Soon French soldiers would be marching through the streets. It was the middle of the Napoleonic Wars, which roiled Europe for 15 years. Like all the citizens of Vienna, Beethoven would witness the ...

Ludwig Van Beethoven performed Symphony No. 5 for the first time in public in Vienna on this day in history, Dec. 22, 1808. It has become perhaps the world's most famous musical composition.

As late as 1927, the French politician Édouard Herriot declared “our hope that one day [Beethoven’s] prophetic anthems will become the hymns of love of a fraternal and reconciled mankind ...

Ludwig van Beethoven’s ninth and final symphony was first performed on May 7th 1824 at Kärntnertor Theatre in Vienna. By then deaf, the composer took to the stage for the first time in 12 years ...