On This Day!

[Joy]

Another post here on the subject of Beethoven! On This Day in 1810 -- Beethoven's music to Goethe's Egmont is first performed in Vienna's Hofburg Theater. Beethoven supplies the overture, four entr'actes, and songs.

The story goes,
"In his drama Egmont, Goethe (1787) relates the fight of Count Egmont (1522-1568) against the despotic Duke of Albe. Egmont is a famous Flemish warrior and the duke of Albe represents the Spanish invader. Though under threat of arrest Egmont refuses to run away and give up his ideal of liberty. Imprisoned and abandoned because of the cowardliness of his people and despite the desperate efforts of his mistress Klärchen he is sentenced to death.

Thus, faced with her failure and despair Klärchen puts an end to her life. The play ends on the hero's last call to fight for independence. His death as a martyr appears as a victory against oppression.

Egmont is a political manifesto in which Egmont's craving for justice and national liberty is opposed to the despotic authority of the duc of Albe. It is also a drama of destiny in which the Flemish nobleman, with fatalism, accepts the dire consequences of his straightness and honesty.

When in 1809 the Burgtheater of Vienna asked Beethoven, a great admirer of Goethe, to compose incidental music for a revival of the play, he accepted with enthusiasm. It recalled themes close to his own political preoccupations, already expressed in his opera Leonore (renamed Fidelio, in the definitive 1814 version) and in his overture Coriolan (in 1807). Besides the Overture, he wrote nine pieces of incidental music, of great quality but a little disconnected, culminating with beautiful Klärchen's Death".



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'Truth and beauty joined'

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited 05-24-2006).]

[Sorrano]

The overture has always been particularly special to me inasmuch as it was a band arrangement of this in High School or Junior High that fueled a growing interest in the music of Beethoven. Later on, it was a real treat to find the complete incidental music.

[Hofrat]

Originally posted by Sorrano:
The overture has always been particularly special to me inasmuch as it was a band arrangement of this in High School or Junior High that fueled a growing interest in the music of Beethoven. Later on, it was a real treat to find the complete incidental music.

I was in Budapest in October 2005 when Hungary celebrated its shortlived 1956 revolt against its communist regime. Loadspeakers were set up on all of the sidewalks and they played one composition all day: the Egmont Overture by Beethoven.

Why only that piece? Later I would learn that when the rebels took over the national radio station in 1956, the only recording they could find was the Egmont Overture by Beethoven. How appropriate!!


Hofrat

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Hofrat:
I was in Budapest in October 2005 when Hungary celebrated its shortlived 1956 revolt against its communist regime. Loadspeakers were set up on all of the sidewalks and they played one composition all day: the Egmont Overture by Beethoven.

Why only that piece? Later I would learn that when the rebels took over the national radio station in 1956, the only recording they could find was the Egmont Overture by Beethoven. How appropriate!!


Hofrat

Thanks for sharing that! Indeed, that is very interesting!