Beethoven's Egmont Overture (1809–1810) was composed for Goethe's play of the same name, a drama about the Dutch struggle for freedom against Spanish occupation. Beethoven, deeply concerned by Napoleonic oppression in Europe, used the music of Egmont to express his own political views and celebrate resistance to tyranny.

The overture follows sonata form with a slow introduction and a coda that transforms into a triumphant victory symphony. The music represents combat, the hero's death (symbolized by a brief silence), and, unexpectedly, the persistence of the flame of freedom through a luminous fanfare in F major. 

The Egmont Overture became an unofficial anthem for various freedom-fighting causes, like the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the protests that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.