English Summary: Not only Beethoven's symphonies, but also his stage music, overtures, string quartets and sonatas were so unusual in their intonations inspired by the spirit of the French Revolution, and in their defiant self-confidence, that they inspired in his audience very different reactions. In his great Beethoven biography, Jost Hermand explores all of these effects and at the same time tries to trace Beethoven's almost utopian longing...