The Genius of Beethoven

The first episode "The Rebel" looks at Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and 2nd Symphony, and charts his turbulent early years as a pianist and composer in Vienna, after having rejected his abusive alcoholic father. In the second episode "Love and Loss", the music of Beethoven's creative middle years is explored, alongside the dramatised recollections of his family and friends. In this period he wrote five symphonies, four concertos, and his only opera - Fidelio. And the third and final episode "Faith and Fury" shows Beethoven again revolutionises musical composition with works such as the Hammerklavier Sonata, the Missa Solemnis, the 9th Symphony and the baffling late string quartets - all composed when he was profoundly deaf.