ABSTRACT
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus [The Creatures of Prometheus] holds threefold significance for Beethoven’s life, compositional development, and the historiography of his achievement. The ballet’s Viennese premiere on 28 March 1801 marked a turning point in his career, as his foremost biographers agree, beginning with his amanuensis Anton Schindler and extending from Alexander Wheelock Thayer to Maynard Solomon.1 Already a celebrated pianist when he arrived from his native Bonn in 1792, Beethoven soon found patrons among Vienna’s leading aristocrats. But the ballet was his first major commission from Emperor Francis II and Empress Marie Therese, who urgently requested the score on 7 March 1801, two weeks before the anticipated premiere.2 Beethoven consequently suspended other activities until the rescheduled debut on 28 March. The imperial behest’s fulfillment thus signified his acceptance in Viennese nobility’s highest echelon, a standing he never relinquished.
