Symphony no. 3 "Eroica" in E-flat major, op. 55

The story of the torn title page is documented: Beethoven had headed the score Bonaparte, and when news came that Napoleon had crowned himself emperor he scratched the name out so violently that the paper was holed. The published parts of 1806 carry instead a dedication to Prince Lobkowitz and the line that the symphony was composed to celebrate the memory of a great man. Private performances took place at Lobkowitz's palace in 1804; the public premiere followed on 7 April 1805. At roughly fifty minutes it was longer than any symphony written before it.