<P> Their debut album, the first installment of the intended Christmas Trilogy, was a rock opera called Christmas Eve and Other Stories, and was released in 1996 . It remains among their best - selling albums . It contains the instrumental "Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12 / 24" which originally appeared on Savatage's rock opera, Dead Winter Dead, a story about the Bosnian War . Their 1998 release The Christmas Attic, the sequel to Christmas Eve and Other Stories followed a similar format . This album produced the hit "Christmas Canon," a take on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D major with lyrics and new melodies added . The Christmas Attic was first performed live in 2014 . </P> <P> Beethoven's Last Night was completed prior to Christmas Attic but not turned in to Atlantic Records until 1999 for release in 2000 . The story begins when Mephistopheles appears before Beethoven, whom Paul O'Neill refers to as "the world's first Heavy Metal Rock Star", to collect the great composer's soul . Of course Beethoven is horrified at the thought of eternal damnation, but the devil has an offer and the bargaining begins . There are numerous plot twist including the fate of his music and the ending is based on a true but little known fact about Beethoven . Also in 1998, at the request of Scott Shannon of WPLJ they performed live for the first time in a charity concert for Blythedale Children's Hospital . In 1999, at the urging of Bill Louis, a DJ for WNCX in Cleveland, they did their first tour, during which they debuted sections of Beethoven's Last Night . They performed the album in its entirety for the first time during the spring tour of 2010 . In October 2011, Beethoven's Last Night was released in Europe to coincide with their European tour with new cover art by Greg Hildebrandt and the missing pages of poetry from the original release . </P> <P> The Mephistopheles songs are sung by Jon Oliva . </P> <P> To coincide with the 2012 spring tour, Beethoven's Last Night: The Complete Narrated Version, was released by Atlantic / Rhino / Warner Brothers Record . This two - disc deluxe edition includes all of the music from the original release and, for the first time, the narration featured during live performances of the album . It comes packaged with a booklet filled with Hildebrandt's illustrations of the story, plus the full lyrics and narration . The narration is performed by Bryan Hicks, who has been handling the live narration on the tours for this album . Creator Paul O'Neill explains, "This is how I have always envisioned the story being experienced . Where the listener can relax, close their eyes and within minutes be wandering the streets of 1800s Vienna with Beethoven on the last great adventure of his life ." </P>

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