Date of composition: 1807
Premiere: March 1807 at the Palais Lobkowitz in Vienna
Duration: 8 minutes
Performances by the Berliner Philharmoniker:
First performed on 27 November 1882; conductor: Ludwig von Brenner
Wounded honour, betrayal, and reconciliation – the tragedy Coriolan by the writer Heinrich Joseph von Collin brings the grandest emotions to the stage. The work takes its name from the Roman patrician Coriolanus. Banished from Rome because of his despotic manner, he seeks revenge and allies himself with his homeland’s sworn enemies. Rome is attacked and seems doomed to destruction. Only the pleas of his mother and his wife can soften Coriolanus. Rome is thus saved, but Coriolanus sees only one way out for himself – suicide.
In his overture of 1807, Ludwig van Beethoven portrayed the protagonist’s emotional torment. Three striking, long-held string chords open the work with force, immediately building massive harmonic tension, followed by a restless, wandering motif that culminates in the orchestra’s first dramatic outburst. A songful second theme provides an atmospheric counterpart. Thus the music – within the overture’s miniature form – oscillates between impetuous expressivity and intimate tenderness, mirroring Coriolanus’s inner conflict between blind lust for revenge and love for his family.