„Evil, be thou my Good: by thee at least  / Divided empire with Heaven’s King I hold,  / By thee, and more than half perhaps will reign;  / As Man ere long, and this new World, shall know” – claims Satan in John Milton’s Paradise lost. At the threshold of the 19th century, perceiving power as a force stemming from wickedness was a view shared by Ludwig van Beethoven, fascinated by the ideals of the Enlightenment. During the opening concert of the 60th International Festival Wratislavia Cantans, Il Giardino Armonico and the singers of the NFM Choir, conducted by Giovanni Antonini, will perform a special piece: while the German artist was working on it, his political ideals were put through a crucible. 

The performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 will be preceded by Coronation Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The latter is yet another masterpiece – though showing a certain compromise between the composer's creative skills (written during his European travels) and the limitations he faced upon return to his home in Salzburg. The form that liturgical music created by Mozart took during this period was influenced, among others, by the artistic taste of Archbishop Jerome Colloredo, the composer’s patron at the time. The bishop expected musical interpretations of liturgical texts to be both concise and solemn. Composing the Mass in early 1779, Mozart perfectly fulfilled the task he was entrusted with. The piece is compact and serene, yet not devoid of a distinct theatricality. Its celebratory mood is fostered by the presence of percussion and quite a few wind instruments. The Mass was premiered at Easter, shortly after it was finished. It gained fame quite quickly, reaching well beyond Salzburg. In 1791, it was performed in Prague during the coronation ceremony of Emperor Leopold II Habsburg as King of Bohemia, and just a year later it was played when his successor, Francis II, was enthroned, which explains its “coronation” subtitle.

Immediately after ascending to the throne, both imperial and royal, Francis had to engage in war with the revolution-swept France. The conflict with that country – controlled by Napoleon Bonaparte from 1799 onward – eventually led to the Habsburg representative relinquishing the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Had it not been for the earlier coronation of Napoleon himself as Emperor of the French, this turn of events would have pleased Ludwig van Beethoven. Between 1802 and 1804, filled with republican ideas – which Napoleon, then First Consul of France, personified – Bach composed his Symphony No. 3 and titled it Bonaparte. When the piece was complete, however, the news broke that Napoleon had crowned himself Emperor of France. “Now he too will violate the rights of the people to satisfy his ambition, he will elevate himself above everyone and become a tyrant!” an embittered Beethoven said, crossing Napoleon out of the score. Eventually, he added an ironic dedication: “Heroic symphony, written in memory of a great man.” This is how Eroica made its way into music history.