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This ‘movement’ considers how Beethoven’s music articulates the freedom of the heroic subject and its inherent contradictions, particularly through the logic of the ‘blank’ or ‘zero’ sign and the formal concept of the ‘eternal moment’ (or what Adorno terms the Augenblick in Beethoven’s symphonic processes). It explores these notions through the analyses of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Eroica Symphpony.

The allegorical portrait of Beethoven by Willibrord Mähler from around 1804—the time of the Eroica Symphony and of Napoleon Bonaparte's crowning himself emperor—is a rich source that merits close attention. This portrait not only displays Beethoven's identification as an Orpheus/Apollo artistic figure in an evocative symbolic landscape, but conveys provocative political implications. The contrast of a decaying dark tree to which Beethoven turns his back, and a pair of vigorous young trees in a clearing near the Apollo Temple is suggestive of the presence of "arbors de la liberté," while Beethoven's haircut "à la Titus" is also conspicuous, as are other striking details. In his portrait, Mähler seems to have responded to some symbolic depictions of Napoleon Bonaparte while avoiding their propagandistic character. Consideration of this portrait serves as springboard for an assessment of the Eroica Symphony, which is substantially indebted to Promethean symbolism connected to the ballet music "The Creatures of Prometheus." The narrative of the symphony's four movements outlines a larger progression: struggle-death-rebirth-apotheosis. In the finale, a multiplicity of transformations of the contredance associated with Prometheus conveys a participatory social environment of shared creativity. Keeping "the whole in view," Beethoven absorbed this symbolism into a unique symphonic cycle.

This chapter explores the relation between style and agency inspired by the French Revolution in the formation of the heroic subject and its claims to freedom. In particular, it considers how this ‘stylized agency’ became a musical force or will through the music of Beethoven. A selective analysis and critique of the Eroica Symphony—the symbol of this new-found autonomy in the narrative of Western music history—teases out the ethical and theological ramifications of such freedom. The chapter closes by opening up the conception of freedom in Beethoven’s music to suggest that even in Symphony that calls itself ‘heroic’ there are alternative freedoms to be heard.

This chapter explores Kant’s conception of the relation of the beautiful and the sublime to freedom and to moral theology. It then turns to Beethoven’s conception of the sublime, and illustrates this by an analysis of the slow movement of his early piano sonata Op. 2, No. 2, and an analysis of the first movement of the Eroica. The thesis of the chapter is that a Kantian ‘optimistic’ account of the sublime fits these pieces better than some other accounts of the sublime that the chapter describes, namely ‘the uncanny sublime’, ‘the authoritarian sublime’ and ‘the solipsistic sublime’. The chapter ends with a brief remark about the relation between Kantian freedom and the Christian faith.

Berlioz’s first official article for the Journal des débats follows the order of the program in reviewing the first Conservatoire Orchestra concert of the season, thus conveying the typically varied and uneven nature of these programs. This one features the “Credo” from Beethoven’s Missa solemnis (sparking a tirade against rapid fugues on “Amen”) a violin solo by Mayseder, and a sacred choral piece (“Laus spirituali”), besides the three works Berlioz considers the heart of the concert: a lyric scene for voice and orchestra by the still largely unknown Schubert, Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony, and the overture to Mozart’s Magic Flute. The article begins with a retrospective of the founding of the great Conservatoire orchestra, of musical conditions in Paris before its existence, and of the early obstacles to appreciation of Beethoven in France.