Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Part of: Sir John Eliot Gardiner Perspectives and Beethoven Celebration
Partner events on February 7 and February 27 explore the instruments featured in this concert.
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is also performing February 19, February 21, February 23, and February 24.
Sir John Eliot Gardiner is also performing February 18, February 19, February 21, February 23, and February 24.
Performers
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Artistic Director and Conductor
Program
ALL-BEETHOVEN PROGRAMSymphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3, "Eroica"
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.

At a Glance
This concert presents an important transitional symphony in Beethoven’s career and a work that launched the Beethoven revolution at full throttle. Beethoven’s Second Symphony loosely adheres to the 18th-century Haydn-Mozart model, but also marks the point where Beethoven put himself on what he called a “new path” toward greater freedom and originality. Written when Beethoven was first experiencing terrifying symptoms of deafness, it nonetheless expresses uninhibited joy and exuberance. The Third, however, was something entirely new. It has a whiplash energy, an epic structure, and an explosion of experiments that ushered in the Romanticism of Schumann, Wagner, Mahler, and many others. It is longer, freer, more demanding, more complex, and more emotionally varied than any previous symphony.