This chapter explores register in the outer movements of the ‘Eroica’ Symphony. Engaging closely with Schenker’s 1930 analysis, in which the two-line register is understood as the obligate Lage while the three-line octave is treated as essentially decorative or reinforcing, it argues to the contrary, asserting the structural significance of the latter. By paying particular attention to Beethoven’s scoring for the flute, it develops a narrative of registral ‘failure’ in the finale that is in stark contrast to the standard ‘heroic’ readings of this work.