Ballet Music, 'The Mon of Prometheus' (1801)
It is a little odd, at this date, to think of Beethoven, stern, austere character that ho was, as being instructed by a dancer to write music for a ballet. Such was, however, the origin of the music for Prometheus. The ballot was designed by one Vigano, who, along with his wife, Maria Medina , enjoyed such a reputation in Vienna at the end of the eighteenth century that they were called on to produce a ballot in honour of the Empress. It was founded on the classical myth, and two statues, brought to life by music instead of by the stolen fire of the original story, are taught by the immortals on Parnassus in dancing, drama, and music. Beethoven wrote an Overture, an Introduction, and sixteen other numbers; the Overture is still fairly often played. The last movement has this special interest that one of its themes is used again in the last movement of the 'Eroica' symphony and in the Pianoforte Variations and Fugue, Op. 35.
Belonging, as it does, to Boethoven's earlier period, the music has some suggestions both of Mozart and of Haydn, bright, melodious, and, on the whole, slighter in form and structure than most of his orchestral music.