Ludwig van Beethoven: 'Egmont' Overture Op.84: Orchestra: Study Score

When Beethoven received a commission from Vienna’s Burgtheater to compose stage music for Goethe’s tragedy Egmont in 1809 he viewed it as a great honour. The impetus would have been all the stronger sincethe drama about a Dutch nobleman who falls victim to a plot by a Spanish ruler from the outset provided for music at several points. Beethoven repeatedly declared later on that he had received no honorarium from thetheatre’s management but had written the music “solely out of love for the poet”. The overture became separated from the rest of the incidental music very early on; it was separately published and soon performedas a concert piece independent of the stage tragedy. We now issue it as a study score based on the text of the Beethoven Complete Edition and with a new preface.