0:00:02 > 0:00:06Tonight we've got something a little different for you - Beethoven's Eroica symphony from memory,
0:00:06 > 0:00:08and unpacked onstage by the conductor Nicholas Collon, and...
0:00:08 > 0:00:10well, yours truly.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37APPLAUSE
0:00:44 > 0:00:46Welcome to the Royal Albert Hall.
0:00:46 > 0:00:48An empty stage behind me.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52But not for much longer, because for the next 25 minutes,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56we're going to journey inside the single most revolutionary
0:00:56 > 0:00:58piece of orchestral music ever composed.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Beethoven's Third Symphony, the Eroica, the heroic.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05And we're going to explore what makes the Eroica so special
0:01:05 > 0:01:08in new ways, opening the score up,
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and we're also going to be opening up the orchestra, who you'll see
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and hear in new forms and combinations on the stage behind me.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Well, I mention an orchestra, so we need our musicians.
0:01:20 > 0:01:21Ladies and gentlemen,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23please welcome on stage the players of Aurora Orchestra
0:01:23 > 0:01:25and their conductor, Nicholas Collon,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28your heroes for the rest of the night.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:01:49 > 0:01:52CHEERING
0:02:05 > 0:02:08This is a symphony that wants to change the world,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10and it sounds like it too.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12That's the shocking call to attention at the start
0:02:12 > 0:02:15of the final fourth movement of the Eroica symphony
0:02:15 > 0:02:18where we're going to start our heroic exploration.
0:02:18 > 0:02:19But what happens next?
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- Nick, over to you.- Thanks, Tom. Good evening, everyone.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Well, what we need next is a grand heroic theme,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29something appropriate for this epic finale.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42- And that is it... - LAUGHTER
0:02:42 > 0:02:44..except there's nothing grand or heroic about it.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46I mean, it's laughably simple, isn't it?
0:02:46 > 0:02:51And yet these few bars contain the musical DNA of the entire
0:02:51 > 0:02:54last movement. Now, since we're going to be playing this theme
0:02:54 > 0:02:56rather a lot this evening,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58I suggest we get to know it a little bit better
0:02:58 > 0:03:01by having a go at singing it together.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03LAUGHTER
0:03:04 > 0:03:06What unexpected enthusiasm.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09LAUGHTER
0:03:09 > 0:03:12It's actually... It's not too hard. So this is how it goes.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14I'm going to get the orchestra to sing it once first.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17The first few bars are a little bit like hot cross buns...
0:03:19 > 0:03:22- ALL:- # Dum, dum, dum, dum... #
0:03:22 > 0:03:25Followed by a snappy, jazzy ending.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28# Dum, dum, dum
0:03:28 > 0:03:31# Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:03:31 > 0:03:33- LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE - Easy.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Now, you're always worryingly good.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38APPLAUSE
0:03:38 > 0:03:42Let's dive straight in, shall we? After two. And, one, two...
0:03:42 > 0:03:46- AUDIENCE:- # Dum, dum, dum, dum
0:03:46 > 0:03:49# Dum, dum, dum Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:03:49 > 0:03:50Just watch out.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53There were a couple of you, I think you know who you were...
0:03:53 > 0:03:55LAUGHTER
0:03:55 > 0:03:57# Dum, dum, dum...
0:03:57 > 0:03:59# Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:03:59 > 0:04:00There's a nice little rest there.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02- No-one down here did that. - LAUGHTER
0:04:02 > 0:04:05OK, shall we have one more go all together?
0:04:05 > 0:04:08and...also not so elephantine, perhaps.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10LAUGHTER
0:04:10 > 0:04:12Creepy little mice. Here we are. After two.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And one, two...
0:04:14 > 0:04:18# Dum, dum, dum, dum
0:04:18 > 0:04:21# Dum, dum, dum Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:04:21 > 0:04:23That's genuinely very beautiful.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25- LAUGHTER - Thank you. Fantastic.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28So what does he do with this phrase? Well, he repeats it,
0:04:28 > 0:04:32this time introducing the woodwind in a kind of copying game.
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It's like a game of cat and mouse, and the two animals
0:04:43 > 0:04:46find each other at the end... # Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:04:46 > 0:04:48..for that last little bit.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Now, it's always been an ambition of mine to hear what it might
0:04:51 > 0:04:54sound like with 6,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall....
0:04:54 > 0:04:58- LAUGHTER - ..singing this in antiphonal chaos.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01So look, if we divide... Here's the middle point.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Anyone this side of the middle point with me and the strings over here,
0:05:05 > 0:05:10anyone on that side of the middle point with Tom and the woodwind...
0:05:10 > 0:05:14We're going to win. It's going to be fine. LAUGHTER
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Just to show that this works, Tom and I, bravely,
0:05:17 > 0:05:19are going to have a go first. Are you ready, Tom?
0:05:19 > 0:05:21- No, but never mind. - OK. It goes like this.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24- # Dum...- Dum... - Dum...- Dum...
0:05:24 > 0:05:26- # Dum...- Dum... - Dum...- Dum...
0:05:26 > 0:05:28- # Dum...- Dum...- Dum... - Dum...- Dum...- Dum...
0:05:28 > 0:05:30BOTH: # Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. #
0:05:30 > 0:05:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Your turn.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40OK, following me, following Tom.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42What could go wrong?
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Here we are. After two. And...one, two...
0:05:45 > 0:05:52THEY ALL SING
0:05:52 > 0:05:56- Wow. How about that? - That's really good!- Fantastic.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59APPLAUSE Well,
0:05:59 > 0:06:02you've already performed at the Royal Albert Hall this evening.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04LAUGHTER
0:06:04 > 0:06:09The thing is, that's actually, I'm afraid, only half the theme.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11So, Nick?
0:06:11 > 0:06:12Well, this is what happens next.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16A bar of complete silence followed by...
0:06:19 > 0:06:21..three ferocious knocks...
0:06:24 > 0:06:26..a quiet, unison pause...
0:06:28 > 0:06:30..and more copying between the two.
0:06:40 > 0:06:43Well, now that you all, and Beethoven, have given us
0:06:43 > 0:06:46this quirky theme, what's he going to do with it?
0:06:46 > 0:06:49Well, we're really going to focus in on what happens next
0:06:49 > 0:06:52because it's a masterclass in the kind of thing that only Beethoven
0:06:52 > 0:06:56can do in getting so much out of this strange musical cell.
0:06:56 > 0:07:01Well, he starts off by using it as the basis of a set of variations.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03All the strings are involved in this conversation
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and, in fact, what they have to say is so interesting that our attention
0:07:06 > 0:07:10is often drawn away from the theme onto the ornamentation around it.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15And yet, the theme is always there with all of its elements intact.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19The knocking, the hot cross buns, the syncopated ending and the pause.
0:07:19 > 0:07:20Now, in the first variation,
0:07:20 > 0:07:23the theme is played by the second violins here at the front
0:07:23 > 0:07:25of the Royal Albert Hall stage,
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and they're using their bows this time.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48The knocking...
0:07:48 > 0:07:49the pause...
0:08:00 > 0:08:02And now the first violins have the theme.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39Now here's the real surprise.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42If you've been sitting there thinking that this tune
0:08:42 > 0:08:45is too simple, or too tuneless, even,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48to be the grand theme of this epic finale, you're quite right.
0:08:48 > 0:08:53It turns out that this is just a simple bassline after all.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56All this time, Beethoven has been holding up his sleeve
0:08:56 > 0:08:59the real theme of this finale,
0:08:59 > 0:09:03now gloriously introduced by the singing oboe whilst the bassline
0:09:03 > 0:09:07that we learnt has been relegated to the cellos and basses underneath.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Now, together, this oboe theme and its bassline create
0:09:47 > 0:09:50what's called an Englischer, an English dance.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52And in fact, it's a tune that Beethoven had written,
0:09:52 > 0:09:55a catchy little number a few years earlier
0:09:55 > 0:09:57and he was really pretty obsessed by it.
0:09:57 > 0:09:58It starts off as an orchestral dance.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02He uses it in his only ballet, the Creatures of Prometheus,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and he wrote a set of variations for solo piano on it too.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08But anyway, it's at this point in the finale of the Eroica symphony
0:10:08 > 0:10:09that things can really get going,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12because Beethoven can use the melody and the bassline
0:10:12 > 0:10:14in so many different ways,
0:10:14 > 0:10:17like an actor dressing up in different costumes.
0:10:17 > 0:10:21Here the bassline is the basis of a fugue which flies around
0:10:21 > 0:10:25the orchestra like a kind of supercharged children's round.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28And with the Aurora Orchestra on stage here in this huge arc
0:10:28 > 0:10:31in the Royal Albert Hall, you'll be able to see and feel and hear
0:10:31 > 0:10:33the melody soar through them.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35It starts in the first violins.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43Now the seconds...
0:10:49 > 0:10:51..and violas.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57And on it goes round the circle.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01Now, on its own, this fugue theme is a little dry, or perhaps academic.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03But the magical thing about a fugue
0:11:03 > 0:11:07is that once each orchestral section has introduced the fugue theme,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10it carries on playing in the background,
0:11:10 > 0:11:14providing busy activity, or what we call counterpoint.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Now, by the end of this fugue, the themes are coming thick and fast
0:11:17 > 0:11:19and they get faster and faster, these introductions,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22as it goes round the circle.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Let's hear the whole thing ripple around the Royal Albert Hall stage,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28gathering momentum like a tidal wave at the end.
0:12:25 > 0:12:30It's a crazy, chaotic labyrinth of counterpoint that Beethoven creates,
0:12:30 > 0:12:31but he keeps up the energy
0:12:31 > 0:12:34of this symphonic carousel of characters.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37Here are a group of wild anarchic dances with the second violins
0:12:37 > 0:12:40and violas in the middle in a frenzy.
0:12:45 > 0:12:47He adds the dance on top...
0:12:48 > 0:12:50- Hey! - LAUGHTER
0:12:53 > 0:12:55..and the bassline underneath.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57Hey!
0:13:10 > 0:13:12Hey!
0:13:12 > 0:13:14LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:13:16 > 0:13:17It's...
0:13:19 > 0:13:22It's amazing, the variety that Beethoven can create from this
0:13:22 > 0:13:26simple tune and its strange bassline.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28The energy keeps building in the orchestra.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30They get louder and louder until we feel
0:13:30 > 0:13:32that there's kind of nowhere for them to go.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36The orchestra comes to a loud and sudden stop, it's a pause,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39and then Beethoven returns to the oboe theme.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Remember how it sounded when we first heard it.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55Well, here, later in the movement, it's transformed into a prayer.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57It's much slower,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01with some achingly beautiful changes to the harmony underneath.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08It's pretty gorgeous, that music, isn't it?
0:15:08 > 0:15:10I think you can give them a round of applause. I...
0:15:10 > 0:15:12APPLAUSE
0:15:18 > 0:15:19Thank you.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22So if that moment of magic, towards the end,
0:15:22 > 0:15:25it's nearly where the Eroica symphony ends
0:15:25 > 0:15:27in this kaleidoscopic fourth movement, its finale,
0:15:27 > 0:15:29but where does the symphony begin?
0:15:29 > 0:15:33Well, let's rewind not just to the beginning of the first movement
0:15:33 > 0:15:34of the Eroica symphony,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38but to how Beethoven composed it in 1803 and 1804.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41He needed to recover himself from a deep depression
0:15:41 > 0:15:43that he'd suffered the year before in 1802.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48He realised with terror how bad his deafness was becoming
0:15:48 > 0:15:51and that shook him to the brink of suicide.
0:15:51 > 0:15:52So the composition of this symphony
0:15:52 > 0:15:57symbolises his return to the world, to his powers.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59But as well as this personal victory,
0:15:59 > 0:16:03this is a symphony with a subject. Napoleon Bonaparte.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06Beethoven originally dedicated this symphony to Napoleon
0:16:06 > 0:16:08but he scratched out the dedication
0:16:08 > 0:16:11when he heard that Napoleon had called himself emperor.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14But that means that during the composition of this piece
0:16:14 > 0:16:19Beethoven was driven by the idea that his music, this music,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21could be the sounds of a new society.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Talk about ambitious. Well, the Eroica symphony starts with a bang.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33Not just one bang, but two.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37And abruptly he continues with a simple cello tune
0:16:37 > 0:16:41that follows the contours of an arpeggio of E flat major.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49But Beethoven is going to confound our expectations
0:16:49 > 0:16:51time and time again in this first movement,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55and even in these early bars he does so here by taking a wrong,
0:16:55 > 0:16:59unexpected turn to a sour C sharp.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12And listen to how Beethoven intensifies the impact
0:17:12 > 0:17:16of that C sharp by introducing at that very moment
0:17:16 > 0:17:19the first violins above, jerky and syncopated
0:17:19 > 0:17:22before they join the cellos together like a duet partner.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41Now, when you add the middle of the texture as well,
0:17:41 > 0:17:44put it all together and I think as the opening of a symphony,
0:17:44 > 0:17:46this is pretty much unbeatable.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07But that really is only the start,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10because this movement goes on to become the single longest
0:18:10 > 0:18:13continuous band of pure orchestral music that had been written
0:18:13 > 0:18:15up to this point,
0:18:15 > 0:18:17and Beethoven is pushing everything to its limits in it.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21We could talk about melody, harmony, orchestration, but we're all of us
0:18:21 > 0:18:24- in the Royal Albert Hall going to focus on rhythm, aren't we?- We are.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28Well, he writes this first movement in three-four, which means
0:18:28 > 0:18:31there are three beats in the bar. It's a simple dance in three.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33Just think of that cello tune...
0:18:33 > 0:18:35One, two, three, one, two, three, one...
0:18:35 > 0:18:38You have a nice impulse on the downbeat.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Bearing that in mind, listen to this passage, bar 27.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43So it's pretty early on in the movement.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04I don't know about you, but I certainly feel that he's
0:19:04 > 0:19:08completely disrupted my sense of one, two, three, one, two, three.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10- It's a bit awkward when you're a conductor. - LAUGHTER
0:19:10 > 0:19:13But the amazing thing about how he undermines this
0:19:13 > 0:19:18is that he's introducing explosive orchestral accents,
0:19:18 > 0:19:19not just on the first beat now,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22but on the second and third beats of the bar.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26The story goes that in the very first rehearsal of this piece
0:19:26 > 0:19:30in 1804, in Prince Lobkowitz's palace, Beethoven,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34who was conducting, got so carried away with his music that he started
0:19:34 > 0:19:37following his own accents instead of conducting
0:19:37 > 0:19:40with three beats in the bar, which is pretty much what I'm supposed
0:19:40 > 0:19:43to be doing this evening when we play the symphony proper.
0:19:43 > 0:19:47And of course, the whole orchestra fell apart.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49Now, just to give you a little impression of...
0:19:49 > 0:19:51- not the falling apart bit, but... - LAUGHTER
0:19:51 > 0:19:54..but what's going on here, I'm going to ask the orchestra
0:19:54 > 0:19:56to demonstrate upon this beautiful stage
0:19:56 > 0:19:59of the Royal Albert Hall what their accents sound like.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And I'll conduct a little bit like how Beethoven might have done
0:20:02 > 0:20:04in that rehearsal. It goes like this.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08- THEY STAMP FEET ON THE FIRST BEAT - One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
0:20:08 > 0:20:11one, two, one, two, one, one, two, three, four, five...
0:20:11 > 0:20:14one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two...
0:20:14 > 0:20:17one, two, one, two, one, two, three
0:20:17 > 0:20:21one, two, three, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...one.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- Like so. - APPLAUSE
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Now, to truly see how far he's moved away
0:20:32 > 0:20:36from that sort of Viennese waltz... One, two, three, one, two, three...
0:20:36 > 0:20:38..we need a little bit of help.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Don't worry, you're not going to have to do that.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45But maybe if you could help me set up a nice three-beat pulse
0:20:45 > 0:20:48and we'll put that against you.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51OK, so here we go. A three-beat pulse is very straightforward.
0:20:51 > 0:20:53A gentle clap is going to work for this.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55One, two, three, one, two, three...
0:20:55 > 0:20:57I need you all to do this, by the way.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59This is not solo clapping.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01AUDIENCE CLAPS One, two, three,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03one, two, three, one, two, three...
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Keep it going And the musicians will join in.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07CLAPPING CONTINUES
0:21:07 > 0:21:11MUSICIANS STAMP THEIR FEET
0:21:23 > 0:21:26That is pretty spectacular. What an audience this is, you know.
0:21:26 > 0:21:2937 beats there. It's something like that, isn't it, altogether?
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Anyway, congratulations. That sounds...
0:21:32 > 0:21:35In fact, it goes further, actually, in its rhythmic revolution
0:21:35 > 0:21:37than some of the music of Steve Reich, in fact.
0:21:37 > 0:21:39But that's nonetheless what's happening inside the fabric
0:21:39 > 0:21:42of the first movement of the Eroica symphony.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Now, that's only, though, one movement,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47or one part of the first movement.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49But he's shattering conventions throughout
0:21:49 > 0:21:51all the movements of the Eroica symphony.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53So let's move to the scherzo, the third movement.
0:21:53 > 0:21:54The thing about this,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57the third movements of symphonies by Beethoven's predecessors
0:21:57 > 0:22:00like Mozart and Haydn were usually in the form
0:22:00 > 0:22:04of a courtly minuet, a rather slow and stately dance.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07So here's what Beethoven's scherzo, the third movement of the Eroica,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11its opening, could have sounded like as a Haydn minuet.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31So what does Beethoven actually do?
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Well, first he asks for it to be staccato, which means short.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44And then he says, pianissimo, or very quiet.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50Now he speeds it up, this is the terrifying bit,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53to get to an allegro vivace.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41So Beethoven transforms the Haydnesque minuet into this
0:23:41 > 0:23:44fast and dangerous scherzo, paving the way for the scherzos
0:23:44 > 0:23:47of later symphonies like Mahler and Shostakovich.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50And yet there is a vestige of the influence of Haydn
0:23:50 > 0:23:54in this movement too, in the central section, the trio, which is
0:23:54 > 0:23:57this rip-roaring rustic eruption for the three horns
0:23:57 > 0:23:59of the Eroica symphony.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23APPLAUSE
0:24:27 > 0:24:29There is, though, one movement of the Eroica symphony
0:24:29 > 0:24:33we haven't discussed yet, arguably the most influential of all.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36The second slow movement that Beethoven calls a marcia funebre,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39a funeral march.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Well, the question is, whose funeral is this?
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Is it those dead on the battlefield,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48or are these the sounds of mourning for the hero Bonaparte himself?
0:24:48 > 0:24:53This movement is all of those things and more. It's a tragic pageant.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It's nothing less than a catharsis of grief.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58And at the very start of it, the double basses are playing this,
0:24:58 > 0:25:02they're mimicking the sounds of funeral bass drums.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04You can imagine the procession.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37Well, above that virtuosity in the abyss of the orchestra there,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Beethoven adds rich harmony and a melody in the first violins
0:25:41 > 0:25:43that's like something out of French Baroque music
0:25:43 > 0:25:46complete with stately dotted rhythms.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17But not everything in this movement is so subdued in atmosphere.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21In fact, it's full of extremes that Beethoven cuts to
0:26:21 > 0:26:24from one to the other like a film director, from this...
0:26:31 > 0:26:32..to this.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41From this...
0:26:45 > 0:26:46..to this.
0:26:54 > 0:26:59Throughout its 15 minutes, this music, it confronts its grief
0:26:59 > 0:27:01and then it exorcises it
0:27:01 > 0:27:04and finally, by the end of the movement, it's exhausted.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07It's a whole process of mourning in music, still one of the most
0:27:07 > 0:27:12dramatic and ambitious ideas ever attempted in instrumental music.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14But who is this funeral procession for?
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Who is the hero of this whole symphony?
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Napoleon Bonaparte, ideal societies, English dances,
0:27:21 > 0:27:23they're all there, for sure.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27But the definitive answer to who the hero of the Eroica symphony is -
0:27:27 > 0:27:29it's Beethoven, of course.
1:13:55 > 1:14:00CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:14:00 > 1:14:03If you enjoyed that, Aurora Orchestra also played
1:14:03 > 1:14:06Richard Strauss's Metamorphosen as part of this prom,
1:14:06 > 1:14:10and that performance is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.