Prom 9 - 21.07.17: Beethoven – Fidelio

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Friday 21 July 2017 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio
(concert performance; sung in German)

Stuart Skelton Florestan
Ricarda Merbeth Leonore
Brindley Sherratt Rocco
Louise Alder Marzelline
Benjamin Hulett Jaquino
Detlef Roth Don Pizarro
David Soar Don Fernando
Orfeón Donostiarra
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena conductor

The first of three politically charged stage works this season is Beethoven's only opera, 'Fidelio' - a passionate musical protest against political oppression, first performed in Vienna in the wake of the French Revolution to an audience mostly consisting of Napoleon's troops. At its heart is the stirring "Prisoners' Chorus", a poignant hymn to freedom and the power of the human spirit. The BBC Philharmonic brings its highly acclaimed performance to the Proms with a cast starring Australian tenor Stuart Skelton as the imprisoned Florestan, and soprano Ricarda Merbeth as his faithful and resourceful wife Leonore.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

One of my favourite operas.

[BBMmk2]

And mine! Hope Mena doesn't make this as a political platform for Gibraltar!

[Darkbloom]

Some people see Fidelio as a bit problematic, so it's surprising that it gets so many performances at the Proms. If you include Leonora, this will be the fourth in about twenty years. Hardly a glut, but I can't think of another opera that has been done so often.

[BBMmk2]

Just thinking about how many good recordings there out there, of this great opera? I have Abbado on Decca

[Darkbloom]

Just thinking about how many good recordings there out there, of this great opera? I have Abbado on Decca

It's hard to get past Klemperer for me. An amazing cast, though it's a shame that Walter Legge didn't want Hans Hotter for Don Pizarro and we got Walter Berry instead.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It's hard to get past Klemperer for me. An amazing cast, though it's a shame that Walter Legge didn't want Hans Hotter for Don Pizarro and we got Walter Berry instead.

If you can get past Legge, you can have Klemps and Hotter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fidelio-Klemperer-Covent-Garden-Orchestra/dp/B0000X81X0

[Bert Coules]

One of the best Proms I've ever been to was a Fidelio with Anja Silja. It was sort of minimally semi-staged, with the cast making entrances and exits but little other action. Beyond Silja, who was stunning, I can recall absolutely nothing else about it, sadly.

[Bert Coules]

I planned to listen to this later but just dipped in to get a flavour. It's unfair to judge on a shortish sample but is it just me or is it a bit low-key and unexciting?

[Prommer]

Are we to have Leonore No.3? That always peps things up a bit, if played well...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

One of the best Proms I've ever been to was a Fidelio with Anja Silja. It was sort of minimally semi-staged, with the cast making entrances and exits but little other action. Beyond Silja, who was stunning, I can recall absolutely nothing else about it, sadly.

Here you go, Bert:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ebd4fx

[Ein Heldenleben]

Roll on Act 2 and the inestimable Stuart Skelton

[Bert Coules]

Here you go, Bert:

Thank you! I had half a thought that it was Davis but I wasn't certain, so it's good to have it confirmed. And what a splendid cast: seeing the details has brought it back to me. It was a blazing, exciting, highly dramatic evening - quite a contrast, sadly, to the extract I caught just now (though perhaps as I said I'm not being fair).

Interesting, and sad, that the Beeb archive listing credits the composer but not the librettists.

[Bert Coules]

Are we to have Leonore No.3? That always peps things up a bit, if played well...

At the Garden once I (quite truthfully) heard a disgruntled punter respond to Leonore 3 with a shout of "And meanwhile, back at the opera..." Bravo.

[Bert Coules]

Ooh, the interval talk just disappeared...