Fidelio : Work information
- Composers
- Ludwig van Beethoven ( Music, Images,)
- Performed by
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Guenther Herbig (Conductor)
This work
- Work name
- Fidelio
- Work number
- Op. 72c
- Key
- n/a
- Genre
- A
- Composed
- 1805-00-00 02:00:00
This recording
- Label
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
- Producer
- Alan Peters
- Engineer
- Dick Lewzey
- Recording date
- 1994-06-01 01:00:00
The Artists
Conductor: Guenther Herbig
Ensemble: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1946 by Sir Thomas Beecham, who was the Music Director until his death in 1961. By handpicking the personnel of his Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Thomas attracted some of Britain's most outstanding musicians. Through its many concerts, recordings and broadcasts, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra became internationally established as a virtuoso body quite unlike any other orchestra, founding a unique tradition in which there was a combination of discipline and flexibility, individual artistry, virtuosity and ensemble that stemmed from Beecham's relationship with his chosen players. This tradition subsequently attracted conductors of the greatest quality and diversity.
In 1961, after Sir Thomas's death, Rudolf Kempe became Music Director and established new artistic and professional directions for the Orchestra. It was also during this period, in 1963, that the Orchestra became a self-governing body. This has been the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's form of constitution ever since; and in 1966 Her Majesty The Queen conferred the Royal title upon the Orchestra.
Following Rudolf Kempe, the Orchestra continued to attract some of the world's most outstanding conductors as Music Directors including Antal Dorati, Walter Weller, André Previn and Vladimir Ashkenazy. The Orchestra has also formed special associations with Lord Menuhin, Yuri Temirkanov and Sir Charles Mackerras. Since September 1996 the orchestra's Music Director has been the young Italian maestro, Daniele Gatti.
The Composers
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, and certainly the most dominant of the 19th century. In taking the Viennese Classicism of Mozart and Haydn to its limits and developing his own intensely personal style, his output heralds the birth of musical romanticism.
Although Beethoven's personal life was often turbulent, he managed to produce some of the most sublime music ever written. Among his most profound works can be counted the nine symphonies, the Missa Solemnis, many of the piano sonatas, the late string quartets, the Piano Concerto No. 5, and his only opera, Fidelio. All enjoy a permanent and important place in the musical canon.
Born in 1770, the son of an obscure musician in the provincial town of Bonn, Beethoven received his early musical training from his father and other local musicians. His talents for composition and the piano were quickly recognised and nurtured by court organist, Christian Gottlob Neefe, for whom the young Beethoven deputised.
Sent to Vienna in 1792 to study with Haydn, Beethoven spent the next decade establishing an enviable reputation as a virtuoso pianist and composer. He published an increasing number of works and enjoyed the patronage of Prince Lichnowsky and the Esterházys among others.
His gradual loss of hearing, though, threatened the course of his career. Realising that his condition was both incurable and permanent, Beethoven shunned social occasions to avoid revealing his potentially damaging secret. By 1818 he was virtually deaf and had to use conversation books to communicate.
Upon learning of his deafness, Beethoven suffered a period of fluctuating moods, powerfully voicing his despair in an 1802 letter to his brothers, the 'Heiligenstadt testament'. Managing to pull himself out of his malaise, Beethoven threw himself into the work that was now spreading his fame all over Europe.
With financial stability finally achieved through the patronage of Beethoven's supporters, Archduke Rudolph, Prince Lobkowitz and Prince Kinsky, Beethoven's professional life reached a peak. His personal life, in contrast, was still in turmoil.
In 1812 he wrote a passionate love-letter to an unknown 'immortal beloved', now thought to be Antoine Brentano, a married and, hence, unavailable woman. This was the culmination of a series of unrequited or doomed love affairs and marked a turning point in the composer's life.
From this point on, Beethoven seems to have accepted the impossibility of marriage and, after a long period of diminished creativity, decided to dedicate his energies to composition. His recovery began in 1817 with the Hammerklavier sonata and continued with the Missa Solemnis, but further conflict with his sister-in-law over custody of his nephew, Karl, kept his personal life turbulent.
After the monumental Ninth Symphony of 1823-4, Beethoven dedicated his last years to the string quartet, though illness began to increasingly disrupt his compositional activities. Beethoven's relationship with his nephew also deteriorated and Karl's attempted suicide in August 1826 shattered the ailing composer. In late 1826 he developed jaundice and, after a lengthy illness, died on 26 March 1827; an estimated 10,000 people attended the funeral three days later.
Beethoven's influence, as both a composer and romantic artist, has proved enormous. His compelling private life and wonderful music ensured that his perceived 'heroic' struggle over personal obstacles became the idealised view of the composer in the romantic era. Similarly, there can be few composers born since that have escaped the shadow of his immense creativity and musicianship. He stands above virtually all others as one of the most admired composers of all time.
Related Composers: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Weber
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.1: 1 Mov. (2'32'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.1: 2 Mov. (5'21'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.1: 3 Mov. (2'21'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.1: 4 Mov. (4'25'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.2: 1 Mov. (4'52'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.2: 2 Mov. (4'40'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.2: 3 Mov. (2'46'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.2: 4 Mov. (5'50'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.3: 1 Mov. (7'02'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.3: 2 Mov. (7'05'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.3: 3 Mov. (3'20'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata op.2 no.3: 4 Mov. (4'30'')
- MIDI FILE - from 5th Piano Concerto: Allegro (18'50'')
- MIDI FILE - from "Moonlight Sonata" op.27 n.2: 1th mov. (5'47'')
- MIDI FILE - Piano Sonata "Waldstein" (complete) (21'52'')
Track listing
-
Overture
6:49 min
Notes
The genesis of Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, is a long and complex one. Having considered suicidide in 1802 when his deafness became apparent, Beethoven threw himself whole-heartedly into his work. The commission to write an opera for Schikaneder was a welcome one and Beethoven moved his lodgings to the Theater an der Wien.
Popular in Vienna at the time were operas based on contemporary events in revolutionary France, with their heroic plots and realism. After an initial false start in 1803 on another subject, Beethoven began work on J. N. Bouilly's Leonore. The plot involved a political prisoner rescued from a spanish bastille by his wife; it perhaps appealed to a composer searching for rescue from his own prison of deafness.
Work continued to progress slowly, not helped by contractual problems with the Theater an der Wien. Finally the opera was completed in summer 1805. Its first performance co-incided with the advance of Napoleon's troops into the city and consequently flopped.
A revival of the revised opera occurred in 1806, to which Beethoven composed a new overture (Leonore No. 3). Unfortunately disagreements with the Theatre's director resulted in withdrawal after only two performances. Eventually the Karntertor-Theater asked for permission to revive the opera in 1814 and the opera now known as Fidelio, with a new overture, acheived its final form.