A week after Napoleon invades Russia, Ludwig van Beethoven almost certainly says “Yes,
tonight Josephine” to the love of his life, the unhappily married and recently jilted but
socially impossible match, Countess Jozefina Brunszvik. Three days later he pours forth - with
the pencil (!) he souvenired from the tryst - the 10 little pages of hopeless devotion that have spawned thousands of pages of academic speculation. He hastily concludes in order to make the next post, then scrunches them in his pocket for the rest of his life.

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Beethoven's Eighth

Berry Uniting Church

Bowral Memorial Hall

National Gallery of Australia

Glasshouse Port Macquarie

Rathmines Theatre

City Recital Hall

Beethoven, Mozart & Boccherini
How does that one go again? Neglected even amongst Beethoven’s even-numbered “B-side” symphonies, No. 4 in B flat can be a little slow to spring to mind, but once that effervescent first subject banishes the portent of the mock-gloomy introduction, the delights of this work come flooding back. Really remarkable passages abound-suspension, resolution, modulation, deliberate confounding of expectation to comic effect; “masterclass” is applicable, but it’s far too much fun for that. Besides rescuing a bassoonist from a fiendish solo in the finale, the Watts arrangement for flute and string sextet lends a filagree of clarity to a warm and witty work that will leave you beaming.

Beethoven's Fourth

ACO On The Pier

Pippa Macmillan

Events

Upcoming events

1 - 7 May, 2026

Beethoven's Fourth · Australian Haydn Ensemble

Past events

Oct 30 - Nov 8, 2025

Beethoven's Eighth · Australian Haydn Ensemble

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