Formally speaking, Beethoven’s “Egmont” intermezzos follow Goethe’s scenic directions, ie as they are written in the drama. The play, including Beethoven’s music, premiered at Vienna’s Burg Theatre on June 15, 1810. It has been handed down to us that Beethoven wrote his composition “simply for love of the poet”, and “to show this, took nothing for it from the theatre direction”. Although early on, Beethoven’s music was considered quasi obligatory for performances of Egmont, the music slowly disappeared from the theatre. In the concert hall, however, only the Egmont Overture has survived and is a frequently performed work.

In summer 2007, this arrangement of the Egmont intermezzi was recorded in the studios of the ORF. Tobias Moretti developed his own text of the drama especially for it. The goal of this undertaking was to transfer the drama, including the music, from the theatre to the concert stage in dramatically convincing form. Before it was recorded, it was performed at the Salzburg Festival as well as the Carinthian Summer Festival.

This arrangement of the works was recorded in 2007 and Tobias Moretti narrates his own text (in German).