Fidelio

Fidelio is an opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. The opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio," rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.

Reception

Fidelio is probably loved more by devotees of Beethoven than by listeners whose enthusiasm is for opera per se, for good reason. Beethoven portrayed his main characters with larger-than-life heroism, but little depth or nuance. The music is in the style of composer's middle-period symphonies, and often threatens to overwhelm rather than convey the action of the drama. Thus it could be said that Beethoven wrote a great work of music which is supported and given greater meaning by a dramatic frame, whereas (say) Mozart and Verdi wrote works that are more successful as integrated works of art.

Related Topics:
Mozart - Verdi

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Furtwängler on Fidelio

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler made these remarks in Salzburg in 1948:

Related Topics:
Wilhelm Furtwängler - Salzburg - 1948

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:"he conjugal love of Leonore appears, to the modern individual armed with realism and psychology, irremediably abstract and theoretical.... Now that political events in Germany have restored to the concepts of human dignity and liberty their original significance, this is the opera which, thanks to the music of Beethoven, gives us comfort and courage.... Certainly, Fidelio is not an opera in the sense we are used to, nor is Beethoven a musician for the theater, or a dramaturgist. He is quite a bit more, a whole musician, and beyond that, a saint and a visionary. That which disturbs us is not a material effect, nor the fact of the 'imprisonment'; any film could create the same effect. No, it is the music, it is Beethoven himself. It is this 'nostalgia of liberty' he feels, or better, makes us feel; this is what moves us to tears. His Fidelio has more of the Mass than of the Opera to it; the sentiments it expresses come from the sphere of the sacred, and preach a 'religion of humanity' which we never found so beautiful or necessary as we do today, after all we have lived through. Herein lies the singular power of this unique opera.... Independent of any historical consideration ... the flaming message of Fidelio touches deeply.

Related Topics:
Dramaturgist - Mass

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:"We realize that for we Europeans, as for all men, this music will always represent an appeal to our conscience."

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