Coriolan Overture, op. 62

Beethoven wrote Coriolan in 1807 for a play that had already left the Vienna stage — Heinrich Joseph von Collin's tragedy of 1804, which had run for only a few seasons. The overture was heard in March at a private concert in the Lobkowitz palace, alongside the Fourth Symphony and the Fourth Piano Concerto, and Collin received the dedication when the score appeared the following year. Eight minutes carry the whole drama: the general's fury set against the pleading of mother and wife, and an ending that does not conclude but disintegrates into three bare pizzicato notes.