Eroica Variations

[1] Musicologists Leon Plantinga and Alexander Ringer claim that the inspiration for the Eroica theme may have come from Classical era composer Muzio Clementi.

[2][3] Plantinga theorizes that a source may be Clementi's Piano Sonata in F minor, Op.

3 (composed in 1782) as a possible source, where the melody (in a minor key) and rhythm closely match the first eight bars of the Eroica theme.

He had used it in the finale of the ballet music he composed for The Creatures of Prometheus (1801), as well as for the seventh of his 12 Contredanses, WoO 14 (1800-02), before being the subject of the variations of this work and of the later symphony.

[1] This approach was carried over from the ballet music, where it represented the gradual creation of life forms by Prometheus.