Programs · Episode

BEETHOVEN: Norma

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, September 8, 2018 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Beethoven spent as much time on his only opera as some composers did on their entire portfolios — and it shows. Fidelio is one of opera's greatest stories of salvation, both literal and spiritual. At the Opera features recordings led by Charles Mackerras and Simon Rattle. Mackerras conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with soprano Gabriela Beňačková in the title role, while Rattle leads the Berlin Philharmonic and soprano Angela Denoke.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Have you ever heard an opera by Pierre Gaveaux, Simon Mayr or Ferdinando Paer? No? Well, they were all quite trendy in their time.

A couple of centuries ago each of them wrote operas featuring daring wives who risked their lives to rescue their condemned husbands. It was a popular plotline in the early 1800s, and any number of composers exploited the trend — yet by now most of them are just as obscure as the three just mentioned. That's because Ludwig van Beethoven also took the story into the opera house, with Fidelio, and that brilliant drama has long since overshadowed all the rest.

Fidelio falls into a genre known as "rescue opera," a loosely defined term that was coined well after the fact. It's generally used to describe a type of opera that developed in France at the time of the French Revolution, and quickly became popular all over Europe. And why not? At some point or another just about everyone needs to be rescued, emotionally if not physically.

At their finest, rescue operas involve more than just the gallant rescue of an individual from mortal danger. They also portray a rescuer so heroic that he or she willingly risks everything in the cause, with an outcome that signals the inevitable triumph of human will and freedom over injustice and tyranny. Fidelio provides all that, with plenty of drama and emotion to spare.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us through Beethoven's Fidelio with two recordings, made less than 10 years apart, but taking very different approaches to the music. From 1996, it's a release featuring a relatively small orchestra, not unlike those in Beethoven's own time. In that one Charles Mackerras leads the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with soprano Gabriela Beňačková as Leonore. We'll also hear a recording from 2003 with a more contemporary feel to it, featuring Simon Rattle leading the Berlin Philharmonic, and soprano Angela Denoke.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Charles Mackerras, conductor
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
Edinburgh Festival Chorus
CAST: Gabriela Beňačková (Leonore); Anthony Rolfe Johnson (Florestan); Siegfried Vogel (Rocco); Franz-Josef Kapellmann (Don Pizarro); Ildikó Raimondi (Marzelline); John Mark Ainsley (Jaquino); David Wilson-Johnson (Don Fernando)
(Telarc 80439)

Simon Rattle, conductor
Berlin Philharmonic
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
CAST: Angela Denoke (Leonore); Jon Villars (Florestan); László Polgar (Rocco); Alan Held (Don Pizarro); Juliane Banse (Marzelline); Rainer Trost (Jaquino); Thomas Quasthof (Don Fernando)
(DG 57555)

Playlist