Premiered in Vienna in 1800 when Beethoven was not even 30 years of age, the First Symphony in C Major marks the beginning of some of the greatest compositions in music history: the Nine Symphonies.
Comprised of four movements, the symphony follows the model of Haydn or Mozart, but the young prodigy approaches the work with innovation: an unexpected beginning, a new place for the wind instruments, an energetic Minuet, and a Finale with a series of false starts. The Adagio is the most astonishing: the timpani is pianissimo, noticed by Berlioz who observed one of the first unprecedented effects that Beethoven would produce with this instrument.