Ludwig Van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Fidelio - Opera in two acts (1804-05, rev. 1814) [70:44]
Heinrich Pflanzl - Don Fernando, minister
Josef Herrmann - Don Pizarro, governor of state prison
Bernd Aldenhoff - Don Florestan, a prisoner
Christel Goltz - Leonore, his wife
Gottlob Frick - Rocco, chief jailer
Elfriede Trötschel - Marzelline, his daughter
Erich Zimmermann - Jaquino, assistant jailer
Horst Weber - first prisoner
Werner Faulhaber - second prisoner
Chor der Staatsoper Dresden, Sinfoniechor Dresden,
Chor der Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater/Ernst Hintze
Staatskapelle Dresden/Joseph Keilberth
rec. live, 22 September 1948, Large House of the Staatstheater, Dresden, Germany
Surviving sections of original radio broadcast
No libretto included
HÄNSSLER PROFIL PH10033 [70:44 + DVD]
This is the first authorised issue of the broadcast of Fidelio given
at the commemorative opening of the Large House of the Staatstheater, Dresden
on 22 September 1948. The complete performance did not survive in its entirety.
What we have here are the extant sections of original radio broadcast: some
seventy minutes of music.
Beethoven’s only opera Fidelio is almost always described as
a stirring ode to freedom; the triumph of good over evil. Whilst probably
not featuring in many lists of ten best loved operas it is a staple of the
opera houses of the world and remains much admired. I have noticed that two
or three popular extracts are frequently featured in Recorded Music Society
programmes.
Fidelio is considered to be highly problematic. Beethoven scholar George
Alexander Fischer in his work ‘Beethoven, A Character Study Together
With Wagner’s Indebtedness To Beethoven’ (1905) provided the
following viewpoint, “Musically, it is a work of surpassing beauty;
but there is a dissonance between music and libretto which gives the impression
of something lacking; there is not the harmony which we expect in a work of
this kind. Wagner has taught us better on these points. The music of Fidelio
has force and grandeur; some of it has a sensuous beauty that reminds us of
Mozart at his best. Had Beethoven's choice fallen to a better libretto, the
result might have been an altogether better opera.” Eminent music
writer David Ewen in ‘The Complete Book of Classical Music’(Robert
Hale, London, 1965) explains that “None of Beethoven’s scores
cost him as much effort and grief, both in conception and production. Beethoven
was essentially an instrumental composer. He found it difficult to
adjust his musical thinking to the requirements of the stage.”
Emanuel Schikaneder, the manager of the Theatre-an-der-Wien, Vienna in 1803
commissioned Beethoven to write an opera. It was in 1804 when Beethoven found
the time to start work. The German libretto is the Josef Sonnleithner and
Friedrich Treitschke adaptation of the text from Jean-Nicolas Bouilly’s
Léonore, ou l’amour conjugal. Beethoven laboured hard
on the score right up to its production in November 1805. Beethoven had described
Fidelio as, “a child of sorrow” claiming that it
had caused him, “more birth pains than any other.”
The opera was first produced in a three act version under the title Leonore
in Vienna’s Theater-an-der-Wien in November 1805. Owing to the military
occupation of Vienna by Napoleon’s forces it was not surprising that
the first audiences were disappointing in number. Following the première
Beethoven revised the opera shortening it into two acts also writing a new
overture, which is now known as Leonore Overture No. 3. In this revised
form it was first performed in March and April 1806 to greater acclaim. In
1814 he revised the opera once again and work on the libretto was undertaken
by Georg Friedrich Treitschke. This version was first performed in Vienna’s
Kärtnertor Theater in May 1814 under the title Fidelio. Beethoven
was never satisfied with the opera’s overture and it ended up going
through four versions. The Leonore No. 3 is considered by many to be
the finest overture. For the opera’s revival in 1814 Beethoven wrote
the shorter Fidelio overture which Joseph Keilberth uses on this Hänssler
Profil release.
Originally built in 1841 by architect Gottfried Semper the Semper Opera House
burned down in 1869. The rebuilt house was designed by Manfred Semper and
opened in 1878. It became the home of the Dresden State Opera but was destroyed
on Friday 13 February 1945 by Allied bombers. Within a few days all of Dresden’s
theatres were reduced to ruins. A tremendous effort from hundreds of Dresden
residents cleared away countless tons of rubble. From December 1945 Dresden
City Council was given the responsibility of drawing up plans to construct
a new state theatre with Emil Leibold appointed as architect.
On 22 September 1948 the newly built Dresden Staatstheater was opened as the
Großes Haus des Staatstheater; following the rebuilding of the
Semperoper in 1985, the Großes Haus des Staatstheater
was renamed as the Schauspielhaus. To celebrate the opening of the Staatstheater
Fidelio was staged in a production by stage manager and director Heinz
Arnold. Joseph Keilberth conducted the Chor der Staatsoper, Sinfoniechor Dresden,
Chor der Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater with the Staatskapelle
Dresden. The production was broadcast live by the Dresden radio station Mitteldeutscher
Rundfunk. However, not all of the archive tape of the radio transmission has
survived as it seems that the tape was cut up by radio editors to play individual
scenes and arias. Some of the missing material, most notably the overture,
was found and put back together. Unfortunately this recording on Hänssler’s
Profil does not include the famous Prisoners’ Chorus ‘O Welche
Lust!; Marzelline’s aria, O wär ich schon mit dir vereint
and Leonora’s aria Abscheulicher, wo eilst du hin.
In a most impressive account Keilberth assembled a cast of performers high
on commitment and understanding. The orchestral playing is first class throughout
with an especially exciting rendition of the chosen Fidelio overture.
Prisoner Don Florestan is played by Bernd Aldenhoff a native of the city of
Duisburg. Aldenhoff is robust and assured in the role. As Leonore Florestan’s
wife the Dortmund soprano Christel Goltz excels with her bright and attractive
girlish tones. Dresden-born soprano Elfriede Trötschel takes the role
as Marzelline, Rocco’s daughter, with considerable assurance. Trötschel’s
resilient and fluid voice makes a nice contrast to Leonore. As Don Pizarro
the governor of state prison, Darmstadt baritone Josef Herrmann displays a
dramatically expressive voice. With clear diction and robust projection Herrmann
convincingly reveals Pizarro’s threatening character to chilling effect.
Salzburg-born Heinrich Pflanzl, as the minister Don Fernando is a rich and
rock-steady bass.
The celebrated quartet of Rocco, Jaquino, Marzelline and Leonore “Mir
ist so wunderbar” is one of the most remarkable ensemble numbers
in the opera. Taken at a relaxed pace the performance from the quartet is
deeply affecting. In the first of his two solo arias Bernd Aldenhoff as Florestan
chained to the wall of his cell performs a gloom-ridden soliloquy about his
sad fate with “Gott! Welch Dunkel hier.” In the second
aria, Florestan, lamenting his fate recalls happier times with his beloved
Leonore “In des Lebens Fruhlingstagen.” Aldenhoff is a
striking and imposing Florestan and right from his opening words “Gott!
(Oh God!) Aldenhoff convincingly communicates the pathos and inner
torment of the role.
Leonore and Florestan sing with joy at their reunion “O namenlose
Freude!” The heroes Aldenhoff and Goltz are in fine voice. With
impressive presence their unforced manner enables them convincingly to convey
their euphoria. Sadly the prisoners’ chorus “O Welche Lust!”
is not included. However, I enjoyed the chorus of prisoners and townsfolk
in the town square hailing the Minister “Heil sei dem Tag!”
Coached by chorus master Ernst Hintze the Chor der Staatsoper, Sinfoniechor
Dresden and Chor der Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater deserve
considerable praise for their satisfying and secure contribution.
For those looking for recommendable accounts of the complete Fidelio
there are two classic versions. Firstly from Furtwängler and the Vienna
Philharmonic, recorded at the 1950 Salzburg Festival with Julius Patzak and
Kirsten Flagstad on EMI mono 7 64496-2. Secondly from Klemperer and the Philharmonia,
recorded at the 1962 Kingsway Hall with John Vickers and Christa Ludwig on
EMI ‘Great Recordings of the Century’ 5 67364-2. Of the
modern digital accounts I admire the dramatic and exciting 1999 Berlin performance
from Daniel Barenboim with the Chor der Staatsoper Dresden, Sinfoniechor Dresden,
Chor der Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater and the Berlin Staatskapelle
on Warner Classics 3984 25249-2. The stars are Plácido Domingo as Don
Florestan and Waltraud Meier as Leonore with Soile Isokoski, Werner Güra
and René Pape in the supporting roles. As a bonus Barenboim includes
all four overtures on the set.
Accompanying this Hänssler Profil set is a one hundred and eighty page
booklet. Remarkable for its large number of photographs and copious information
this is complete with an English translation. Disappointingly no libretto
is provided. Included in the box is a fifty-four minute documentary DVD titled
“Mir ist so wunderbar!”- Das Gross Haus. Narrated
in German I wasn’t able to find any English subtitles. I found the flimsy
cardboard sleeve far too light for the substantial contents.
Defying its sixty-six years the sound quality of Keilberth’s Fidelio
is certainly remarkable for its age. As good as Keilberth’s performance
is, why would anyone want a version of Fidelio with several of the
most famous highlights missing?
Michael Cookson
Defying its sixty-six years the sound quality of Keilberth’s Fidelio
is certainly remarkable for its age.