Mike Leghorn <[log in to unmask]> on the Eroica and Bastien:

>I'm sorry to be so stubborn.  Of course, resolving this debate is not a
>matter of life and death.  However, I still must insist that the similarity
>is more than coincidence, despite some peoples' (on this list) claim that
>Beethoven never heard Mozart's Bastien.

I can understand your feelings.  When I heard the Bastien overture I
also was struck by the similarity and immediately jumped to the conclusion,
like so many professionals before (while I'm only an amateur), that
Beethoven 'borrowed' it from Mozart.  But that was a looooong time ago.
Now I know a lot more about both Beethoven's and Mozart's life.  Margaret
Mikulska is right.  It's highly unlikely that Beethoven was aware of the
existence of Mozart's little opera.  How to explain the similarity?
Somebody wrote (sorry, forgot who) that it was a popular rococo theme at
the time.  Interesting, I didn't know that.  If it's true, that's maybe the
explanation.  If not, then we must conclude that it's mere coincidence.  So
be it.

But now for something slightly different: you're not the first who
speculates that the true hero behind the Eroica was not Napoleon, but
Mozart.  In 1990 a Dutch Beethoven expert, one Harke de Roos, wrote an
amazing booklet, entitled "Beetgenomen door Beethoven" (translation:
Fooled by Beethoven), in which he tried to solve various mysteries, like
the identity of the Immortal Beloved, the cause of Beethoven's death, the
'unplayable' metronome markings and the hero of the Eroica.  Little
attention was paid to the book, since it's so far-fetched and speculative.
However, these days Dutch researchers get interested after all and this has
to do with De Roos' hypothesis on Beethoven's death.  As far as I know he
was the first who speculated that Beethoven was poisoned deliberately (by
Schindler, by the way).  Since the publication of the high amount of lead
in Beethoven's hair this topic has become quite hot.  So maybe De Roos'
view on the hero of the Eroica will be discussed again.

Joyce Maier
www.ademu.com/Beethoven