Beethoven was commissioned to write his first stage work—a ballet score for Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (‘The Creatures of Prometheus’)—for the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganò, nephew of composer Luigi Boccherini. In the myth, Prometheus is punished by Zeus for stealing fire for the benefit of mankind; in the allegorical ballet, Prometheus brings Enlightenment ideas of art and science to humanity. The overture remains popular and the finale—the theme of which Beethoven was later to use in his ‘Eroica’ Symphony—offers a heroic conclusion.