Bamberger Symphoniker / Jakub Hrůša

Beethoven, so the legend has it, planned his Third Symphony, nicknamed »Eroica«, to celebrate his idol Napoleon, to whom he was originally going to dedicate it. But when Napoleon had himself crowned Emperor, an angry Beethoven rubbed out the dedication, leaving a hole in the original score still visible today – and mysteriously rededicated the work »to the memory of a great man«.

Like the »Eroica«, Richard Strauss’s »Ein Heldenleben« already has a hero in its title, and the music follows its protagonist’s life through struggles and danger, love and completion. However, as in the Beethoven, the hero’s identity remains a mystery, although there has been speculation that the composer was portraying himself. So what does a hero sound like?