Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's Eroica Minor, or Third Symphony, was completed in 1803, and was the first product of his struggle with deafness.

It was to be dedicated to Napoleon Bonaparte, until he appointed himself emperor. Beethoven reportedly tore up the dedication in a rage upon hearing the news, and gave it the existing title, Sinfonia eroica (Heroic Symphony).

Its proportions are noticeably different to those of earlier symphonies, and is about twice as long as any that came before.

Music critic W.N. Sullivan[?] writes that the first movement is an expression of Beethoven's courage in confronting his deafness, the second, slow and dirgelike, depicting the overwhelming despair he felt, the third, the scherzo, an 'indomitable uprising of creative energy' and the fourth an exuberant outpouring of creative energy.