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Communications

Communications 19 TH CENTURY MUSIC Communications WILLIAM KINDERMAN In his article “Beethoven Heroine: A Female Allegory of Music and Authorship in Egmont” (this journal 30 [2006], 97–132), Matthew Head writes that Goethe in his play “appears to critique the idealism of Egmont as much as the tyranny of Alba,” and that “there is no reference to Egmont leading an uprising” (pp. 112, 111). Anyone acquainted with Goethe’s play, Beethoven’s music, and the sixteenth-century historical background is likely to be surprised by these claims. As is well known, Count Egmont was an opponent of the Inquisition and became a victim of the infamous “Council of Blood” erected by the Duke of Alba (or Alva), a ruler nicknamed “the Iron Duke” by Protestants in the Low Countries because of his harsh rule and cruelty. The dialogue between Egmont and Alba in Goethe’s play (act IV, sc. 2, 85–86) touches on these themes: EGMONT: Religion, it is said, is merely a splendid device, behind which every dangerous design may be contrived with the greater ease; the prostrate crowds adore the sacred symbols pictured there while behind lurks the fowler ready to ensnare them. 96 ALBA: This must I hear from you? EGMONT: http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png 19th-Century Music University of California Press

Communications

Kinderman, William; Head, Matthew
19th-Century Music , Volume 31 (1) – Jul 1, 2007
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Publisher
University of California Press
Copyright
Copyright © by the University of California Press
ISSN
0148-2076
eISSN
1533-8606
DOI
10.1525/ncm.2007.31.1.096
Publisher site
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Abstract

19 TH CENTURY MUSIC Communications WILLIAM KINDERMAN In his article “Beethoven Heroine: A Female Allegory of Music and Authorship in Egmont” (this journal 30 [2006], 97–132), Matthew Head writes that Goethe in his play “appears to critique the idealism of Egmont as much as the tyranny of Alba,” and that “there is no reference to Egmont leading an uprising” (pp. 112, 111). Anyone acquainted with Goethe’s play, Beethoven’s music, and the sixteenth-century historical background is likely to be surprised by these claims. As is well known, Count Egmont was an opponent of the Inquisition and became a victim of the infamous “Council of Blood” erected by the Duke of Alba (or Alva), a ruler nicknamed “the Iron Duke” by Protestants in the Low Countries because of his harsh rule and cruelty. The dialogue between Egmont and Alba in Goethe’s play (act IV, sc. 2, 85–86) touches on these themes: EGMONT: Religion, it is said, is merely a splendid device, behind which every dangerous design may be contrived with the greater ease; the prostrate crowds adore the sacred symbols pictured there while behind lurks the fowler ready to ensnare them. 96 ALBA: This must I hear from you? EGMONT:

Journal

19th-Century Music – University of California Press

Published: Jul 1, 2007

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