Fidelio libretto in German & English (Online essay about Fidelio at classicalnotes.net)
Fidelio is about personal and political freedom. Florestan has been imprisoned by a bad prince and is being starved to death. His wife, Leonore, disguises herself as a man named Fidelio. She gets a job as a jailer in the prison and eventually liberates Florestan. Leonore is the first female hero (heroine) in the history of opera (Leonore was Beethoven's title for the opera until the 1814 revision although it performed as Fidelio in 1805 and 1806 against his wishes).
By 1803 Beethoven was a significant composers of symphonies, string quartets, and piano sonatas. He then set his sights on composing an opera. Opera, besides being the pinnacle of vocal composing, was much more profitable than instrumental composing. While Mozart had started composing operas at age 13, Beethoven, now 32, had no experience with the genre. It would be a decade before Fidelio was widely successful.
The libretto by a French writer, Jean-Nicholas Bouilly, was over a decade old and had already been set to music several times. "Rescue operas" had been popular in France since the French Revolution. Bouilly's libretto was translated into German by Joseph Sonnleithner.
On one level Fidelio can be seen as an Enlightenment expression of political freedom from unjust rulers. On a second level, it can be seen as Beethoven being imprisoned by his deafness. Related to this is Beethoven's deep expression of marital love, and his hopes that he would find a wife would help his misery.
The History of Fidelio:
1805 version:
Wanting to avoid both Italian style and Mozart style opera, Beethoven appropriate the French more muscular orchestra style of contemporary Luigi Cherubini's operas which Beethoven greatly admired.
Beethoven struggled to get the libretto of Lenore past the Viennese censors who forbid most production of art with political content. Eventually it was accepted with a few changes to the text. The next week 15,000 French soldiers marched into Vienna and the aristocracy left. Rehearsals of the opera suffered from the turmoil and the theater was half empty with mostly French officers in attendance.
The reviews were not good. Mostly they called the opera overly long and slow (it originally had three acts). The critics also claimed disappointment that Beethoven's music was not as original as his other works.
Beethoven's friends agreed with the critics and a number of them met to convince him to shorten the opera by removing three numbers. Beethoven had his usual fit of indignation. Beethoven finally agreed, shortening the opera to two acts and re-writing the overture (Lenore Overture #3).
1806 version:
More people attended and the applause and reviews were greatly improved. But the theater was not full and Beethoven got into a fight with the theater manager about his share of the gate receipts. Once again his friends tried to smooth things over, but this time Beethoven was unmovable. He put the score of Leonore in a drawer where it remained for several more years.
1814 version:
Beethoven revises the opera once again with libretto changes by Georg Friedrich Treitschke. This version is widely praised. One of the major revisions is to Florestan's aria which was made more dramatic and the wording was changed to include the word "freedom." Beethoven's Florestan aria pushes the tenor's part to the extremes of the range, making the tenor nearly as exhausted as the starving Florestan in singing it. He also re-wrote the overture making it lighter in content.
Leonore (Fidelio) is chosen to be performed at the Congress of Vienna where the heads of state of the major European countries will meet to decide what to do about Europe after Napoleon is defeated (the Congress runs through Napoleon's brief return and second exile in 1815).
The three public performances of Fidelio:
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, First version: 3 acts[12] 20 November 1805 (Conductor: Ignaz von Seyfried) | Premiere cast, Second version: 2 acts[12] 29 March 1806 (Conductor: Ignaz von Seyfried)[13] | Premiere cast, Final version: 2 acts 23 May 1814 (Conductor: Michael Umlauf) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florestan, a prisoner | tenor | Friedrich Christian Demmer | Joseph August Röckel | Giulio Radichi |
| Leonore, his wife, disguised as a man under the alias Fidelio | soprano | Anna Milder | ||
| Rocco, gaoler (guard) | bass | Rothe | Carl Friedrich Weinmüller | |
| Marzelline, his daughter | soprano | Louise Müller | Theresa Bondra | |
| Jaquino, assistant to Rocco | tenor | Caché | Früwald | |
| Don Pizarro, governor of the prison | bass-baritone | Sebastian Mayer | Johann Michael Vogl | |
| Don Fernando, King's minister | bass | Weinkopf | Ignaz Saal | |
| Two prisoners | tenor and bass | Unknown | ||
| Soldiers, prisoners, townspeople | ||||
Fidelio Setting:
Two years prior to the opening scene, the Spanish nobleman Florestan has attempted to expose certain crimes of a rival nobleman, Pizarro. In revenge, Pizarro has secretly imprisoned Florestan in the prison over which he is governor. Simultaneously, Pizarro has spread false rumors about Florestan's death.
The warden of the prison, Rocco, has a daughter, Marzelline, and an assistant, Jaquino, who is in love with Marzelline. The faithful wife of Florestan, Leonore, suspects that her husband is still alive. Disguised as a boy, under the alias "Fidelio", she gains employment working for Rocco. As the boy Fidelio, she earns the favor of her employer, Rocco, and also the affections of his daughter Marzelline, much to Jaquino's chagrin.
On orders, Rocco has been giving the imprisoned Florestan diminishing rations until he is nearly starved to death. Learning the king's minister is coming to investigate his abuses, Pizarro plans to murder Florestan.
Place: A Spanish state prison, a few miles from Seville, Time: 18th century
Music (4.4.1) Leonore Overture # 3 (1806)
Vienna Philharmonic, Franz Welser-Möst, cond. 14:00
From the final, 1814 version:
Vienna State Opera, Leonard Bernstein, conductor. Otto Schenk, director (1978)
Leonore / Fidelio - Gundula Janowitz, Florestan - Rene Kollo
Rocco - Manfred Jungwirth, Marzelline - Lucia Popp
Jaquino - Adolph Dallapozza, Don Pizarro - Hans Sotin
No. 9 - Recitativo and Aria, Act I
Music (4.4.b) Leonore's Aria: "Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? "
("Abominable! Where are you rushing?") (9:30)
When Leonore learns that Pizarro plans to murder Florestan, she vows to save her husband....
LEONORE:
You monster! Where will you go?
What have you planned in cruel fury?
The call of pity, the voice of mankind,
Will nothing move your tiger's wrath?
Though surge like ocean's waves
Ire and anger in your heart,
A rainbow on my path still shines,
Which brightly rests on sombre clouds:
It looks so calmy, peacefully at me,
Of happier days reminding me
And soothes thus my troubled heart.
Come hope, let not the last bright star
In my anguish be obscured!
Light up my goal, however far,
Through love I shall still reach it.
I follow my inner calling,
Waver I shall not,
Strength I derive
From faithfulness and love.
Oh you -,- for whom I bore so much,
If I could penetrate
Where malice has imprisoned you
And bring to you sweet comfort!
I follow my inner calling,
Waver, I shall not,
Strength I derive
From faithfulness and love.
No. 11 - Recitativo and Aria, Act II
Music (4.4.c) Florestan's Aria: "Gott! Welch Dunkel hier!" ("God, What a darkness here") 8:40
Florestan, near death from starvation, despairs but then finds the hope that his wife will rescue him.
FLORESTAN:
God! what darkness this! What terrifying silence!
I'm living in a desert. Death only reigns down here.
How hard my trials! -
But just is the Lord's pleasure!
I don't complain! What I've to suffer, You decree.
In the spring days of my life
Happiness deserted me!
Truth I dared to utter boldly
And the chains are my reward.
Willingly I bear my tortures,
End in ignominy my life;
To my heart this is sweet solace:
My duty I have always done!
And do I not feel soft whispering air?
What brightness shines into my grave?
I see how an angel fragrant like a rose
Comforting stands by my side,
An angel, Leonore, my wife so alike
To lead met to freedom (freiheit), to the kingdom of God.
Music (4.4.d) Finale 13:00
Florestan, Leonore, and the other freed prisoners rejoice at the coming of freedom and justice...
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