Admiration Gone Away
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Updated
April 04, 2008
Beethoven greatly admired Napoleon, at first. He saw him as a man of the people
who had risen to power and fame. So when he was asked to compose some music for
Napoleon he gladly agreed. He composed for him his Third Symphony, working five
years on it. On the title page he wrote two names. At the top he put Bonaparte.
At the bottom he put his own name. But Beethoven became disillusioned with
Napoleon. Beethoven loved freedom and democratic ideals. When the Napoleon he had
once admired proved himself unworthy, Beethoven tore up the title page of the
symphony and wrote a new one. It said, "Heroic Symphony composed in memory
of a great man."