As the dream of liberty promised by Napoleon crumbled to dust, Beethoven faced his own personal struggles.

Maxim Emelyanychev and Vilde Frang join us in two works that capture the rebellious spirit and heroism of the time.

What does it mean to be a hero or a rebel?

That question may well have been in Beethoven’s mind in the early years of the 19th Century as the macro-politics of the day seemed to clash with his mental health struggles. In 1802 Beethoven had written to his brothers distressed by his developing deafness. In the following years, Napoleon’s campaign to liberate Europe from tyrannous monarchies sparked hope in the composer.