Music TheoryPrint

Ludwig van Beethoven

Egmont (Beethoven)

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

Sections#

The incidental music comprises the following sections, among which the overture, the lieder “Die Trommel gerühret”, “Freudvoll und leidvoll” and “Klärchens Tod” are particularly well-known: # Overture: Sostenuto, ma non troppo – Allegro # Lied: “Die Trommel gerühret” # Entracte: Andante # Entracte: Larghetto # Lied: “Freudvoll und leidvoll” # Entracte: Allegro – Marcia # Entracte: Poco sostenuto e risoluto # Klärchens Tod # Melodram: “Süßer Schlaf” # Siegessymphonie (symphony of victory): Allegro con brio

Cultural influences#

The Hungarian film Overture by János Vadász, which won the 1965 Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Palme d’Or, uses the complete Egmont overture as the soundtrack for a series of images featuring a hatching bird. The sequence was described as “among the most ingenious pairings of music and image in the history of the festival”.

    • , Gewandhaus Orchestra, Kurt Masur, St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig (2009)
Composer
Ludwig van Beethoven