Of Hunting, Horns, and Heroes: A Brief History of E♭ Major before the<i>Eroica</i>

Numerous writers on music in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries elaborated on the belief that each major or minor key was appropriate for the expression of a distinct affect or character, a sentiment with which Beethoven appears to have concurred. Just how this belief impressed itself on compositional practices is a more difficult question, as the choice of key in this era entailed several intertwining factors, both instrumental/acoustic and symbolic/traditional in nature. The key of E♭ major, one often mentioned in connection with Beethoven's “heroic” style, offers an illuminative example of this complex interplay of instrumental and symbolic associations.