Egmont (play)
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Egmont is a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which he completed in 1788. Like his earlier 'Storm and Stress' play Götz von Berlichingen (1773), its dramaturgical structure is heavily influenced by Shakespearean tragedy; in contrast to the earlier work, Egmont's portrait of the downfall of a man who trusts in the goodness of those around him appears to mark a shift away from 'Storm and Stress' values.[1]
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[edit] Plot
In Egmont, Goethe relates the fight of Count Egmont (1522-1568) against the despotic Duke of Alba. Egmont is a famous Flemish warrior and the duke of Alba represents the Spanish invader. Though under threat of arrest Egmont refuses to run away and give up his ideal of liberty. Imprisoned and abandoned because of the cowardice of his people, and despite the desperate efforts of his mistress Klärchen, he is sentenced to death.
Thus, faced with her failure and despair Klärchen puts an end to her life. The play ends on the hero's last call to fight for independence. His death as a martyr appears as a victory against oppression.
Egmont is a political manifesto in which Egmont's craving for justice and national liberty is opposed to the despotic authority of the duke of Alba. It is also a drama of destiny in which the Flemish nobleman, with fatalism, accepts the dire consequences of his straightforwardness and honesty.
[edit] Quote
The sentence „Himmelhoch jauchzend, zu(m) Tode betrübt“ from Klärchen's song in the third act has become a proverb that is often quoted by European intellectuals as characteristic for the Romantic soul:
- Freudvoll und leidvoll, gedankenvoll sein;
- Hangen und bangen in schwebender Pein;
- Himmelhoch jauchzend, zum Tode betrübt;
- Glücklich allein ist die Seele, die liebt.
[edit] Music
When in 1809 the Burgtheater of Vienna asked Ludwig van Beethoven, a great admirer of Goethe, to compose incidental music for a revival of the play, he accepted with enthusiasm. It recalled themes close to his own political preoccupations, already expressed in his opera Leonore (renamed Fidelio, in the definitive 1814 version) and in his Coriolan Overture (in 1807). Besides the Overture, he wrote nine pieces of incidental music, of great quality but a little disconnected, culminating with the beautiful Klärchen's Death. Beethoven's music, particularly his overture, has been used in various modern day cultural output, a famous United Nations film being one of them.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Banham (1998, 431).
[edit] References
- Banham, Martin, ed. 1998. The Cambridge Guide to Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521434378.
