Fidelio

[MSFixR]

I haven’t written about the concerts at our symphony in some time but I thought I’d mention the concert we attended last evening, as it was so unique. The presentation was a concert version of Beethoven’s only opera “Fidelio”. It featured the St. Louis Symphony orchestra and chorus, nine soloists headed by soprano Christine Brewer, a southern Illinois native, James Morris, best known for his role as Wotan in performances of Richard Wagner's opera cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, and a narator. The opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio", rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison. The story also engaged Beethoven's strong feelings about the struggle for political liberty that was taking place in Europe in his day (Napolean crowning himself Emperior of France). The opera went through several revisions during Beethoven’s time most notably in its overture. The currently used overture is known as the Fidelio overture with the other three previous overtures known as Leonore #1 through #3.

Fidelio Overture, Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducting the Zurich Opera orchestra

The most dramatic of the Leonore overtures follows.

Leonore No. 3 (Part 1), Bruno Walter conducing the Metropolitan Opera orchestra


Leonore No. 3 (Part 2), Bruno Walter conducing the Metropolitan Opera orchestra

Last night’s performance was very well received by a full house of enthusiastic Beethoven fans.

I might also mention next season’s schedule and a new innovation in concert programming. In addition to the pre-selected 6, 12, 18 and 24 concert series, the subscriber can create their own six concert series from the twenty-six programs offered. In this way, the subscriber can choose the exact blend of music he wants to hear on the dates most suitable to his schedule. We will be hearing Prokofeiv, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Beethoven symphonies (the Pastoral and Choral symphonies), an evening of opera arias (a new feature this year), an evening of modern dance featuring the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago performing to the music of Bach, Stravinsky and Bernstein (also new this year), as well as concertos, overtures, and incidental music.