Episode 40 - 1814

John uncovers a year of enormous musical variety in the life of Beethoven; 1814. He unveils music the great composer wrote to accompany an ode to Vienna - a piece John describes as “one of the most bizarre pieces of music he would ever compose”, and he tells the dramatic story of thehuge fire suffered by a Russian Ambassador, whose name lives on in a set of String Quartets that Beethoven dedicated to him. There’s also a piece Beethoven wrote for the late wife of a patron - one of his least known works - along with a delightful piano Sonata, and the first performance of Beethoven’s only opera in its final completed form; Fidelio. All the Beethoven pieces featured in this podcast are taken from the 90-disc Naxos box set, the Complete Beethoven Edition. You can buy yours by heading to Presto Classical and Europadisc.