Opera Background

Elements of Fidelio
The Librettist and the Playwright
Napoleon and Europe at the time of Fidelio

Performance and Composition History of Fidelio

Beethoven's only opera springs from the same period that gave birth to his Fifth Symphony and Fourth Piano Concerto. Having played viola in theater orchestras, the composer had definite ideas about what an opera should be. He disapproved of such "immoral" subjects as Così fan tutte and took his cue instead from the German Singspiel (song-play), with roots in folk tradition rather than "decadent" court entertainment. Venturing into the bourgeios theater, Beethoven became — according to Wagner — the father of the modern music drama. Anxious to compose a stage work, since if successful it would provide steady income, Beethoven was pleased to accept a commission in 1803 from the impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who had persuaded Mozart to write The Magic Flute. When Schikaneder went out of business, the contract was taken up by the management of the Vienna Court Theater. The secretary of the theater, Josef von Sonnleithner, set about preparing a libretto that would embody Beethoven's earnest moral purpose. The result was Leonora, or Conjugal Love, adapted from a French play by Jean Nicolas Bouilly, a standard rescue story set during the terror of the French Revolution and allegedly based on an actual incident.

Fidelio was Beethoven's only opera, but it cost him about three operas' worth of time and effort. From its genesis in 1804 to the performance of the final version in 1814, the opera transformed several times. The original title of the opera was Leonore, but since there had been at least two previous operatic settings of Lenore ou L'Amour Conjugal, Beethoven's work was retitled Fidelio.

Beethoven composed four complete overtures to Fidelio. The first overture, now known as Leonore Overture No. 2, was used for the world premiere, which took place (in three acts) at the Theater an der Wien, in Vienna, on November 20, 1805. There were only three performances; most of Beethoven's ardent fans had left Vienna due to the French siege. The opera was also felt to be too long, and Beethoven was forced to condense the three acts into two, cut Rocco's aria, and shorten and rearrange several other sections. This revised version debuted in spring of 1806, with a new overture (Leonore No. 3).

When Beethoven was approached about reviving the opera several years later, he himself insisted on several changes, and nearly every aria was altered in some way. The definitive Fidelio premiered on May 23, 1814, in the Karntnertor-Theater in Vienna, where it enjoyed its first resounding success. The final overture was not ready until the second performance, but is now simply called Fidelio. Gustav Mahler established the practice at the Metropolitan Opera House of inserting the Leonore Overture No. 3 between the two scenes of Act II.

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