On 3 November 1805, as the French army approached Vienna, a British diplomat wrote:
You can have no idea of the consternation which prevails here at this moment. I don’t know which is the most feared, the arrival of the Russians or their retreat, or that of the French. Every body who possesses or can hire a Horse is moving off, and all the Horses are put in requisition by the Government, as well as the Boats on the Danube. There never was such work.
It was not a good time in Vienna to premiere a new opera.
Beethoven’s only opera exists in three versions, from 1805, 1806, and 1814. All three versions were performed under the title Fidelio but confusion is reduced (if not eliminated) by referring to the 1805 and 1806 versions as Leonore, which was Beethoven’s preferred title.
Beethoven’s Leonore, or the Triumph of Marital Love is about a woman (Leonore) who disguises herself as a man (Fidelio) to work at a prison and free her unjustly imprisoned husband (Florestan). The power of martial love leads to a more universal goal of freedom and justice.
Leonore / Fidelio is in the tradition of German singspiel such as Mozart’s Magic Flute with musical numbers connected by spoken dialogue rather than the sung recitatives found in Italian opera. This difference tends to be something of an obstacle for modern opera audiences.
Beethoven began composing the first version of Leonore in early 1804 and worked on it for nearly two years. It premiered under the title Fidelio at the Theater an der Wien on 20 November 1805.
Unfortunately, the French army invaded and occupied Vienna one week before the premiere of Leonore. Most of the customary audience for Viennese opera had fled the city. The three performances of Leonore in 1805 were largely to audiences of French officers.
Leonore begins like a rom-com singspiel, albeit one that takes place inside a prison: Leonore in male disguise as Fidelio is the target of the romantic attentions of the jailer’s daughter Marzelline. None too happy is prison doorkeeper Jacquino, Marzelline’s previous boyfriend.
By its end, Leonore has become a political allegory — a celebration of human freedom and universal liberation. The prison may remind us of the Bastille, but the opera more abstractly suggests the ideals of the French Revolution as (in Hegel’s words) a “glorious mental dawn.”
The two plot lines of Leonore — the domestic love comedy and the politically charged prison rescue — are united by the theme of marital love, but they have never been perceived as fitting well together within the opera. The two subsequent versions tried to fix this problem.
The libretto of the 1805 version of Leonore is available at this website. It’s only in German, but you can have your browser translate it.
#Beethoven250 Day 188
Leonore 1805 (Opus 72), 1804–05
A 1976 studio recording conducted by Herbert Blomstedt with Edda Moser as Leonore and Richard Cassily as Florestan. Descriptions of the musical numbers follow with standard numbering.
(1) Following a 14-minute overture, Act 1 begins with an Aria (at 14:38 in the video) by Marzelline, the daughter of the jailer Rocco. Marzelline is in love with her father’s new assistant “Fidelio” (Leonore in drag), and she dreams of domestic bliss with him.
(2) The jail’s doorkeeper Jaquino is in love with Marzelline, and they sing a Duet (at 19:34) in which he expresses his love and desire to marry her, but she refuses to hear it. They seemed to have had an understanding but that was before “Fidelio” showed up.
(3) Marzelline’s father Rocco enters and the three sing a Trio (26:38). Rocco suggests they exercise caution because marriage and children can’t be undone. Marzelline is sure that Jaquino is not for her but Fidelio is: “Then I will dally seriously, then I won’t say ‘no, no’!”
(4) Enter “Fidelio.” In a slow hymn-like Quartet canon (31:37), the four characters each express their hopes and fears. Leonore sings “How great is the danger! How weak the glimmer of hope! She loves me, it is clear: oh nameless torment.”
(5) In an Aria (37:18), Rocco tells them all how love is not enough. There must be money as well. “As long as gold is laughing in your purse, every happiness on earth is yours.” (It’s Rocco’s big solo moment, but this aria is often people’s least favorite part of the opera.)
(6) Leonore learns that a prisoner has been in the dungeon for over two years, and she wants to see him. In a Trio (42:42) with Rocco, Leonore, and Marzelline, “Fidelio” asserts he has the courage to go into the dungeon, but Rocco will only take him if he pledges to Marzelline.
(7) Act 2 begins with a March (49:50) This is the entrance of Pizarro, the prison’s evil governor. He learns that Don Fernando, the Minister of Justice, will be paying a visit to the prison to check on a report that a prisoner is being held illegitimately. Uh oh.
(8) In a revenge Aria (53:23), Pizarro swears that he will kill the prisoner before being found out. “In his last hour, my steel in his wound, to shout in his ear: ‘Triumph, victory is mine!’” He is joined by a chorus of Guards.
(9) In a Duet (56:31) Pizarro pays Rocco to murder the prisoner held in the dungeon. Rocco is reluctant, so Pizarro decides that he will kill the prisoner himself, and all that Rocco needs to do is to dig the grave. Then, “a single thrust — and he falls silent.”
(10) Marzelline tries to arrange details of her marriage with “Fidelio.” They sing a Duet (1:01:40) about marital fidelity and honesty. Marzelline wants it, and Leonore admires her attitude, although she feels bad about deceiving Marzelline.
(11) Leonore’s big solo Recitative (1:09:02) and Aria (1:10:08): “Komm, Hoffnung” — “Come, Hope, let not the last star be dimmed for the exhausted woman! … I follow an inner urge, I do not falter, I am strengthened by the duty of faithful wedded love.”
(12) In the Act 2 Finale (1:17:22) the prisoners are allowed their daily fresh air. “Oh, what joy to breathe with ease in the open air!” Rocco tells “Fidelio” that they must dig the grave for the prisoner in the dungeon. Pizarro plots while the chorus of Guards pledge allegiance.
(13) Act 3 takes us into the dungeon. After an Introduction (1:36:27), the prisoner Florestan sings an Aria (1:42:28) about his plight. “I boldly dared to speak the truth and chains are my reward.” Only a small portrait of his wife Leonore has helped keep him alive.
(14) Rocco and “Fidelio” enter the dungeon. They speak a Melodrama (1:47:24) and sing a Duet (1:49:08) when they find the unconscious prisoner. Leonore does not recognize her husband but her sympathies are aroused: “Whoever you are, I will save you … I will free you, poor man!”
(15) Florestan awakes, and soon Leonore recognizes him as her husband, but he doesn’t recognize her yet. Florestan, Rocco, and Lenore sing a Trio (1:55:38). Florestan thanks them for food and water, Rocco regrets that Florestan will soon be dead, and Leonore’s heart is breaking.
(16) Pizarro enters and confronts Florestan. In a Quartet (2:02:58), Pizarro attempts to stab Florestan but Leonore guards him with her body and announces that she is Florestan’s wife. She pulls a gun but a (deus ex machina) trumpet is heard, announcing Don Fernando’s arrival.
(17) While Pizarro and Rocco go to head off Don Fernando, Florestan and Leonore sing a Recitative (2:07:49) and Duet (2:11:43) “O namenlose Freude!” — “Oh inexpressible joy… After untold suffering, such overwhelming ecstasy.” This is from Vestas Feuer (Day 179).
(18) Everyone arrives for the Finale (2:17:51). At first it seems bad, but Don Fernando has had Pizarro arrested, and he has Rocco unshackle Florestan. A mixed chorus (including family of the prisoners?) sing “Never can we praise too highly, the wife who saved her husband.”
#Beethoven250 Day 188
Leonore 1805 (Opus 72), 1804–05
In this unusual staging by the Vienna State Opera, much of the spoken dialogue has been replaced with an internal dialogue between dual Leonores, but all the music seems to be intact. Adverstisements may interrupt it.
On 2 December 1805, thirteen days after the Vienna premiere of Beethoven’s Leonore, the French Army defeated Russian and Austrian forces in the Battle of Austerlitz, a decisive victory in the Napoleonic Wars.