Prisoners' Chorus (SAB)

Fidelio

Story & Setting:

The libretto Beethoven used for Fidelio in the 1805 version was by Joseph Sonnleitherner, based on a French libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L'amour conjugal composed by Pierre Gavreaux. (According to some sources, the original plot is based on a true story.)

Opera Notes:

The book, The Standards of Opera, states that "Fidelio stands almost alone in its perfect purity, in the moral grandeur of its subject, and in the resplendent ideality of its music."

Sung in

German

Length:

2 hours & 30 minutes

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Watch/Listen

"Gott! Welch' Dunkel hier! (Klaus Florian Vogt)

Met Opera (current production)

Act 4 Quartet (Amanda Forsythe, Lise Davidsen, Georg Zeppenfeld & Robin Tritschler)

Royal Opera House