Manfred Honeck Robert Schumann
Beethoven

As a young man, Robert Schumann (1810–1856) had a remarkable talent for the piano, but a finger injury brought his career as a pianist to a premature end. In the 1830s, he composed a great deal of music for the piano, and on a number of occasions attempted to compose a concerto for piano and orchestra, but was unable to complete one. In 1840, he married one of the best pianists in Europe, Clara Wieck. She encouraged Schumann to compose more for the orchestra, and in 1845, she was the soloist at the premiere of his Piano Concerto in A minor.

Beethoven composed his Symphony No. 3 in 1803 and 1804, and it premiered in 1805 in Vienna. He was inspired by his fascination for Napoleon Bonaparte, who had come to power in France a few years earlier. Beethoven had originally named the symphony “Bonaparte”, but when in 1804 he found out that Napoleon had declared himself Emperor, Beethoven angrily destroyed the title page. He then changed the title to “Sinfonia Eroica – composed to celebrate the memory of a great man”.