Embodying the Enlightenment ideal of emancipation of the self, Beethoven reworked the modern orchestra at the same time that Napoleon restructured the modern army and both became dominant in their fields. Beethoven famously dedicated his 3rd Eroica Symphony to the Corsican General, then striking it away when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor. The two would clash again when French troops occupied Beethoven's Vienna, with much of the audience at the premiere of his only opera, Fidelio, made up of French army officers. A prison break opera, with a transgender twist, Fidelio would become a political hot potato, from the Nazis to apartheid to Latin American juntas, join us as we take a deep dive in.