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"The best way to deal with your troubles is to not think about them," according to this diary entry, which comes from a period when Beethoven found his life "quite unpleasant": In 1812, he wrote that desperate letter to his "immortal beloved," was almost completely deaf, and was increasingly isolated. Nevertheless, he created the Eighth Symphony, a prime example of humor – at least on the surface, because he himself spoke of "humorous seriousness and serious humor." He drew inspiration from tradition while simultaneously surpassing it, thereby setting an incredibly high standard for his successors, including Martinů: The native Bohemian called his final contribution to the genre, which he began in exile in America, "Fantaisies symphoniques." It is characterized by a brilliant motivic development with constant metamorphoses. When it was created, he thought of Charles Munch, who then conducted the premiere in 1955: He admired his "impulsive way of approaching music, which allows it to flow freely and follow the inherent movement within it." In addition, Prokofiev's first violin concerto, which he completed in 1917 amidst the early revolutionary turmoil in his Russian homeland, is heard: It contains many lyrical highlights, but also passages with energetic dynamics, sharply accented rhythms, and grotesque features. Prokofiev played with the expectations of his audience, and once said that "a composer is a madman who writes things that are incomprehensible to his generation" – and added: "Only after a certain period of time will the paths he has indicated be understood by the world around him."
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