:50that he dominated and terrorised Europe for over a dozen years.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55After his successful coups d'etat in 1799, he appointed himself First Consul,
0:50:55 > 0:50:56a man of the French people,
0:50:56 > 0:51:01devoted to restoring the republican virtues of liberty, equality and fraternity
0:51:01 > 0:51:06after a decade of gross mismanagement and institutionalised terror so widespread
0:51:06 > 0:51:09that the guillotine earned the nickname "the national razor".
0:51:14 > 0:51:19Beethoven had found the subject for his third and most radical symphony yet.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22A work so massive, that its first movement alone
0:51:22 > 0:51:25is as long as many of Haydn's early symphonies.
0:51:25 > 0:51:29Eroica, the heroic symphony.
0:51:29 > 0:51:35The Eroica is an extraordinary, huge advance on anything anyone had done before.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38He was a man of the people, creating art for the people
0:51:38 > 0:51:40and he thought that was what Napoleon represented.
0:51:40 > 0:51:47The Eroica comes to stand for what symphonic composers want to achieve
0:51:47 > 0:51:49through their musical works.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55The Eroica was a revolutionary piece of work.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00Beethoven needed new techniques if he was to express adequately his thoughts about Napoleon,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04a man who was affecting such rapid and sweeping changes across Europe,
0:52:04 > 0:52:10a man who many believed would bring peace, security and liberty to a troubled continent.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15There was no way that Europe could possibly return to life as it was in the days before 1789
0:52:15 > 0:52:19and there was no looking back to old models for Beethoven.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24The new work just had to be radical, its first performance explosive,
0:52:24 > 0:52:27and this is the room where it all happened.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Beethoven's friend, Ferdinand Ries,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59said the composer wrote his symphony with Napoleon Bonaparte in mind,
0:52:59 > 0:53:01but Napoleon as First Consul.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04He held him in great esteem and compared him
0:53:04 > 0:53:06to the greatest consuls of ancient Rome.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11Ferdinand Ries himself saw a beautifully copied manuscript of the symphony
0:53:11 > 0:53:13lying on Beethoven's table and, on the front page,
0:53:13 > 0:53:18were inscribed the names "Napoleon" at the top and "Beethoven" at the bottom.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22But when Beethoven was told that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor
0:53:22 > 0:53:27he flew into a rage and screamed, "So now he is no more than a common mortal."
0:53:27 > 0:53:29"Now he will tread on all the rights of man,
0:53:29 > 0:53:33"indulge only his ambition, think himself superior to all men,
0:53:33 > 0:53:34"become a tyrant."
0:53:34 > 0:53:37He went to the table, picked up the manuscript,
0:53:37 > 0:53:40ripped the front page in half and threw it on the floor.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, still had 16 more years to live.
0:54:20 > 0:54:23But, for Beethoven, it was clear,
0:54:23 > 0:54:26his greatness had died on the day of his coronation.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32The second movement of the Eroica is a funeral march,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35perhaps mourning the loss of a hero.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41When the symphony was published three years later, it bore an inscription -
0:54:41 > 0:54:44to celebrate the memory of a great man.
0:54:48 > 0:54:53Beethoven lived in more than 60 different places during his 35 years in Vienna.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02I joined musicologist Professor John Deathridge to visit this one,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05which is typically cramped and out of the way.
0:55:06 > 0:55:11But wherever the composer lodged, there were always two inevitable objects -
0:55:11 > 0:55:13a piano and a treasured portrait.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20This is a picture of Beethoven at about the time he wrote his third symphony, the Eroica. Is that right?
0:55:20 > 0:55:25That's correct. Painted by a friend of his called Willibrord Mahler,
0:55:25 > 0:55:28he played the last movement to the painter
0:55:28 > 0:55:32and then he continued on improvising for two hours.
0:55:33 > 0:55:40What Mahler was interested in was capturing something of the mythological side of the Eroica.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42- And this rather awkward stance. - Yes.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48A little bit like the Mona Lisa, in a sort of country landscape.
0:55:48 > 0:55:53And the eyes are looking askance. I often think that this hand here,
0:55:53 > 0:55:54it's a very strong hand,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57has something to do with his impression of Beethoven
0:55:57 > 0:56:01playing the last movement of the Eroica.
0:56:01 > 0:56:06It was clearly a very important painting for Beethoven because he took it with him everywhere.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Why did he like it? I'm tempted to say vanity. He looks rather good in this.
0:56:09 > 0:56:15It represents for him, I think, something very important about his role as a symphonic composer.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20"I am here in the world as a composer and this is what my symphonies are going to be."
0:56:48 > 0:56:55I feel that the third symphony is like on the threshold of another age.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58It's written because he wanted to answer
0:56:58 > 0:57:02what he felt was the scale of Napoleon's achievements
0:57:02 > 0:57:05and the normal symphony wouldn't have been enough.
0:57:12 > 0:57:15Do you think he saw himself as a hero?
0:57:16 > 0:57:19That's a very difficult question to answer.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22I feel sure that he knew he had the capacity in him
0:57:22 > 0:57:28that was given to very few other creators and that he owed it to himself
0:57:28 > 0:57:34to find the extent of the depth of his talent,
0:57:34 > 0:57:39which is why he kept pushing the boundaries further and further to create more emotional truth.
0:57:39 > 0:57:45I think he felt that he had an heroic capacity as a creator
0:57:45 > 0:57:48to take music to a place that nobody thought it could ever go.
0:57:53 > 0:57:55And he would not stop here.
0:57:55 > 0:57:58There were six more symphonies still to come.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01His encroaching deafness would strengthen his almost heroic willpower
0:58:01 > 0:58:07and give his music a sense of profound, universal compassion.
0:58:07 > 0:58:09After the Eroica, anything was possible.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13And he symphony took its place as music's most expressive and articulate form.
0:58:17 > 0:58:19To go deeper into the music
0:58:19 > 0:58:21and unravel the secrets of the symphony,
0:58:21 > 0:58:28follow the links to the Open University at:
0:58:36 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:38 > 0:58:40E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk