When Beethoven received a commission from Vienna's Burgtheater to compose stage music for Goethe's tragedy Egmont in 1809, he viewed it as a great honour. The impetus would have been all the stronger since the drama, about a Dutch nobleman who falls victim to a plot by a Spanish ruler, from the outset provided for music at several points.

Beethoven repeatedly declared later on that he had received no honorarium from the theatre's management, but had written the music "solely out of love fo...