This is great music that works extremely well for band when scored by a master arranger like John Cacavas. Beethoven composed the incidental music to Goethe's tragedy Egmont in 1810 (opus 84). The story concerns a historic figure, the Count of Egmont in the Netherlands, who is condemned to death by the occupying Spaniards. Like his only opera, Fidelio, it was a tale that attracted the composer because of the concept of individual freedom.