Beethoven, L. van: Egmont / Ah, perfido

Featuring

James Judd
Madeleine Pierard
Claus Obalski
New Zealand Symphony Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven

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Recording & Production

This album was recorded at the Michael Fowler Centre and Wellington Town Hall in Wellington, New Zealand, between 2003 and 2007.

Composer Biography

Beethoven, the composer, was familiar with theatrical repertoire from a young age, serving as a deputy for his teacher in theatre music rehearsals in Bonn.

Composition History

Beethoven was commissioned to provide incidental music for Goethe's play 'Egmont' for the 1809-1810 season at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna.

Composition History

Beethoven's 'Ah! perfido' is a setting of a passage from Metastasio's libretto 'Achille in Sciro' and was written in 1795-96.

Historical Context

Goethe's play 'Egmont', for which Beethoven composed incidental music, concerns the historic rebellion of Count Egmont against Spanish domination in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century.

Notable Performances

Beethoven's 'Ah! perfido' was badly performed at a famously extended and under-rehearsed concert on December 22, 1808, in the unheated Theater-an-der-Wien.

Performer Biography

Madeleine Pierard, the soprano on this recording, is a New Zealand-born artist who completed her MMus (Opera) at the Royal College of Music in London.