Opus 084 – “Egmont”, Incidental Music for Goethe’s Tragedy | Beethoven Music Research Center www.lvbeethoven.org

Opus 84 “Egmont”, music for Goethe’s tragedy

Ouverture (Andante con moto – Allegro ma non troppo) – I) Lied: “Die Trommel gerühret” – II) Entracte I: Andante – III) Entracte II: Larghetto – IV) Lied: “Freudvoll und Leidvoll” V) Entracte III: Allegro – VI) Entracte IV: Allegro – Marcia (Allegro assai ma non troppo) – VII) Mort de Klärchen – VIII) Melodram: “Süßer Schlaf” – IX) Siegessymphonie: Allegro con brio

Opus 84 – Egmont: Music for Goethe’s Tragedy, Op. 84, October 1809 – mid-June 1810, published in separate parts: Overture, Leipzig, Breitkopf and Härtel, December 1810; Songs and Instrumental Pieces, ibid., January 1812. Score, ibid., July 1831. GA. no. 27 (series 3/10) (Overture); no. 12 (series 2/3) (songs and instrumental pieces) – B. 84 – KH. 84 – L. III, p. 207-N. 84- T. 154, Biamonti 518.

The original manuscript from Nos. I to VI is kept in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin; those of the Overture and Nos. VIII and IX are lost; the one for No. VII is preserved in the Louis Koch collection in Wildegg. For the sketches, we refer to Kinsky’s work Die Handschriften von Beethovens Egmont Musik, Vienna 1933, cited by KH. For several performances of Goethe’s Egmont in May–June 1810 at the K. K. Hofburgtheater in Vienna, Beethoven composed during the period mentioned above two songs for soprano and orchestra, four interludes, a melodrama (recitation with orchestral accompaniment), two symphonic episodes (one illustrating Clärchen’s death, the other accompanying Egmont’s dream), a triumphal piece to be played after Egmont’s final words, and an overture, which likewise concludes with the same triumphal music.

The performance with the music could take place only on 15 June, as Beethoven had finished composing the Overture just a few days earlier. The Overture already announces the contrast between two fundamental principles. In the rhythm of the theme, which after the F in unison by the whole orchestra is marked out by the strings, some have seen that of a chaconne, expressly evoking Spanish imagery and perhaps even referring to the Duke of Alba.

Yet this theme, taken as a whole, conveys not only a rough assertion of power but also a sense of pain or restrained passion; we would be more inclined to see in it the tragic musical meaning of the entire drama.

In the reply of the woodwinds appears a pleading element, from which, while the first idea continues to pulse in the basses, a more expansive melodic phrase unfolds. But we can barely let our imagination turn for a moment to the figure of Clärchen before it darkens, and, falling from the key of D-flat major to the F minor of the Overture, gives rise to the Allegro.

This reaches its climax in a full orchestral forte, followed by another theme in which the first idea of the introduction (strings), now sharper and more concise, comes into close contact with a gentle reply (woodwinds) derived from the other two elements — the pleading and the tender — of the introduction itself. It ends in a freer and lighter episode that marks a moment of relaxation amid the emotional tension. In a brief development, the tender, pleading idea appears in the woodwinds’ dialogue in a different, serene aspect, almost like a pastoral interlude, though the orchestral cadences that close its short phrases bring us back in thought to the harshness of the opening theme.

At the end of the recapitulation the contrast grows stronger; the tender, pleading idea seems to struggle in a tight grip, ending abruptly, almost brutally cut off: the catastrophe — the hero’s death on the scaffold. A pause follows; a few solemn chords; then the glorification, in which all Beethoven’s powerful benevolence bursts forth, just as in the stage performance after Egmont’s final words.

Orchestra: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings.
I. Clärchen’s first song: Die Trommel gerühret (Beat the Drum).

It takes place in the third scene of the first act. It is Clärchen’s favourite song: passionately in love with Egmont and no longer concerned with the respectful courtship of Blackenburg, she expresses her longing to follow the hero wherever he goes, like a soldier, marching and fighting by his side. Orchestra: piccolo, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings. The piece opens and closes with the same “fife motif,” repeated three times, which also appears in the final bars of the Overture and the concluding Musica trionfale. II. First interlude.

After a short Andante comes a turbulent Allegro con brio, serving as a prelude to the second act, which opens with the scene in the Brussels square where the crowd gathers. Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings.

III. Second interlude – Larghetto. Here appears the gentle melody that, in the second theme of the Overture, opposed the dominant, imperious motif.

A tender page, yet sustained and coloured by a few darker accents, rhythms, or rolls. It serves as a prelude to the first scene of the third act — the dialogue between Machiavelli and the Regent Margaret of Parma, in which they speak of the imminent arrival of the Duke of Alba, sent by the King with an army to enforce a harsh rule over the Flemish people.

Orchestra: as in No. II, but without the flutes.

IV. Clärchen’s second song: Freudvoll und Leidvoll (Joyful and Sorrowful). A short Andante con moto prelude, followed by a very lively Allegro (beginning of the second scene of the third act). “With this melody,” says Clärchen, alluding to her love for the noble and passionate Egmont, “I have often lulled a great child to rest.” Orchestra: 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings.

V. Third interlude – Allegro. Based mainly on the theme of the previous song, it begins immediately after Clärchen’s final words at the end of the act, while the curtain slowly falls. With the curtain down, the March begins, prelude to the first scene of the fourth act, in which the frightened and resentful crowd comments on the arrival of the Duke of Alba and his soldiers, come to enforce a regime of repression. Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings.

VI. Fourth interlude. It begins at the end of the act (Egmont’s capture) with a Larghetto, in which the motif from the Overture, mentioned in No. III, reappears, followed by a more developed movement in 6/8 — Sottovoce, very legato and expressive. At the end, the curtain rises on a crowd scene. Clärchen, followed by Blackenburg, tries in vain to stir a revolt to free Egmont. Orchestra: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings.

VII. Death of Clärchen. Clärchen, back in her home (third scene of the act) and resolved to end her life after learning from Blackenburg that Egmont would be executed the following morning, has drunk the poison and withdrawn to her room to await death. The stage is empty, faintly lit by the lamp that Blackenburg, as he left, forgot to extinguish. The instrumental piece portraying this tragic moment is filled with a deliberately bleak sadness; the key of D minor recalls, through a kindred spirit, other Beethoven works already mentioned. To the sharply accented strings, over which the soft chords of clarinets and bassoons are spread, follow the final flickers of the dying lamp — extinguishing like the heroine’s life. Orchestra: 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, timpani, strings. An unused sketch is noted by Nottebohm, listed in Biamonti 518.

VIII–IX. Egmont in prison. Victory Symphony.

The music accompanies, with brief phrases, the prisoner’s spoken lines as he calls upon sleep to grant him temporary release from his anguish. As he drifts into slumber, he beholds a vision of Liberty in the form of a woman who resembles Clärchen and places a laurel crown upon his head. From outside, trumpets and drums announce the approach of soldiers. The vision fades. Egmont awakes; the sound grows in intensity. The soldiers enter the cell to lead the hero to the scaffold. To his proud words — “To save what you hold most dear, fall joyfully as I set you the example!” — answers the triumphant greeting of the Victory Symphony, which repeats the closing appeal of the Overture.

[By Biamonti Giovanni – Catalogo cronologico e tematico delle opere di Beethoven comprese quelle inedite e gli abbozzi non utilizzati, Torino, ILTE 1968]

Official title: Opus 84 Musik zum Trauerspiel „Egmont“ von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe für Singstimme, Sprecher und Orchester Widmung: — NGA IX/7 AGA 12 = Serie 2/3, Ouvertüre nochmals 27 = Serie 3/10 SBG V/22a, b (2. Auflage: 23a, b; Quellen 1.7, Hess 93, und 1.8)

Origin and publication: The earliest evidence of Beethoven’s musical involvement with Goethe’s Egmont dates from late summer or autumn 1809 and concerns the song „Freudvoll und leidvoll“. It is not clear whether a commission already existed at that time for the complete incidental music to the tragedy, which premiered in Vienna on 24 May 1810. The music was not ready for this first performance and was heard in its entirety only at the fourth performance, on 15 June of the same year. Beethoven later revised the work before the engraved model was sent to Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig at the end of August that year (BGA 265, 269). The first editions appeared between late 1810, early 1811, and spring 1812: first the Overture in parts (around December 1810) and the piano reduction (around February 1811), then the songs and interludes in parts (around January 1812) and the piano reduction (around May 1812). In the 1809 sketches for „Freudvoll und leidvoll“ (no. 4) there are notes such as „eine Stimme“, „andere Stimme“ and „a due besser“, which suggest that Beethoven had originally imagined a duet (Brenneis/Landsberg5 vol. 2 p. 52f). However, it is not clear whether these early sketches were directly connected to the incidental music or simply an initial plan for a single song.

In his memoirs written for Otto Jahn, Carl Czerny gives some insight into the creation of the incidental music for Egmont: „Als um 1811 beschlossen ward, Schillers Teil und Göthes Egmont auf den Stadtbühnen aufzuführen, entstand die Frage, wer dazu die Musikstücke com-ponieren sollte. Beethoven u Gyrowetz wurden gewählt. Beethoven wünschte sehr den Teil zu bekommen. Aber eine Menge Intriguen wurden gesponnen, um ihm den, wie man hoffte, minder musikalisch-geeigneten Egmont zuzuweisen.“ (Kopitz/Cadenbach vol. 1 p. 230). Although Czerny’s dating is inaccurate, Adalbert Gyrowetz did in fact compose incidental music for Schiller’s Wilhelm Tell, which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 30 May 1810.

As Beethoven delayed completing the material for the premiere, and the complete music was not heard until three weeks later, the score and the revised copies of score and parts were probably completed only shortly before the first full performance. In the two songs (nos. 1 and 4), Beethoven paid particular attention to the voice of the actress Antonie Adamberger. Shortly before her death, she told Alexander W. Thayer that Beethoven had visited her to test her voice and made adjustments before rehearsing the pieces with her (Kopitz/Cadenbach vol. 1 p. 3f, Nohl/Zeitgenossen pp. 58–60). Among the surviving manuscripts of the songs are sketches and piano versions of no. 4 in G major and F major, likely from this context; Beethoven probably chose the F major version for the performance. In any case, he withdrew this practical, performance-related change before publication (see Hell/NGA IX/7 pp. 206–211; Lühning/NGAXII/1 KB pp. 102–104 and 113f; also Lühning/Op84).

On 6 June 1810, Beethoven offered Breitkopf & Härtel the Opus 84 along with several other works: „ich gebe ihnen nun noch die Musik zu Egmont von göthe. welche aus 10 Stüken besteht ouvertür Zwischenakt etc […] antworten sie aber gleich, damit ich nun nicht länger aufgehalten werde, um so mehr, da Egmont in einigen Tagen aufgeführt wird, und ich um die Musik angegangen werde werden“ (BGA 446). On 2 July 1810 he wrote: „Partitur von Egmont welcher nicht in England heraus kommt und sie können erscheinen lassen, wie sie wollen. Diese [Werke] können am 11 .ten [wohl verlesen aus 1.] Februar 1811 erscheinen“ (BGA 451), announcing that the fair copy of the score would be sent within the next 14 days. There was, however, a delay, and in early August Beethoven reported: „Die 2te Abtheilung der oben erwähnten Parthie geht nächstens an Sie ab die Musick zu Egmont befindet sich dabey“ (BGA 464).

By 21 August nothing had yet arrived at Breitkopf & Härtel. In a letter of that date Beethoven stated that the incidental music was to be dedicated to Archduke Rudolph. When, on 24 September, the publisher informed him of the opus number assigned to the work, the engraved model may already have reached Leipzig. The publishers expressed doubts about the form of publication: “As for the music for Egmont, it will be wonderfully entertaining if performed well at the Schauspielhaus. The piano reduction, however, will not be very suitable, and an engraved full score would only be necessary for theatre directors.” (BGA 469).

On 6 October Beethoven requested the proofs before publication, and on 15 October he wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel: “If the last piece of Egmont does not bear the title SiegesSymphonie, then have it scribbled on top” (BGA 474). The publisher was still undecided, and on 11 November 1810 he wrote: „Was ich mit der Musik zum Egmont tun werde, bin ich noch unschlüssig. Sie in Partitur herauszugeben, würde vergeblich sein, da diese nur den Theatern brauchbar sein könnte, auf welche aber nicht gerechnet werden kann. In Stimmen werde ich allerdings die Ouvertüre stechen lassen. Die Entreaktes und Gesänge aber ebenfalls in Stimmen stechen zu lassen, diesem steht die Schwierigkeit entgegen, daß diese Entreacts, wie sie sind, außer zur Vorstellung v. Egmont nicht gebraucht werden können, da sie zu individueller Beziehung auf das Stück (Egmont) stehen, manche nicht einmal einen eigenen Schluß haben, mithin außer dem Theater nicht zu brauchen sind. Am besten wäre es, wenn Sie wohl zu den einzelnen Entreacts, welche kein so gerundetes u. geschlossenes Ganze sind, um auch einzeln gegeben werden zu können, noch zu dem letzteren Behufe einen Schluß hinzu-gefiigt hätten, wobei bemerkt würde, wie diese Entreacts zur Vorstellung von Egmont, u. wie außerdem geschlossen würden“.

Because of these unresolved issues, Breitkopf & Härtel published only on 2 October in the AmZ (12, 1809/10, column 854) a general announcement stating that new works by Beethoven would appear „in kurzem“, among them „die Musik zu Egmont von Göthe“ and others (see also the Concerto Op. 73 for further details).

Op. 84 finally appeared at the end of 1810 or early 1811, initially only as the partial edition of the Overture already mentioned in the letter of 11 November 1810. The other partial editions followed later, and their publication dates cannot be precisely established because of unusually large discrepancies between ledger entries and announcements. The publisher had additional concert endings written by an unknown arranger, apparently with Beethoven’s approval, since at the end of January 1812 he wrote to Breitkopf & Härtel: „und die Gesänge von Egmont, warum noch nicht heraus, warum überhaupt nicht mit dem ganzen E. [gmont] heraus, heraus, heraus — wollen sie zu den Entreactes noch hier oder da einen Schluß angepicht haben, kann auch seyn, oder laßen Sie das einen leipziger corrector der Musik. Zeitung besorgen, die verstehn das wie eine Fau[s]t auf ein Aug“ (BGA 545).

The edition of the parts had already appeared (Beethoven himself had not yet received a copy): the publisher had proceeded without his consent. The piano reductions, published around February 1811 and May 1812, were not written by Beethoven himself but were likely commissioned in Vienna (Hell/NGA IX/7 p. 212). Beethoven was displeased with the quality of the printing—among other errors, an entire bar was missing from the piano reduction of the Overture—and sent several corrections to the publisher (BGA 496). These corrections also appear in a copy Beethoven dedicated to Archduke Rudolph.

In October 1810 Beethoven had already expressed to Breitkopf & Härtel his wish that Goethe should receive a copy of the score: „eilen sie damit, und zeigen sie mir gefälligst an, sobald sie die Originalpartitur nicht mehr brauchen, weil ich sie alsdenn bitten werde von Leipzig aus, sie an Göthe zu schicken, dem ich dieses schon angekündigt habe […]“ (BGA 474). On 12 April 1811 he wrote directly to Goethe: „sie Werden Nächstens Die Musik zu Egmont von Leipzig Durch Breitkopf und Hertel erhalten, diesen Herrlichen Egmont, den ich, indem ich ihn eben so warm als ich ihn gelesen, wieder durch sie gedacht, gefühlt, und in Musick gegeben habe […]“ (BGA 493). Goethe did not receive the promised work until 23 January 1812.

The tragedy: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832); Egmont, first published in 1788 in volume 5 of the Göschen edition „Goethes Schriften“ (Leipzig). Beethoven probably used the text printed in volume 5 of the Cotta edition „Goethes Werke“ (Tübingen), or perhaps a Viennese reprint of it by Geistinger. Goethe’s play calls for musical interludes at five points: a duet „Die Trommel gerühret“, which Beethoven developed into a song for Clärchen, a song „Freudvoll und leidvoll“, a piece „Eine Musik, Klärchens Tod bezeichnend“, music for Egmont’s dream (with drum roll at the following monologue), and a concluding „Siegessymphonie“. Beethoven added further entr’actes and an Overture.

Dedication: In his letter of 21 August 1810 to Breitkopf & Härtel, Beethoven instructed that the Egmont music be dedicated to Archduke Rudolph. Op. 84 was published without a dedication. The first complete performance of the music took place at the fourth performance of the tragedy at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 15 June 1810, with Antonie Adamberger as Clärchen. This was followed by two more performances, on 18 June and 20 July. In Weimar, Beethoven’s music was used repeatedly in productions of Egmont, beginning with the performance on 29 January 1814.

The sketches will be featured in an article specially created for the Beethovenian Music Research Center, www.lvbeethoven.org