Why were 19th-century composers so obsessed with proving they were Beethoven’s heir?
In this episode, we dive into the legacy he left behind — and the dramatic, sometimes ridiculous things composers did to claim it.
Schumann followed the rules, Liszt told a maybe-made-up childhood story, and Wagner? He wrote Beethoven fanfiction.
Genius composers? Definitely.
But maybe even better at branding.

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Beethoven wasn’t always the hero of Romantic music. In fact, he was once slammed for being “chaotic” and “unplayable”—until a dramatic critic named E.T.A. Hoffmann rewrote his legacy with a single review. In this episode, we dig into how one fanboy with a pen turned Beethoven from misunderstood to mythic.



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