The title of Simon’s composition comes from the ancient Greek poet Homer’s Iliad—specifically, a passage from Book XXII that was of such importance to Beethoven that he copied it into his personal diary in an 1815 entry: “But Fate now conquers; I am hers; and yet not she shall share in my renown; that life is left to every noble spirit. And that some great deed shall beget that all lives shall inherit.”

Across five action-packed minutes, using the same instrumentation as an early Beethoven symphony (pairs of wind and brass instruments—no trombones or tuba—plus timpani and strings), Simon fashions his own dramatic representation of the timeless struggle with fate, using some Beethoven fragments as building blocks and reference points.