at Queen's Hall, London
(Sole Lessees, Messrs, ChappellandCo. Ltd.)
The BBC
Symphony Orchestra
(ninety players)
Leader, Paul Beard
Conducted by SIR HENRY J. WOOD
' Heroic Symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man, dedicated to His Most Serene Highness the Prince of Lobkowitz by Ludwig van Beethoven (Op. 55, No. 3) '. So runs the Italian title of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, in E flat. The ' great man ' was Napoleon, to whom the work was originally dedicated, for in 1803 Napoleon was known only as an altruist and great leader: the saviour of his country and the restorer of order and prosperity. But later, when Beethoven learned that Napoleon was really a tyrant and self seeker, he tore up the cover with its dedication and substituted a fresh one to Prince Lobkowitz. Nevertheless, whatever dramatic or psychological ideas were behind the conception of this symphony, from a purely musical point of view it remains one of the masterpieces of symphonic music.