The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fidelio
FIDELIO, grand opera in two (originally
three) acts by Ludwig von Beethoven (libretto
adapted by Sonnleithner and Breuning from
Bouillys' ‘Leonore ou l'Amore conjugale’),
first produced at Vienna 20 Nov. 1805.
The story of the fortunes and misfortunes of
Beethoven's only work for the stage would fill
a volume. After three poorly attended
performances, it was withdrawn and in a revised
and condensed form again brought forward the
next year. A quarrel between composer and
theatre manager cut short this production. It
was then shelved for eight years when, again
further revised, it was tried out a third time
before the Viennese public and gradually made
its way through the musical world. A prominent
writer wrote that it was “quite devoid of
music; one cannot understand why people take
the trouble to weary themselves with it.”
Beethoven's infinite capacity for taking pains is
evidenced by the four overtures which he
composed for ‘Fidelio.’ A still stronger
confirmation appears in the sketch book which
contains the material for the opera — a volume of
346 pages with 16 staves to the page —
which shows no fewer than 18 distinct beginnings
for Florestan's air “In des Lebens
Frühlingstagen”
and 10 for one of the choruses.
The plot, unlike most operatic texts of the day,
dealt with one of the noblest of human
emotions, conjugal devotion, which, impels Leonore
at the risk of her life to seek service in
disguise with Rocco, the jailor of her husband,
Florestan, to defeat the attempt to kill him made
by Pizzaro, the governor of the prison. At the
critical moment a trumpet call announces the
arrival of the minister who is Florestan's
friend and the rescue is completed. Undeniably
the book is loose-jointed and as a whole
lacking in dramatic value. The music is
without essential theatrical qualities, but it is deeply
felt and epical in its conception, and ranks with
the first masterpieces of composition. Yet it
stands alone in the literature of stage music.
It has had but little influence on theatrical
works of succeeding generations and there is
nothing else with which to compare it. As one
writer has well expressed it, ‘Fidelio’ is a
drama conceived and executed on symphonic
lines. Dramatic moments there are — notably
the dungeon scene with its stirring climax of
the trumpet call — but speaking generally, it is
not operatic music. The text and voice are
not of first importance. The orchestra is the
real protagonist, with its deeply expressive,
emotional qualities developed as they never had
been before. Every one of the separate musical
numbers is important; but, if selection must
be made there are the reposeful quartet in
canon form, “Mir ist so Wunderbar,” Leonore's
“Abscheulicher” aria, and the spiritually moving
prisoners' chorus in the first act, and the duet,
so expressive of ecstatic joy, “Oh, Namenlose
Freude” of Leonore and Florestan in the
second and the monumental overture usually
played between the two acts. This overture
called “Leonore No. 3,” is a favorite of orchestras
and concertgoers the world over.