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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (1770–1827)
Overture to
Egmont
, op. 84
Scored for two flutes and piccolo, two oboes, two
clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets,
timpani, and strings
The great German poet and playwright Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) began his
tragic account of the Dutch military hero Count
Egmont in 1775 during the weeks when he was
waiting to enter the service of Duke Charles Au-
gustus of Weimar. The first draft was completed
at that time and then set aside. Goethe revised
Egmont
several times over the next 12 years, at
one time nearly scrapping the project altogether.
Nevertheless, this tragedy in five acts was com-
pleted during his stay in Italy in 1787. The lyrical
poetic style in
Egmont
reflected the Classicism
of the poet’s later period, although work on the
play had begun while he was occupied with the
dramatic expression of
Sturm und Drang
(liter-
ally, storm and stress). The literary movement
known as Sturm und Drang, especially influen-
tial during the 1770s, took its name from a play
by Maximilian Klinger, written in 1776 on the
subject of the American Revolution. Goethe’s
Egmont
is imbued with many of the same dem-
ocratic ideals of the revolution, in particular, in-
dividual freedom of expression.
Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavre
(1522–68), was a historically important figure
during The Netherlands’ struggle for indepen-
dence from Spanish rule at the end of the 16th
century. Egmont became governor of Flanders
and Artois after leading his troops to victory at
Saint Quentin (1557) and Gravelingen (1558).
Along with William of Orange and Count Horn,
Egmont signed a letter in 1563 protesting the ty-
rannical actions of Cardinal Granvelle, the king
of Spain’s minister to the Low Countries. The
arrival of the Spanish Inquisition into the Low
Countries three years later caused further dissent.
In 1567, Ferdinand Alvarez of Toledo, the Duke
of Alba, entered Brussels with 20,000 additional
troops. Egmont and Horn were lured to the pal-
ace of the duke, where they were seized, charged
with treason, and beheaded the following year.
In Goethe’s play, Egmont has fallen in love with
Klärchen, who poisons herself on the eve of his
execution. Egmont has a vision of the future in a
dream. The goddess Liberty, having the features
of Klärchen, holds the victor’s laurel crown over
Egmont’s head. The sound of military fifes and
drums awakens Egmont. The guards take him
to meet his executioner. As he leaves, a victory
symphony is played. Egmont’s dream of a nation
independent of Spanish rule was realized only in
1648, at the end of the Thirty Years’ War, when
the Treaty of Westphalia recognized the autono-
my of The Netherlands.
Beethoven had long admired the writings of
Goethe by the time he composed his incidental
music to
Egmont
in 1809–10: an overture, four
entr’actes, two songs (to texts by Goethe), music
to accompany Klärchen’s death, a melodrama,
and the final
Victory Symphony
(
Siegessympho-
nie
). Beethoven created this music soon after the
French troops bombarded, and eventually occu-
pied, Vienna. Egmont’s struggle for democratic
ideals became symbolic of the Viennese spirit
during the French occupation. Beethoven’s inci-
dental music was first performed during a reviv-
al of Goethe’s play at the Burgtheater in Vienna
on May 24, 1810. The overture, not yet complet-
ed, was first heard at the fourth performance, on
June 15.
Beethoven captured the essence of the conflict
in Goethe’s tragedy in the Overture to
Egmont
.
The slow introduction contains two opposing
musical ideas: the first, following the initial
chord, is played by the full strings, and the sec-
ond is a quiet, imitative statement by the winds.
As the tempo increases, the cellos establish a
tragic atmosphere immediately reinforced by
the other instruments. Later, a major-key theme
recalls the dramatic conflict of the introduction
and its two motives played by the strings and
winds. The coda, which adds the piccolo, bor-
rows music from the
Victory Symphony
. The
overture ends on a heroic and triumphal note.
Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15
Scored for one flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings,
and solo piano
Solo improvisations and self-composed con-
certos were the bread and butter of Classical
and Romantic virtuosos. Impromptu creations
required mild caretaking, since rival perform-
ers occasionally stole flashy, novel effects and
passed them off as their own. On the other hand,
virtuosos jealously safeguarded their own con-
certos. Allowing a manuscript copy to circulate
or ushering a work into print essentially termi-
nated the “unique” place the concerto occupied
in the composer-performer’s active repertoire,
requiring a virtuoso to create replacement
works.
As a business-savvy rising keyboard star, Bee-
thoven understood this reality of the virtuoso
profession. He composed two piano concertos
during his first years in Vienna and restricted
these works to his own performances. Beetho-
ven clearly struggled with his first mature piano
concerto. Initial sketches for a work in B-flat
major date from 1793, soon after his arrival in
Vienna. This score underwent two extensive
revisions in 1794–95 and 1798, one before the
premiere on March 29, 1795, and the other af-
ter several performances in Vienna, Prague, and
Berlin.
Beethoven began another piano concerto in
1795, this one in C major. With confidence
gained from the initial concerto exercise, com-
position proceeded without major interruption,
and the premiere took place on December 18.
The composer revised his score in 1800. When
the first two concertos were published in 1801,
Beethoven reversed their order: the C major be-
came No. 1, and the B-flat major No. 2. Six years
had elapsed between the premieres of Beetho-
ven’s two concertos and their publication. By
that time, work on the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C
minor was well under way. Beethoven dedicated
the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op. 15, to
Countess Anna Luise Barbara d’Erba-Odescal-
chi (
née
von Keglevics), a piano student of his
and an honoree of several early works.
Correspondence with the publisher Breitkopf
& Härtel (April 22, 1801) revealed the nervous
composer attempting spin control with the
press. “In this connection I merely point out
that Hoffmeister is publishing one of my first
concertos [No. 2 in B-flat major, op. 19], which,
of course, is not one of my best compositions.
Mollo is also publishing a concerto that was
written later [No. 1 in C major, op. 15], it is true,
but which also is not one of my best composi-
tions of that type. Let this serve merely as a hint
to your
Musikalische Zeitung
about reviewing
these works. … Advise your reviewers to be
Count Egmont Before his Death
by Louis Gallait
(1848)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1801)