Wellington's Victory

"Battle Symphony" redirects here. For the Linkin Park song, see Battle Symphony (Linkin Park song).
For the board game, see Wellington's Victory: Battle of Waterloo – 18 June 1815.

Title page of the first edition

Wellington's Victory, or the Battle of Vitoria (also called the Battle Symphony; in German: Wellingtons Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria), Op. 91,[1] is a 15-minute-long orchestral work composed by Ludwig van Beethoven to commemorate the Marquess (later Duke) of Wellington's victory over Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria in Spain on 21 June 1813 and the German campaign of 1813 in Germany thus ending the rule of Bonaparte's Confederation of the Rhine and the birth of the German Confederation. It is known sometimes as "The Battle Symphony" or "The Battle of Vitoria", and was dedicated to the Prince Regent, later King George IV. Composition stretched from August to first week of October 1813, and the piece proved to be a substantial moneymaker for Beethoven.

The autograph manuscript of the work is preserved in the Berlin State Library.

  1. ^ Cf. first edition by S.A. Steiner & Co., Vienna, December 1815. The complete score, available from IMSLP, includes a section 'Remarks concerning the performance' written by the composer.