In the excitement of yesterday’s events some of us may have forgotten the other great showdown between the Netherlands and Spain – the revolt of the Netherlands to throw off the Spanish yoke. The conflict did not take 116 minutes, as yesterday’s did, but eighty years, from 1568 to 1648 when Spain lost.
A prelude to it was the beheading on the Sablon Square in Brussels of the Flemish freedom fighter Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavere, on June 5, 1568. He had opposed, among other things, the introduction of the Spanish Inquisition. His leadership and tragic end was the subject of a rousing play by the young Goethe.
It inspired Beethoven to compose incidental music to the play, including the magnificent overture with its dramatic confrontation between the harsh drumbeats of tyranny and the sweet lyricism of freedom. Both Goethe and Beethoven ended their works with the triumph of freedom, entirely consistent with Beethoven’s life-long beliefs but less consistent with Goethe who in later years turned his back on the idealistic storms and stresses of his youth.
In case you do not have a CD in your collection, nor the piano score to play, nor a symphony orchestra to conduct, you can easily click the Egmont Overture on YouTube.
Thank you Eric.
Fascinating history, and a wonderful re-introduction to the Egmont.
But beware, some of the YouTube performances are flat, amateurish and uninspiring.
Not this one:
Thank you. What a good performance. I just played it through – right to the triumpets at the end. I hope others will, too.
I, also, listened to that performance. Who was the conductor and which orchestra was it? 66 years ago the Egmont overture was one of the set pieces for my School Certificate music exam. I always waited for the piccolo at the end.
How lovely to hear from you. Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Antonie Howard…my School Cert also! I was addicted to Egmont and literally wore out my 78 of Barbirolli’s version. (pom pom, ti pom pom…dah dah di dah dah). It remains as one of my favorites to this day, in my 81st year.
Another favorite of mine at the time was Wagner’s Rienzi Overture. YouTube has several versions, but none are complete as the piece is too long. Its form of alternating pompous bombast with a smooth and lyrical melody is intriguing. But I like it less now.
You are a man of taste.