Beethoven Symphony No. 3 (Eroica) – Viola Part

Edited by Yizhak Schotten

Title: Symphony No. 3
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Instrument: Viola
Edited By: Yizhak Schotten
Instrumentation: Orchestral
Pages: 17

The viola part for Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 has been edited by Israeli-born Yizhak Schotten, an internationally acclaimed musician whom STRAD Magazine has called "one of America's finest viola players... a leading light of the U.S. viola establishment." Schotten's bowings, fingerings and other editorial markings have been added throughout the score.

Beethoven's Eroica Symphony (Heroic Symphony) was composed shortly after the Second Symphony. He finished it in early 1804 and gave its first public performance in 1805 in Vienna. The Eroica Symphony is a structurally rigorous composition of great emotional depth, and it marked the beginning of Beethoven's creative middle-period, sometimes referred to as his "heroic" phase.

Beethoven designed the piece as a memorial to Napoleon, who he hoped would inspire Europe to a humanist, libertarian, egalitarian revolution under his rule. In a sense the "heroic symphony" describes Napoleon’s "heroic struggles" with the large-scale first movement in sonata form, opening with two huge E flat major chords played by the entire orchestra and setting the tonality and tone of the movement. Beethoven then narrates Napoleon's death in the slow funeral march movement, and finally celebrates how his legacy and spirit were to have endured with the energy and imagination of the scherzo and finale. The fourth movement is a set of variations on a theme, which Beethoven had previously used in the finale of his ballet The Creatures of Prometheus.

Download and print the score today to gain access to expertly edited Beethoven Eroica Symphony No. 3 viola fingerings and bowings from Yizhak Schotten!

Please note: Bowings have been marked throughout with few fingerings.

Click here to preview a recording of this piece as found on Yizhak Schotten's Orchestral Excerpts CD. To purchase the CD, which includes written and spoken commentary, click on the image below.