The Creatures of Prometheus

It was premiered in New York at the Park Theatre on 14 June 1808 being one of the first full length works by Beethoven to be performed in the United States.

Viganò was tasked with presenting a work to the Archduchess Maria Theresa at the Vienna Court Theatre (Burgtheater), and chose the subject matter of Prometheus in an allegorical sense.

The ballet is an allegory based on the mythical story of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus in order to create mankind from clay.

In the ballet, Prometheus finds mankind in a state of ignorance and decides to introduce the ideas of science and art to them, largely based on Beethoven's own support of the Enlightenment movement.

[2] In 1930, musicologist Jean Chantavoine and playwright Maurice Léna made a detailed reconstruction of the plot in relation to the music, based on sources that have stood the test of time.