The French Revolution, a period of radical social and political upheaval in France from 1789 to 1799, profoundly impacted Europe’s cultural and political landscape. Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in the Holy Roman Empire, but his early years coincided with the Age of Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the rise of Napoleon. Trained by his father and composer Christian Gottlieb Neefe, he admired the initial principles of the Revolution, whichpromised an end to feudal oppression and the dawn of a new era of freedom and equality. Hector Berlioz built on Beethoven’s successes and innovations, developing huge patriotic and historical tableaux during the France’s Second Republic and its revolutions of 1830 and 1848.