For the past few years, the Royal Opera Orchestra has been led by the young conductor Théotime Langlois de Swarte, whose energy and imagination have brought exceptional artistic vitality to this remarkable collaboration. Together, they now take on Beethoven’s monumental symphonic cycle, presented at the Royal Opera for the very first time.

Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the Eroica, is widely regarded as the birth of musical Romanticism, with its unprecedented scale and dramatic power. By contrast, the Seventh Symphony, described by Richard Wagner as the “apotheosis of the dance”, radiates rhythmic vitality and a Dionysian exuberance whose modernity remains striking to this day. The Eroica draws us into a vast musical epic, where the celebrated Funeral March stands alongside the brilliance of ideals of freedom and heroism. In contrast, the Seventh Symphony sets narrative aside in favour of the sheer exhilaration of movement. Its famous Allegretto, with its haunting, persistent melancholy, gives way to a dazzling finale that sweeps the orchestra along in a whirlwind of life and energy.

Royal Opera Productions.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 

Symphonie n°3 « Héroïque»

I. Allegro con brio
II. Marcia funebre. Adagio assai
III. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
IV. Finale. Allegro molto

Symphonie n°7 « Apothéose de la danse »

I. Poco sostenuto. Vivace
II. Allegretto
III. Presto
IV. Allegro con brio

Part One: 50 minutes

Intermission

Part Two: 40 minutes