King Stephan Overture, Op. 117

Composer: BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van
  • This overture was composed in 1811 and premiered in 1812. It is the opening of Beethoven’s incidental music to the play König Stephan (King Stephan)1 by German dramatist and statesman August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (1761-1819)2
  • Beethoven composed this overture at resort/spa town of Teplitz (now Tepliče, in Czech Republic); Beethoven’s doctor had sent him there for his health.3
  • This overture was composed, along with incidental music to Kotzebue’s The Ruins of Athens op. 113, for opening of Imperial Theater in Pest (now part of Budapest, in Hungary).4
  • King Stephan, though ostensibly about a historical Hungarian king, was also meant as a thinly-veiled homage to then-King of Hungary (and Austrian Kaiser), Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor.5

Sources

  1. Douglas Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed July 22, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040026.
  2. Hugh Chisholm, ed. “Kotzebue, August Friedrich Ferdinand von,” Encyclopædia Britannica Vol. 15, 11th ed. (Cambridge University Press, 1911), 919–920.
  3. Johnson et al, “Beethoven, Ludwig van,” Grove Music Online.
  4. John Palmer, “König Stephan (King Stephan), Incidental Music, Op. 117,” All Music, accessed July 22, 2019, https://www.allmusic.com/composition/k%C3%B6nig-stephan-king-stephen-incidental-music-op-117-mc0002360294.
  5. Ibid.

Cut IDs

42386