FIDELIO

 

FIDELIO

Opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven with a libretto by Joseph von Sonnleithner revised by Stefan von Breuning and Georg Friedrich Treitschke, based on Leonor, or marital love by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly.    
The first version (Fidelio oder Die eheliche liebe) was premiered on the 20th of November 1805 at the Theater an der Wien; the second version (Leonore oder Der triumph der ehelichen liebe) on the 29th of March 1806 at the Theater an der Wien; and the final version (Fidelio) was premiered on the 23rd of May 1814 at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna.

Musical production Teatro Cervantes de Malaga
Stage production Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla

Leonore / Fidelio  Berna Perles  
Florestan               Cesar Gutierrez  
Rocco                     Tijl Faveyts  
Marzelline              Beatriz Diaz  
Jaquino                  Pablo Garcia Lopez  
Don Fernando /
Second prisioner   Luis Lopez  
Don Pizarro           Jose Antonio Lopez 
First prisioner       Jesus Gomez
 
Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra
Malaga Opera Choir

Stage director Jose Carlos Plaza
Chorus director Salvador Vazquez
Conductor Manuel Hernandez Silva     

2.50 h (w/intermission)
photo ©Guillermo Mendo ©Daniel Perez

Influenced by the humanitarian ideals of the French Revolution and by his elevated concept of love, for his first and only opera Beethoven chose the story of the French drama Léonore ou l’amour conjugal (Leonor or marital love) by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, for which Pierre Gaveaux wrote a musical score in 1789, followed by Ferdinando Paër in 1804, amongst others. Bouilly’s music was a pièce à sauvetage, or “rescue piece”, a very popular genre at a time when heroes representing the forces of good, justice and reason would triumph when in a situation of great danger and following a series of ups and downs. Written during the composer’s romantic period, Fidelio incorporates important stylistic novelties, such as the relevance of the chorus and of soloists in respect to the orchestration, to achieve greater dramatic force. In this opera, which according to Beethoven was “the child that has cost me the greatest pain, and the greatest sorrows; but also the one most loved”, the composer unfolds his ethical vision, his belief in the values of justice and reason, as well as his message of hope and universal fraternity.  
Nearly a decade after its original premiere, two failed versions, multiple revisions, work to shorten the original and four different overtures, Fidelio was premiered with great success in 1814, and is the form in which this opera is usually performed at present.

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