Beethoven: Leonore

Opera no 71

Beethoven: Leonore

Soloists

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

John Elliot Gardiner

I've known Fidelio for as long as I can remember but I have never heard Leonore before. It was a fascinating experience. It was like listening to a familiar opera going in and out of focus. Most obviously different are the numbers which Beethoven completely removed but even more interesting is listening to Beethoven's earlier thoughts on some of the most familiar music. There are all sort of different melodic turns, changes in harmony as well as wholesale rewriting of sections. Generally speaking Fidelio is more concise and one can see why Beethoven made cuts and tightened up the whole score. Most of the cuts seem well thought out - though clearly any mature Beethoven is not to be missed - but the section before the final duet between Florestan and Leonore was highly effective and perhaps Beethoven was unwise to remove it. 

I did however miss the extraordinary end of Fidelio, where Beethoven lets rip in an explosion of energy. The very end of Leonore doesn't have that impact and I must confess that after finishing listening to this opera I did put on the last scene of Fidelio, in the Klemperer recording, just to remind me what I had missed.

I also talk the opportunity to listen to the 10 or so minutes that have been rescued from Beethoven's abortive opera Vesta's Feuer because this was the original source of the music in the Florestan-Leonore duet. There it seemed quite pretty and almost conventional. The transformation Beethoven achieved in turning it into the huge outburst of passion in the opera is quite extraordinary.

It has been an highly enjoyable experience listening to the operas which led up to Fidelio. I've know Winton Dean's masterly account of Beethoven as an opera composer for many years and it was really good to be able to hear the examples in his book brought to life in full orchestral performances. The three operas by Paer, Mayr and Gaveaux were all worth listening to, but it only take a few moments of listening to Beethoven to realise the difference between talent and genius.

For the next stage in this project I am going to cover 20th and 21st Century British and Irish opera.