Beethoven Project: Pre-Concert Talk With Dr. Marie Sumner Lott

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The symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven have long been considered the heart of the orchestral repertoire. They epitomize the collaboration inherent in great orchestral playing, bringing together many diverse voices to express universal human experiences and emotions. In this series of pre-concert talks, Dr. Marie Sumner Lott explains how Beethoven and his generation introduced new approaches to writing for the orchestra in works that continue to serve as a foundation for music in today's movies and TV shows, video games, and concert music.

This concert offers us an opportunity to hear two starkly different works composed just a few years apart. The First Symphony shows Beethoven absorbing and experimenting with the "Classical" techniques and tricks used by his mentors Haydn and Mozart, and the resulting work bears many of those hallmarks. The Third Symphony, called "Eroica" or the Heroic, is rightly considered a watershed in the symphonic literature. The pre-concert talk will situate these two works in the political cultural climate of Napoleonic Europe in the 1800s while also exploring the ways that they express Beethoven's personal experiences, such as his impending deafness. Both symphonies demonstrate the changing atmosphere of Europe at the turn of the century, conveying in music the uncertainty and excitement of their time.

This event will take place in the Event Room at the Woodruff Arts Center. The Event Room is located on the 2nd floor of the Memorial Arts Building across from Atlanta Symphony Hall.

This event is free for all classical performance ticket holders.

Learn more about the Beethoven Project