"I am not very satisfied with my work thus far. From this day on I shall forge a new path.” - Beethoven's comment to violinist Wenzel Krumpholz in 1801
I'd have to say that Beethoven's Eroica was the hardest of his symphonies for me to get a handle on. I struggled for a long time to understand what Beethoven was saying, or trying to say, in the 3rd. Why is this work so hard to comprehend? My best answer is that the Eroica is a struggle to listen to (at first) because this work is about struggle, I dare say more than any other Beethoven symphony. In particular, the opening movement is the most combative piece of Beethoven's music I've ever heard. He isn't trying to cuddle up to the listener here. The 9th's opening movement comes closest to matching the uneasy struggle of the Eroica's, but even then, the 9th's is more of a cosmic battle, vast and impersonal. The Eroica's is a more personal, human blood-and-guts fight. It's a messy struggle, full of hesitant breaks and nervous pauses.
(Note: I'm using Harnoncourt's 1992 recording with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe as the reference CD for the timings you see. Obviously, the flaw in this oh-so-clever plan is that I'll lose anybody who doesn't have that same CD to follow along. However, I'm guessing most other period instrument recordings should be fairly close to the same timings as Harnoncourt's, since they are supposed to be scrupulous in following Beethoven's tempo markings. Also, any performances that don't obey the exposition repeat in the first movement will throw these timings totally off.)
Oh, and the music sample links are MIDI, not real orchestra sounds, so they suck musically, but they are good for getting the point across. They aren't big files, but they could still be troublesome for dial-up users. Beethoven's Eroica is the home site for the links. I urge any music lover, not just Beethoven enthusiasts, to check it out. It's an awesome site that takes you step-by-step through the Eroica so you're never lost - and you don't have to be able to read music, you just listen to the MIDI samples. It really helped me gain a better understanding of this work. In fact, you might say my summary is just a shallow version of the in-depth dissection provided on that site.
1st Movement
Two pounding chords open the symphony.They announce the new Beethoven forging his own path in music, and a new sound and era in Western music. Beethoven had thrown down a metaphorical gauntlet, challenging listeners of his time to accept new terms of musical expression. The 1st mvt of the Eroica takes the classical sonata allegro form "perfected" by Mozart and Haydn, and expands it hugely, both in size and emotional content.
(Geek speak: A sonata allegro is generally the first movement of a composition written in sonata form. In this movement the listener is presented with a structured argument. First the exposition where two contrasting themes or subjects are presented, second is the development section where they are expanded and third the recapitulation where the exposition is restated. The sonata form is the framework upon which symphonies, quartets, trios and yes, sonatas are built. A work in sonata form will generally have 3 or 4 separate parts called movements. The center piece of the sonata form is the sonata allegro.)
After the two forceful opening chords get our attention, the cellos "sneak in" to play the main subject There are two parts or motives to this theme, and over the course of the movement Beethoven develops each separately. (Motive or motif: a short passage or phrase that recurs at various stages of development of a piece.) First part is the "heroic" motive, second part is the "rising" motive. Barely 10 seconds in, we get a tonal shift that generates uneasiness - and there will be a lot of unease and tension in this movement. This shift transitions into a playing of the two motives 15 seconds in: heroic, gently played, followed by strings and winds taking up the rising motive.
Then Beethoven uses rhythmic ambiguity to create the first of many moments in the movement conveying struggle. The music strives upward for some kind of resolution...
0:38 ...then the struggle resolves into a grand restatement of the heroic with full orchestra, followed on its heels by the rising motive.
1:50 - the orchestra starts a buildup to something big.
2:00 - we hear what seems to be another new theme, but it's really a variation of the rising motive. The music surges forward...
2:15 - but then we get to another passage of rhythmic uncertainty that is a prime example of Beethoven's skill at creating tension and release in his music.
2:20 - The tension reaches a climax in the exclamations of the six dissonant, hammering chords. The tension is then released as we go from loud to quiet, with the playing of gently rising notes right after the pounding chords. The exposition is shortly brought to a close with additional hammerstroke chords, and then we go into the exposition repeat.
5:55 - development begins.
7:20 - Here we get to a passage of "rhythmic and harmonic ferocity." Upon the climax, we "are presented with four bars of the most bone chilling chord in all of music. A single beat of silence precedes the relief that follows, a brief moment of calm that one commentator has referred to as being so eloquent as to form a pivotal point in the movement. This entire passage is pure Beethoven."
8:10 - "As the storm suddenly evaporates, we are presented with something unprecedented and astonishing. In the midst of this extended development, Beethoven introduces an entirely new subject. This daring stroke is amplified by the sheer contrast of the ferocity of the previous example and this exquisite passage."
9:00 - music is on unsure footing, searching...then rises to a peak at 9:30...but harmonically it's not ready for a recapitulation. Oboes and bassoons keep the tension going. The violins arrive and keep us in suspense. The music gets quieter but the tension is still palpable...and then--
10:10 - "a lone french horn announces the recapitulation...in the wrong key. Or so it would seem. The nineteenth century ear could not reconcile Beethoven's choice of harmony at this crucial passage and throughout most of that era it was 'corrected'".
13:15 - The recapitulation ends, and a harmonic shift sends us into the coda. "A coda is the concluding passage of a piece. Prior to the Eroica, symphonic codas moved straight from the recapitulation to the final bang. Beethoven however, had more to say and elevated this coda to a section in its own right."
14:30 - music starts to intensify again, great tension building...until at 15:09 a final assertion of the Heroic motive brings this huge movement to a close.
This whole movement is based on "mere" musical fragments, yet in Beethoven's hands they attain great drama and emotional force as he develops them. Using lots of themes wasn't Beethoven's style. His genius was in building grand structures out of the simplest things.
2nd Movement
The Funeral March is arguably the most intensely tragic symphonic movement Beethoven ever wrote. The depth of feeling here - the sheer pathos - is simply beyond anything his predecessors would have dared to attempt in their own music.
In the first 30 seconds, the somber funeral theme is introduced, and picked up by different instruments. Going into the first minute, a march section begins.
4:10 - the march ends, giving way to a trio section that briefly brings a reminder of...glory and better times, maybe? Violin arpeggios surge upward, and the whole orchestra rises to a crescendo.
6:00 - however, the respite is brief as the trio ends, and we return to the "reality" of the mournful procession. The funeral theme then leads into a great fugue section, which delivers that intense pathos I'm talking about. This fugue and the next sequence, make up the most powerful passage in the whole symphony, in my opinion. (Fugue or Fuge: a piece comprised of three or more staggered melodic voices in imitation of each other.)
8:55 - the fugue ends, and we're back to the funeral march...
9:10 the violins make an ominous statement that leads to agitated strings weaving their way around strident, sustained minor chords on the brass, thus reaching a new intensity in the feeling of despair. A chilling harmonic shift occurs (Beethoven does that a lot here!), and the music cycles downward.
At this point, the funeral theme re-enters the picture but has now shed its opening grey guise to become more animated and passionate, supported by restless strings that almost seem to plead for...I don't know, forgiveness? mercy?
12:00 - violins imitate the tolling of bells. The funeral theme disintegrates into fragments without fanfare or any bravado, and the march just ends, without any resolution or "redemption." It's as if the procession has reached its destination - the hero's grave - and the mourners have lurched to a stop, themselves broken and exhausted.
3rd Movement
This is a big contrast from the sadness of the Funeral March. But this is a scherzo, after all, which literally means "joke." It's not quite laugh-out-loud stuff here, but it's definitely a relief from the darkness. As this playful, energetic scherzo starts, you can feel a great metaphorical weight being lifted from your shoulders. We have left behind death and despair, and would appear now to be celebrating something like rebirth. If not rebirth of the actual hero (who was just buried, after all) then maybe the rebirth of the heroic ideal.
2:30 - a trio section begins, in this case a trio of horns. It is an arresting, evocative sound. Some say it's a hunting call, others say it is a percursor to Siegfried's horn (Siegfried is the hero of Wagner's Ring). There is certainly a heroic quality to the sound of the horns. It's been often said that without Beethoven's symphonies, there would have been no Wagner operas, no Ring of the Nibelung...and thus no inspiration for SRD's Gap Cycle?
4:00 - the trio horn section ends, the scherzo is repeated, and it all ends with thumping timpani.
4th Movement
Symphonic finales in the era of Mozart and Haydn were more or less lightweight and straightforward affairs. The Eroica's finale? Neither lightweight, nor straightforward. As the final paragraph (sorry) in his declaration of independence from his predecessors, Beethoven conceives this last movement as an immense set of theme and variations, nearly equal in scale to the sonata allegro of the 1st movement.
The theme for the finale is derived from a simple tune found in his 12 German Contradances, as well as The Creatures of Prometheus. Michael Steinberg in The Symphony: A Listener's Guide: "The bass of Beethoven's contradance/ Prometheus theme is simple, sturdy, easily grasped, remembered, and identified. The melody [of the Eroica's finale] shares these characteristics. It is also readily subject to transformation and decoration, though it has a sufficiently clear profile to keep it recognizable no matter what happens to it. Beethoven's first and perhaps most remarkable discovery in his 1802 Piano Variations was that the bass all by itself, in spite of its neutrality, has attractive possibilities."
bass and treble themes
The bass and treble parts is illustrated above: the bass is played alone, followed by the treble part, then both. As the movement unfolds, Beethoven brilliantly explores the possibilities of this simple subject.
The finale starts off with an excited passage full of bluster. Then the theme-and-variations proper begins - but with only the bass part of the contradance. Pizzicato strings and winds toss the theme around. This leads into...
0:47 - 1st variation, again based purely on the bass part, played by just the strings.
1:23 - 2nd variation, still on just the bass theme, but with a staccato counterpoint
1:55 - 3rd variation, where at last the treble theme comes into play, as the entire orchestra kicks in
2:36 - 4th variation, a fugue, which reaches a dissonant peak, that immediately transitions to --
3:28 - 5th variation. I really love this one: it has the violins, flutes and oboes playing excitedly in staccato fashion, leading to wonderful arpeggios on the flute that almost seem like birdsong, happily fluttering above this gigantic symphonic maelstrom: staccato and arpeggio
4:00 - 6th variation, a martial rendering of the contradance accentuated by the cellos and basses, which is then carried on by flutes, violins and bassoons
5:00 - 7th variation, the fugue revisited
5:50 to 6:09 - this is a great sequence: "The fugue of variation 7 reaches its full development then majestically begins to decelerate like an enormous machine coming to rest." That is a spot-on description of this brilliant section.
6:10 - 8th variation begins right after the "machine" has come to a stop. The pace is now more leisurely. However, towards the end, the music becomes restless again, like it's still seeking some ultimate resolution. This last variation ends with the orchestra on the edge (of an abyss?), calling out a loud statement.
10:00 - after that wail, the music is suddenly lost in limbo. We have no point of reference, no sense of what is going on with the music. Everything is held in suspense. Another brilliant stroke by Beethoven. He can now take the music in any direction he wishes.
10:30 - 'Eureka!' The music suddenly blazes forth from the void, and the Eroica symphony draws to a triumphant close.
Now that I've come to know the Eroica much better, I'm almost ready to say that it's my favorite Beethoven symphony. I am just in awe of the construction of this whole work. Beethoven may have "merely" expanded the 18th-century symphonic form, but when I listen to and compare the Eroica to anything before its time, it really seems as if the Eroica sprang out of nowhere.
I admit, I've probably gone off the deep end with this dissection. But if you're still reading, maybe you're as crazy about Beethoven as I am. Or maybe you're just crazy.
, I will play with my CD rather than trying to listen to the music you have linked to, though that is probably a wonderful resource for those with a better connection. 
