Egmont, Op. 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture followed by a sequence of nine additional pieces for soprano, male narrator and full symphony orchestra. (The male narrator is optional; he is not used in the play, and he does not appear in all recordings of the complete incidental music.) Beethoven wrote it between October 1809 and June 1810, and it was premiered on 15 June 1810.
The subject of the music and dramatic narrative is the life and heroism of a 16th-century Dutch nobleman, the Count of Egmont. It was composed during the period of the Napoleonic Wars, at a time when the French Empire had extended its domination over most of Europe. Beethoven had famously expressed his great outrage over Napoleon Bonaparte’s decision to crown himself Emperor in 1804, furiously scratching out his name in the dedication of the Eroica Symphony. In the music for Egmont, Beethoven expressed his own political concerns through the exaltation of the heroic sacrifice of a man condemned to death for having taken a valiant stand against oppression. The Overture later became an unofficial anthem of the 1956 Hungarian revolution.
Beethoven composed Klärchen’s songs, “Die Trommel gerühret” (“The drum is a-stirring”) and “Freudvoll und leidvoll” (“Joyful and woeful”), with the Austrian actress Antonie Adamberger specifically in mind. She would later repeatedly and enthusiastically recall her collaboration with him.
The music was greeted with eulogistic praise, in particular by E.T.A. Hoffmann for its poetry, and Goethe himself declared that Beethoven had expressed his intentions with “a remarkable genius”.
The overture, powerful and expressive, is one of the last works of his middle period; it has become as famous a composition as the Coriolan Overture, and is in a similar style to the Fifth Symphony, which he had completed two years earlier.
This TELARC EDITION:
Recorded in Symphony Hall, Boston, January 24 and 26, 1981
Microphones: Schoeps Colette Series
Recorder: Soundstream Digital Tape Recorder
Console: Neotek
Monitor Speakers: ADS Model 1530 bi-amplified, ADS Model C2000 Crossover
Power Amplifiers: Threshold Model 4000
Interconnecting Cables: Audio-Technica
During the recording of the digital masters and the subsequent transfer to disc, the entire audio chain was transformerless. The signal was not passed through any processing device (i.e., compression, limiting, or equalization) at any step during production.
Sampling frequency conversion of Telarc’s Soundstream digital master to the Compact Disc format was accomplished with the Studer SFC-16 sampling frequency converter. The digital information was not subject to any analog intersteps, thus preserving the integrity of the original digital master.
Art Direction — Ray Kirschensteiner
Composed By — Ludwig van Beethoven
Conductor — Seiji Ozawa
Engineer [Recording] — Jack Renner
Orchestra — Boston Symphony Orchestra
Photography By [Cover] — Peter Schaaf (2)
Producer [Assistance] — Elaine Martone, Ronald Whitaker
Producer [Recording] — Robert Woods (2)
Phonographic Copyright (p) — Telarc Records
Copyright (c) — Telarc Records
Manufactured By — Digital Audio Disc Corporation