Beethoven, Ludwig van - Konig Stephan; Leonore Prohaska (excerpts); Opferlied; Germania - Segerstam, Leif

Apart from his only opera, Fidelio, Beethoven's connection to the Vienna theater was largely through incidental music or songs that were added to other composers' works as supplementary material. König Stephan was written to celebrate the politically significant opening of the new theater in Pest, and its triumphant mood honored the ruling Austrian emperor. The female heroine Leonore Prohaska is remembered for her military chorus and romance accompanied by harp. In Friedrich von Matthisson's poem Opferlied ('Sacrificial Song'), a young man prays to Zeus to grant him beauty and goodness in his youth and old age. Two of Beethoven's four arrangements can be heard in this wide-ranging program.