Fernando Álvarez de Toledo ye Pimentel, the Third
Duke of Alva commanded the infantry. Alva was instructed to put an end to the Dutch desire of self government and force the people to except his
loyal authority through the Spanish Inquisition. Alva arrived at Brussels on August 22, 1567, planned
his strike, and eleven days later arrested and detained a group of twenty seven Dutch nobles,
Egmont was in that group. The cruel and ruthless Alva continually bullied and plundered the people.
In January of 1568, Alva stated the following in a letter to Phillip:
The towns must be punished for their rebelliousness with the loss of their
privileges; a goodly sum must be squeezed out of private persons; a permanent
tax obtained from the States of the country. It would therefore be unsuitable
to proclaim a pardon at this juncture. Everyone must be made to live in constant
fear of the roof breaking down over his head. Thus will the towns comply with
what will be ordained for them, private persons will offer high ransoms, and
the States will not dare to refuse what is proposed to them in the King’s name.
Shortly thereafter on June 5, 1568, Alva proclaimed that high treason would
not be tolerated and proceeded to behead the rebellious nobility,
Egmont and his companion to the cause, Hoorn. Egmont's profound speech and his
show of dignity at the scaffold touched off a rebellion against Spanish tyranny.
Egmont was the spark that ignited the energy of the Sea Beggars, who were the
true liberators of Holland from the yoke of Spain.
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827, was attracted to Goethe's Egmont
because of his Flemish heritage and Egmont's legendary role in Holland's freedom and
through his own principles of freedom and equality for all individuals. Beethoven
said of himself, "I am an upholder of unlimited liberty and national independence."
He is quoted as stating that everyone should take part in the government of the state...
the beliefs of Egmont, Goethe, and Beethoven were similar in many ways. It is recorded
that Beethoven was so impressed with Goethe's play that he refused to take any payment
from the theater for writing the music for the play Egmont. He felt obligated to write
the music for the play which honored his hero... he had experieced first hand the struggle
against overwhelming odds...he felt that both he and Egmont had overcome many obstacles.
Egmont opened at the Vienna Hof Theater on May 10, 1810. Beethoven was not yet finished with
the overture. The Egmont Overture made its debute on June 15th, the fourth performance of
the play.
Goethe began working on Egmont in 1775...completed in 1786/7...interesting in that it took
a similar amount of time to complete the construction of Egmont Castle...
Submitted by Judy Tate
Family Files
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