DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (December 8, 2020)
Beethoven’s Egmont Overture was presented several months ago in our Daily Dose. But today, we present it as a preview to our December 16th, 24-hour Beethoven Birthday Celebration (https://youtu.be/iyjWFntIiiY), along with an improved video for your edification.
The Netherlands
The leading intellectual circles of Beethoven’s time were concerned with the historical study of the fight for freedom. One important breakthrough in their minds was the Independence of the Netherlands from the Spanish crown, two centuries earlier—over a more than 80-year period—from 1558-1648. Three works were written about that history:
1. Schiller's play Don Carlos in 1787.
2. Schiller's The History of the Revolt of the United Netherlands Against Spanish Rule in 1788.
3. Goethe's 1788 play Egmont
Notice that the great poets and playwrights were also great historians.
Beethoven was only a teenager when these works were written. In 1809, he was asked to compose incidental music for Egmont, a task he accepted gladly. A few words about the actual history will help.
Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavere (18 November 1522 – 5 June 1568) was a general and statesman in the Spanish Netherlands just before the start of the Eighty Years' War. Count Egmont was also a wealthy Dutch nobleman who sided both with his people and King Phillip of Spain. His peer, the much wiser William the Silent, fled, and warned him of potential betrayal by Spain's treacherous Duke of Alba. In 1567, Egmont foolishly accepted a dinner invitation to discuss his grievances with Alba. He was arrested at that dinner, and soon executed, along with 1,000 others in 1568. Alba was seeking to dominate through a reign of terror, although it eventually backfired on him. Sometimes "a long train of usurpations and abuses", leads people to think that they "have no recourse, but to throw off such government."
Although not immediate, the execution of Egmont contributed to a popular uprising. Beethoven's Egmont Overture to Goethe's play, condenses the long historical process into one optimistic moment of change. Listen to this recording, and you will hear the representation of the execution of Egmont. After a moment of quiet sorrow and reflection- a prayer- something begins to swell up, out of the silence. Beethoven's magnificent ending displays the spirit of the people, rising up against tyranny.
We created this video with visuals and text for your enjoyment!
https://drive.google.com/…/1vu-xdaPofrBU-u9jBjiANjIKYn…/view
Our 24-hour Beethoven 250th birthday celebration begins at 12 AM, Wednesday, December 16, 2020. Join us! Free and live-streaming on YouTube live: https://youtu.be/iyjWFntIiiY