II. Marcia Funebre

Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in 1770 in Bonn, Germany. He is greatly known as the transitional composer connecting the Classical era to the Romantic era of Western traditional music. Beethoven's first two symphonies followed the traditional classical Symphony rubric that was defined by Mozart and Haydn. Symphony No. 3 however was quite different. It is nearly twice the length of previous symphonies and was overall more expressive. At the time, this symphony changed the idea of what a symphony could be. This symphony was composed in 1804 and premiered publicly in 1805. The original title of this work was Bonaparte and was dedicated to Napoleon. However, after Napoleon crowned himself emperor, the initial dedication was nullified. Beethoven altered the title to Eroica and wrote the dedication instead as "composed to celebrate the memory of a great man". It is said that the second movement of this symphony is based on a funeral procession Beethoven heard outside his window one day. He took this melody and polyphonically intensified it. The original tune, or idea, of the funeral march can be heard many times throughout the movement, each time developing into something new or leading into a new idea.