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Eroica

No, that's not supposed to say "Erotica." Eroica is a BBC made-for-TV movie about the premiere of Beethoven's 3rd symphony. I think it's worth watching for several reasons:

(1) Attention to detail. They used actual musicians to play the parts of the musicians, and they actually played the music. If you know how to play any of the instruments, you can see clearly that they're not just faking it. They're really playing. The instruments are all authentic period instruments – horns without valves, early oboes without keys, etc.
(2) Taken from accounts of the event, the teleplay is about as close to what really happened as possible. The dialog is taken from written accounts by various people, including Beethoven's pupil, Ferdinand Reis, who wrote a detailed biography of Beethoven.
(3) It's a movie made for musicians and music lovers, because the symphony is played in it's entirety, with few interruptions. A lot of attention is payed to the emotions caused by people hearing it (people were said to have been brought to tears by the second movement), and there are lots of long shots of people contemplating what they're hearing, and you can see everything on their faces.

The movie is conceptually interesting, since it's basically a performance of the 3rd symphony in it's entirety, and most of the movie is just people-watching, as they listen to or perform the music – it would be boring in any other film, but this one actually pulls it off without being just a boring music video.

The conversations Beethoven, a count, and others have are all relevant and historical. We even get an appearance from Haydn, who was Beethoven's teacher, and who arrived late in the performance, but was impressed, and commented "Music is forever changed now…"

I thought it was much better than Immortal Beloved, because it focused on the event, and what it did to those experiencing it. We see the frustration of musicians who break strings and bows playing to Beethoven's written and vocal instructions to be more abrupt and intense, the delight of French horn players as they get solos (the 3rd contained the most extensive use of French horns to date, as many considered the instrument to be unpredictable), and the mixed emotions of the aristocrats who don't know what to make of it.

Check it out. It's unexpectedly good.

– Review by Psycho Dave

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