Johan de Witt (September 24, 1625, Dordrecht--August 20, 1672, The Hague) was a key figure in Dutch politics at a time when the Republic of the United Provinces was one of the Great Powers in Europe, dominating world trade and thus one of the wealthiest and mightiest nations in the world In the Dutch rampjaar (disaster year) of 1672, when France and England during the Franco-Dutch War (Third Anglo-Dutch War) attacked the Republic, the Orangists took power by force and expelled him. Recovering from an earlier attempt on his life in June, he was assassinated by a carefully organized lynch "mob" after visiting his brother Cornelis de Witt in prison. He was decoyed into this trap by a forged letter. After the arrival of Johan de Witt the city guard was sent away to stop plundering farmers, the farmers were not found. Without any protection against the assembled mob the brothers were doomed. They were taken out of the prison and on their way to the scaffold killed. Immediately after their death the bodies were mutilated and fingers toes and other parts were cut off. Nowadays most historians assume that his adversary and successor as leader of the government stadtholder William III of Orange was involved. At the very least he protected and rewarded the killers.

================================ Beethoven Egmont Overture Op.84 London Symphony Orchestra/Pierino Gamba. ================================ Related information: Egmont, opus 84, by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It consists of an overture and nine separate subsequent pieces for soprano and full orchestra. Beethoven wrote it between October 1809 and June 1810, and it was premiered on 15 June 1810. The subject of the music is the history and the heroism of the Count of Egmont. In the music Beethoven expressed his own political concerns, particularly the heroic exaltation of the sacrifice of a man condemned to death by having taken a strong stand against oppression. The music was accompanied by eulogistic praise, in particular by E.T.A. Hoffmann, for its poetry and Goethe himself declared that Beethoven had expressed his intentions with "a remarkable genius". The overture, powerful and expressive, is one of the last works of his middle period; it has become as famous a composition as the Coriolan Overture, and is in a similar style to the Fifth Symphony which he completed two years earlier. The incidental music includes the following sections, among which the overture, the lied Die Trommel gerühret and the mort de Klärchen are particularly well-known: Ouverture: Sostenuto, ma non troppo - Allegro Lied: "Die Trommel gerühret" Entracte: Andante Entracte: Larghetto Lied: "Freudvoll und Leidvoll" Entracte: Allegro - Marcia Entracte: Poco sostenuto e risoluto Mort de Klärchen Melodram: "Süßer Schlaf" Siegessymphonie (symphony of victory): Allegro con brio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egmont_%28Beethoven%29 Lamoral, Count of Egmont, Prince of Gavre (November 18, 1522, La Hamaide near Ellezelles -- June 5, 1568, Brussels) was a general and statesman in Flanders just before the start of the Eighty Years' War, whose execution helped spark the national uprising that eventually led to the independence of the Low Countries.[1] The Count of Egmont headed one of the wealthiest and most powerful families in the Low Countries. Paternally, a branch of the Egmonts ruled the sovereign duchy of Guelders until 1538. His mother belonged to a cadet branch of the House of Luxembourg, and through her he inherited the title prince de Gavre. During his youth, he received a military education in Spain. In 1542, he inherited the estates of his elder brother Charles in Holland. His family's stature increased further in 1544 when he wed, in the presence of the Holy Roman Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand I at Spires, the Countess Palatine Sabine of Simmern, whose brother became the Elector Palatine Frederick III.[2] In the service of the Spanish army, he defeated the French in the battles of Saint-Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). Egmont was appointed stadtholder of Flanders and Artois in 1559, aged only 37. As a leading Flemish nobleman, Egmont was a member of King Philip II of Spain's official Council of State for Flanders and Artois. Together with William the Silent, Prince of Orange and the Count of Horn,born 1524, he protested against the introduction of the inquisition in Flanders by the cardinal Antoine Perrenot Granvelle, bishop of Arras. Egmont even threatened to resign, but after Granvelle left, there was a reconciliation with the king. In 1565, Egmont went to Madrid to beseech Philip II, the king of Spain, for a change of policy in the Netherlands, but met with little more than courtesy.[3] Soon thereafter, the Iconoclasm started, and resistance against the Spanish rule in the Netherlands increased. As a devout Catholic, Egmont deplored the iconoclasm, and remained faithful to the Spanish king. After Philip II sent the Duke of Alba to the Netherlands, William of Orange decided to flee Brussels. Having always declined to do anything that smacked of lèse majesté, Egmont refused to heed Orange's warning, thus he and Horn decided to stay in the city. Upon arrival, Alba almost immediately had the counts of Egmont and Horn arrested on charges of treason, and imprisoned them in a castle in Ghent, prompting Egmont's wife and eleven children to seek refuge in a convent. Pleas for amnesty came to the Spanish king from throughout Europe, including from many reigning sovereigns, the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the king's kinsman the Emperor Maximilian I, all to no avail. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamoral%2C_Count_of_Egmont ================================ *Note:Support the artist, their families and their legacy by purchasing their music.