For a stage production of Goethe's "Egmont" planned for spring 1810, the
Vienna Burgtheater commissioned Beethoven to compose incidental music to
Goethe's tragedy. Although Beethoven was a great admirer of Goethe and was
profoundly flattered by this commission, he did not complete the music by
the time the play was given its premiere on 24 May 1810. Only at the third
performance of the play on 15 June was Beethoven's music heard for the
first time. Like the "Leonore" overtures, the "Egmont" also foreshadows the
events to come. In "Egmont," they are encapsulated in the main theme of
defiance of tyranny, which gives the music its explosive power.
Bernstein's impassioned renderings of Beethoven move audiences in a unique
way. "Beethoven has always meant universality to me, ever since my early
adolescence, when I first heard that unforgettable cry of 'Brüder!'. From
that moment on, every... symphony came to mean heart-to-heart
communication, travelling satellite-fashion via the cosmos itself. I offer
[this cycle] to all music-loving ears as a testament of faith and of my
most profound reactions to this greatest of all composers."
(Leonard Bernstein, 1980)
The DVD is also released within the complete "Beethoven / Bernstein" DVD package which is available in selected stores worldwide and through Amazon or JPC.