"Photo: Courtesy of 'Música en México' 2020"
"Fidelio, the only opera Beethoven ever wrote"
By HRJ
On May 23rd, 208 years ago, Beethoven premiered the definitive version of Fideliothe only opera he ever wrote and perhaps the score that frustrated him the most.
"What is the plot of *Fidelio*?"
Fidelio (libretto by Joseph Sonnleithner and Friedrich Treitschke based on the play Leonora or conjugal love by Jean Nicolas Bouilly based on a real event that occurred during the French Revolution) is set in an 18th century Sevillian prison.
The jailer Rocco (bass) has two assistants, Joaquino (tenor) and Fidelio, and a daughter, Marcelina (soprano).
Joaquino is in love with Marcelina. She (although she once loved Joaquino) loves Fidelio, but Fidelio (soprano) is actually a woman (Leonora) who poses as a jailer to free her husband Florestán (tenor), unjustly condemned to death for denouncing the crimes of Pizarro (bass), director of the prison.
"What kind of opera is *Fidelio*?"
Fidelio is an opera that integrates elements from various currents and schools.
It is German in its structure.
(Dialogues spoken in the manner of the singspiel).
It is French in its approach.
(Domestic situations and the presence of the transvestite character).
It is Italian in some numbers.
(Leonora's aria "Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin?", a lyrical and expressive song that is accompanied by three trumpets).
"What does 'Fidelio' sound like?"
Although the characters sing about their everyday conflicts, the music conveys a sense of grandeur. If one listens to what is said, one finds pedestrian complaints and somewhat insipid confusions. The instruments, on the other hand, propose a different story: of ideals, not of people, and little by little, through their rapturous and unpredictable language (which lays the foundations of the very personal and tormented German musical romanticism), the music ends up absorbing the characters. This disintegration can be concretely located in the quartet "Mir ist so wunderbar" (the vocal writing follows a strict canon while the instrumental one flows with absolute freedom) that precedes the scene (towards the end of the first act) where the prisoners come out into the light for the first time (chorus "O, welche Lust!").
Later, in the second act, the conflict is already abstract. Joaquino, Marcelina and Rocco are mere circumstances of a struggle that transcends them: the human spirit (Florestán) confronted against forces that want to annihilate it (Pizarro).
The resolution of the opera is apparently happy: love (Leonora) proves the invincibility of the human spirit and Florestán is liberated.
Nevertheless, there is tragedy in the festive final music.
The idea of sacrifice then arises and therefore a great doubt:
What if this longed-for reunion of love between Leonora and Florestan is actually happening beyond death?
A curious fact about FidelioBeethoven wrote a different overture for each version. That is to say: his only opera has three overtures.
