Beethoven composed his first ballet, Ritterballet (‘Ballet of the Knights’), in 1791 while he was in Bonn. This diversion, devised for Count Waldstein who claimed he himself had written it, is a modest achievement. Ten years later Beethoven was commissioned to provide the score for a more impressive concept, a ballet with mime on the subject of Prometheus. The action and choreography were the work of the celebrated Italian dancer and composer Salvatore Viganó (1769–1821), a pupil of Boccherini. (His ‘solo’ – track 17 – is the longest in the ballet and is in the most prominent place, before the grand Finale.)