Beethoven’s only opera, “Fidelio,” is the centerpiece of this week’s all-Beethoven Sunday Opera (6/21 3:00 p.m.) in a production from the Vienna State Opera with Maylim Bystrom in the titular role.
Leonore (Bystrom) is the heroine who disguises herself as the boy Fidelio to infiltrate a Spanish prison in order to find her husband, Florestan (David Butt Philip), who is a falsely accused political prisoner.
Leonore (as Fidelio) works for Rocco (Tareq Nazmi), the jailer, in order to search for Floristan, but there is a problem. Rocco’s daughter, Marzelline (Kathrin Zukowski), has fallen in love with “Fidelio” and is spurning the advances of Rocco’s assistant, Jaquinto (Daniel Jenz), who now harbors a great deal of resentment because “Fidelio” seems to be stealing his love and his job.
Leonore finally does make it into the dungeon where Floristan is to be killed on orders of the corrupt prison governor Don Pizarro (Christopher Maltman) where she is to dig a grave with Rocco.
As the drama unfolds, Leonore and Pizarro have a showdown which is interrupted by the arrival of the king’s minister, Don Fernando (Simonas Strazdas) who announces that all of the political prisoners have been pardoned. Pizarro’s crimes come to light, and Leonore and Floristan are happily reunited as the other political prisoners are freed.
The Vienna State Opera Orchestra and Chorus are conducted by Franz Welser-Most.
Our afternoon of Beethoven continues with one of his most familiar piano works, the Piano Sonata No, 14 in C-Sharp Minor which, of course, is better known as the “Moonlight Sonata,” a title not bestowed on it until after Beethoven’s death. Our pianist is Alessio Bax.
We’ll follow that with one of Beethoven’s often overlooked symphonies, the Symphony No. 4 in B flat major. This charming little (relatively) work is unfortunately overshadowed by its symphonic neighbors, the “Eroica” and the “Fifth,” but it still holds its own and is quite charming. Here it will be performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Georg Solti.
We’ll close out our time together with a work that might be less familiar in his complete incidental music to the Kotzebue play “The Ruins of Athens.” Although one often hears excerpts from the piece (as in his music to Goethe’s “Egmont,”), here, we’ll all of the incidental pieces including vocals by soprano Mechthild Gessendorf and baritone Roger Andrews. They’re joined by the New York Choral Artists and the Orchestra of St. Lukes with Dennis Russell Davies conducting.
