Leonore, opera (early version of Fidelio), Hess 109
Beethoven's sole opera Fidelio, Op. 72, is known primarily in a version from 1814, but it actually had its premiere in 1805, under the title Leonore, in French-occupied Vienna. This first attempt was given for an audience of French soldiers who did not speak German, and unsurprisingly it bombed. Beethoven took the advice of friends and made major cuts, while also experimenting with several different overtures that have all been deployed in the opera and performed as independent orchestral works. This is not the first ...
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Beethoven's sole opera Fidelio, Op. 72, is known primarily in a version from 1814, but it actually had its premiere in 1805, under the title Leonore, in French-occupied Vienna. This first attempt was given for an audience of French soldiers who did not speak German, and unsurprisingly it bombed. Beethoven took the advice of friends and made major cuts, while also experimenting with several different overtures that have all been deployed in the opera and performed as independent orchestral works. This is not the first performance of the 1805 Leonore, but it's hardly common. John Eliot Gardiner conducted the opera in the 1990s with his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, and here historical-performance conductor René Jacobs argues that it is the preferred version of the opera. Historical instruments (on this recording the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra) with their typically quick tempos work well here. The opera is in three acts (cut to two in all subsequent versions), and Jacobs catches the large lines...
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