TheGaggle
Politics • Culture • News
Our community is made up of those who value the freedom of speech, the right to debate and the promise of open, honest conversations.

We don't agree on everything but we never silence our followers and value every opinion on our channel.
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
The Gaggle Music Club: Beethoven’s Egmont Overture

This week's selection for The Gaggle Music Club is Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Op. 84, one of the great man's most political and dramatic compositions.

Composed in 1809–1810, the overture was part of incidental music for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1787 play "Egmont," which recounted the story of Count Egmont, a 16th-century Dutch nobleman who was executed by the Spanish for opposing the Inquisition and tyranny of the Duke of Alba. Goethe’s Egmont was a tragedy of political martyrdom and individual resistance against tyranny.

In 1809, Beethoven was living in Vienna, which was under siege by Napoleon’s troops. The Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna commissioned Beethoven to write music for a revival of Goethe’s play. The complete incidental music includes the Overture and nine numbers. However, it is only the Overture that has endured as a concert staple.

The Overture is in sonata form, a musical drama in miniature, encapsulating the play’s arc: oppression, resistance, martyrdom and posthumous triumph. Egmont was one of several works, in which Beethoven explored political themes, the best-known examples being the Eroica Symphony and Fidelio.

The work encapsulates Beethoven's ideals of heroism, freedom and moral courage. The addition of the victory coda demonstrates Beethoven’s belief in artistic and moral redemption beyond tragedy.

Dramatic dynamic contrasts, intense orchestral color and thematic transformation show Beethoven at his most theatrical and emotionally potent. The use of a "narrative" overture (telling the arc of a story within a single piece) would influence later composers like Berlioz and Wagner.

The Egmont Overture has been performed for political commemorations, especially in contexts of resistance or liberation. It was used in World War II broadcasts by the BBC into Nazi-occupied Europe. It was also used in radio broadcasts during the 1956 Hungarian uprising.

Beethoven’s Egmont Overture is more than a prelude—it is a musical manifesto. It transforms Goethe’s story into an allegory of oppression, struggle and ultimate liberation. It is a masterwork of form and expression that stands as a cornerstone in Beethoven’s middle period and a bridge between classical structure and romantic subjectivity.

In this performance Kurt Masur conducts the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

00:09:35
Interested? Want to learn more about the community?
What else you may like…
Videos
Posts
Articles
TG 1936: Will U.S. Foreign Policy Ever Change?

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle sat down with podcaster Scott Horton to discuss U.S. foreign policy--past, present and future--and to attempt to answer the key question: Is Trump's foreign policy now beyond saving?

01:05:07
TG 1935: Rethinking Stalin, Russia And The Soviet Union

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle sat down for a conversation about Stalin, Russian history and the Soviet Union with eminent historian Professor Sheila Fitzpatrick.

00:42:14
TG 1934: U.K. (Half-Heartedly) Threatens To Recognize Palestinian State

George Szamuely and Peter Lavelle discuss U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's threat to recognize a Palestinian state --but only under certain conditions--and wonder what, if any, difference a British recognition would make.

01:32:40
12 hours ago

All hail Putin I the Magnanimous
https://open.substack.com/pub/slavlandchronicles/p/putin-has-not-taken-out-any-ukrainian?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=o786d

All hail Elon the Savior https://x.com/Spiro_Ghost/status/1951342917672640866
Elon is building an AI Robot Army to 'help humanity'

Already has SkyNet, I mean Starlink in Place

AI Neuralink Brain Chips Are Operational In Humans

How long until this version of Optimus is released?

Roundtable: Russia’s Move South

CIVILNET

296K subscribers

Subscribed

Aug 1, 2025 #CivilNet #ՍիվիլՆեթ

Renowned historians Ronald Suny, Dominic Lieven, Valentina Izmirlieva, and Thomas de Waal participate in a roundtable discussion titled "Russia's Move South." They explore Russia's centuries-long drive southward - from escaping the infertile northern lands around Moscow to conquering the fertile Black Sea steppes. Dominic Lieven examines Catherine II's decisive victories over the Ottoman Empire that transformed the balance of power. Thomas de Waal contrasts different imperial strategies: American-style colonization in "New Russia" versus brutal conquest in the North Caucasus and co-optation of elites in the Transcaucasus. Valentina Izmirlieva reveals the ironic story of Russian refugees finally reaching Constantinople - not as conquerors but as exiles who transformed Ottoman urban culture. Ronald Suny challenges Cold War narratives about ...

23 hours ago

I asked ChatGPT to explore the relationship between Hayek, the Hanseatic League, Mercantilism, and Tariffs. Here is what it had to say.

The Hanseatic League proves what mercantilists never grasped: prosperity follows trade freedom, not tariff walls.

While feudal Europe stagnated under tolls, tariffs, and dynastic squabbles, the cities of the Hanseatic League flourished. They abolished internal tariffs, secured trade routes, and let merchants—not monarchs—govern commerce. The result? A decentralized, voluntary trading network that birthed not only wealth, but culture, beauty, and civic pride.

Even today, the League’s legacy endures:

Lübeck, the “Queen of the Hanse,” enchants with its Gothic gables and canals.

Hamburg hums with maritime energy and modern elegance.

Bremen charms with its medieval town square and Roland statue, a symbol of civic liberty.

Tallinn, with its intact Hanseatic old town, feels like a time capsule of cobbled streets and merchant houses.

Gdańsk, grand and baroque, ...

January 21, 2023
More Leftie Than Thou
"Jacobin" Magazine Celebrates A Strike Against Ol' Blue Eyes

Here at "The Gaggle" we have very little time for the "more Leftie than thou" school of thought--that's the approach to life according to which the only thing that matters is whether you take the right position on every issue under the sun from Abortion to Zelensky. No one in the world meets the exacting standards of this school of thought; any Leftie leader anywhere is always selling out to the bankers and the capitalists. The perfect exemplar of this is the unreadable Jacobin magazine. 

The other day I came across this article from 2021. It's a celebration of trade union power. And not simply trade union power, but the use of trade union power to secure political goals. Of course (and this is always the case with the "more Leftie than thou" crowd), this glorious, never-to-be-forgotten moment on the history of organized labor took place many years ago--in the summer of 1974 to be exact. Yes, almost half a century has gone by since that thrilling moment when the working-class movement of Australia mobilized and prepared to seize the means of production, distribution and exchange. 

Well, not quite. Organized labor went into action against...Ol' Blue Eyes, the Chairman of the Board, the Voice; yes, Frank Sinatra. Why? What had Sinatra done? Sinatra was certainly very rich, and he owned a variety of properties and businesses. But if the Australian trade union movement were, understandably, searching for the bright, incandescent spark that would finally awaken the working class from its slumber there were surely richer, greedier, more dishonest, more decadent, above all more Australian individuals it could have discovered. Australia was never short of them. Rupert Murdoch immediately springs to mind. Why Sinatra?

 

Only for Supporters
To read the rest of this article and access other paid content, you must be a supporter
Read full Article
See More
Available on mobile and TV devices
google store google store app store app store
google store google store app tv store app tv store amazon store amazon store roku store roku store
Powered by Locals