i (Section C)
Led by Marie Wilson
Conducted by Clarence Raybould
In 1812 a new theatre was opened at Pesth, for which Kotzebue wrote two plays, King Stephen, or Hungary's First Benefactor and The Ruins of Athens. For each of these plays Beethoven was commissioned to write- an overture and incidental music.
King Stephen deals with an episode in the life of Stephen I, who brought Christianity to Hungary in the tenth century and was later canonised. To this day Hungary is called after him ' the realm of St. Stephen '. The Overture, though not one of Beethoven's greatest, is full of melody with a strong Hungarian flavour.