Wellington's Victory "Battle Symphony," Opus 91

First performed in December 1813 as part of a program to benefit Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau, Wellington's Victory (also known as "The Battle of Vittoria" or "The Battle Symphony") was originally commissioned by a promoter and inventor acquaintance of Beethoven's, named Johann Nepomuk Mälzell. He wished to use the piece and Beethoven's celebrity as the world's greatest composer to play on the patriotic sympathies of British audiences for his own financial gain. However, the work proved so popular and profitable in Viennese concert halls, there was no need for a tiring journey to England. And indeed, the piece has retained its popularity with concert audiences ever since, due to its fervent theatricality and spectacular sound effects (including cannons) which attempt to recreate the life-and-death drama of a great battle. The work is reprinted here from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Works edition. Republication of Wellington's Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria ("Wellington's Victory or the Battle of Vittoria"), Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig, 1813.