We hear Beethoven reference Florestan and Leonore in his first overture for Fidelio, and we hear Leonore make a crucial decision

"Fidelio" (Christine Brewer) and Rocco (Arthur Woodley) in Act I of Fidelio, San Francisco, 2005 (photo by Terence McCarthy)

ROCCO: Make haste, dig on;
it won't be long before he comes.
LEONORE [trying to view the prisoner, aside]:
Whoever you may be, I will save you,
by God, by God you won't be a victim!
For sure, for sure I'll loose your chains;
I will, you poor man, free you!

Kirsten Flagstad (s), Leonore; with Alexander Kipnis (bs), Rocco; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Feb. 22, 1941

Sena Jurinac (s), Leonore; with Gottlob Frick (bs), Rocco; Covent Garden Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Testament, recorded live, Feb. 24, 1961

Helga Dernesch (s), Leonore; with Karl Ridderbusch (bs), Rocco; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded 1970

Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; with Gottlob Frick (bs), Rocco; Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kleiber, cond. Broadcast performance, June 1956

Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; with Oskar Czerwenka (bs), Rocco; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance, Feb. 13, 1960

Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; with Kurt Böhme (bs), Rocco; Vienna Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded March 1964

Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; with Franz Crass (bs), Rocco; RAI Rome Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Broadcast performance, Mar. 17, 1970

by Ken

In last week's post, "What's that, a trumpet? We hear two Great Moments in Act II to prepare to root around further in Beethoven's overtures for Fidelio," I explained that we were originally going to hear not two but three "Great Moments in Act II" of Fidelio. The deal was going to be to have you reckon which of the three were referenced in any of the four overtures Beethoven composed for the opera, when in fact only two of them were: No. 1, the imprisoned Florestan grappling with his past in his dungeon; and No. 3, the assistant jailer "Fidelio" revealing "himself" as the secret prisoner's wife in a desperate attempt to save her husband from the revenge of his enemy Don Pizarro.

This week, as I mentioned in the earlier "Taste of this week's post," in addition to continuing our investigation of those overtures, we fill in Great Moment No. 2, which I've summarized above as "Leonore makes a life-changing decision that really doesn't require much thought." Above we've heard the critical moment, and eventually we're going to hear the whole of this little "melodrama and duet," immediately following Florestan's Act II-opening monologue. It's another in a series of moments Leonore has worked so hard to achieve in the long time that she has been searching for her vanished husband Don Florestan. I don't believe we're told how long she has been searching, but it's long enough that everyone except Leonore believes he's dead.


I'D SAY THIS IS THE "CLIMAX" OF THE SCENE, EXCEPT
LEONORE STILL DOESN'T KNOW WHETHER IT REALLY IS

Even after all Leonore has been through to find her way to this prison, earn the head jailer Rocco's trust, learn that there is at least one secret prisoner, and persuade Rocco to obtain permission to bring her down with him to the subterranean dungeon where access is normally denied to all but Rocco by the prison governor Don Pizarro -- and she still has no way of knowing whether this secret prisoner is indeed Florestan.

It's a chilling mission that has gotten Leonore this special access. Rocco has been ordered to clear the heavily blocked opening of a well in the dungeon to be used for disposal of the body of the prisoner, who is to be dispatched today by the governor himself, there being no one to whom he dares delegate the task once Rocco himself has drawn a strict line at doing the actual killing -- in their Act I duet, he agreed to prepare the grave but nothing more.

We also don't know how many other leads Leonore has followed, all of which would have ended in disappointment, since after all we know where Florestan is. She, however, still doesn't. And even now, as she finds herself in the presence of this man who may be the object of her quest, the lighting is so poor and the man, to the extent that she is able to get glimpses of him, in such distressed condition, that she just can't tell. And then comes a moment, the moment we've already heard, when she realizes she's made a decision she didn't realize she was making.


IT'S TIME FOR US TO HEAR ALL OF ROCCO
AND LEONORE'S ACT II MELODRAMA AND DUET

A reminder of the scene as described at the rise of the curtain for Act II curtain rise -- i.e., the setting for Florestan's monologue): "A dark subterranean dungeon. Left, a well covered in stones and rubble. Behind, several grilled openings in the wall show steps to the floor above. The lowest steps and the cell door on the right. A lamp is burning." Florestan was discovered "alone, sitting on a stone, his body chained by a long fetter to the wall." Following the monologue, he "[sank] exhausted down on the boulder, hiding his face in his hands." And now --

ROCCO and LEONORE are seen descending the steps at the back. They carry a jug, and digging tools and a lantern. The cell is now partly lit by the open door.

Melodrama,* "Wie kalt ist es" ("How cold it is")
[*"Melodrama": Dialogue is spoken over music.]
LEONORE: How cold it is in this subterranean vault!
ROCCO: That's natural, it's a long way down.
LEONORE [looks agitatedly all around her]: I thought we wouldn't find the entrance at all.
ROCCO [turns toward FLORESTAN]: There he is.
LEONORE [trying to recognize the prisoner]: He seems quite motionsless.
ROCCO: Perhaps he is dead.
LEONORE [shuddering]: You think so?
[FLORESTAN makes a movement.]
ROCCO: No, no, he's asleep. We must make use of that and set to work instantly; we have no time to lose.
LEONORE [aside]: It's impossible to distinguish his features. God preserve me if it's him!
ROCCO: Here under these ruins is the well I told you about. We don't need to dig far to reach the opening. Give me the pick, and you stand over there.
[He climbs into the hole up to his waist, sets the jug down, and lays the bunch of keys nearby. LEONORE stands on the edge and passes the pick to him.]
You're trembling. Are you afraid?
LEONORE: O no, it's just so cold!
ROCCO: Come on then. You'll soon get warm working.

Duet, Rocco, "Nur hurtig fort, nur frisch gegraben" ("Make haste, dig on") . . . Leonore, "Wer du auch seist" ("Whoever you may be")
[ROCCO begins digging. Whenever he stoops, LEONORE takes the opportunity to view the prisoner.]
ROCCO: Make haste, dig on;
it won't be long before he comes.
LEONORE [also working]: You'll have no cause for complaint.
You'll certainly be satisfied.
ROCCO [lifting a great stone]: Come, help me lift this stone.
LEONORE: I'm helping now, don't worry;
I'll do my best.
ROCCO: A little more!
LEONORE: Patience1
ROCCO: It's giving!
LEONORE: A little more!
[They let the stone roll over the rubble.]
ROCCO: Make haste, dig on;
it won't be long before he comes.
LEONORE: Only let me recover strength;
we shall soon reach the end.
ROCCO: Make haste, dig on;
it won't be long before he comes.
LEONORE [trying to view the prisoner, aside]:
Whoever you may be, I will save you,
by God, by God you won't be a victim!
For sure, for sure I'll loose your chains;
I will, you poor man, free you!
ROCCO [standing quickly]: What, are you idling in your task?
LEONORE [beginning work again]: No, father, no, I'm not idling.
ROCCO: Make haste, dig on;
it won't be long before he comes.
LEONORE: You'll have no cause for complaint.
Only let me recover strength,
for no work is too hard for me.

-- English translation (basically) by William Mann

First we have four performances with Birgit Nilsson as Leonore --
the performances we sampled at the top of the post -- spaced over the period 1956-70, with four different Roccos and four different conductors. I happened to have them at hand (and on CD!), and thought it would be interesting to hear them. Leonore wasn't Nilsson's best or most important role, but as we see, she sang it with regularity, and it's a role to which she brought the special qualities of her immense vocal power and the gleaming precison of her vocal attack. You'll notice that when Leonore reaches her remarkable resolve, she expresses her determination in some tricky passagework that obviously wasn't Nilsson's strength, and for that matter is hardly ever in the arsenal of sopranos with the kind of vocal force and stamina so much of the writing demands. As we're going to hear, the coloratura doesn't come easily to many singers with the kind of vocal equipment the role asks for.


["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:32; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:06] Gottlob Frick (bs), Rocco; Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Orchestra, Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kleiber, cond. Broadcast performance, June 1956

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:34; "Wer du auch seist" at 3:47] Oskar Czerwenka (bs), Rocco; Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance, Feb. 13, 1960

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:42; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:40] Kurt Böhme (bs), Rocco; Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Vienna Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded March 1964

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:55; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:19] Franz Crass (bs), Rocco; Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; RAI Rome Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Broadcast performance, Mar. 17, 1970

Now we have a bunch of performances with points of interest --
starting with Kirsten Flagstad, Nilsson's predecessor as the world's ranking Isolde and Brünnhilde, but a distinctly different sort of authentic Heldensopran, more rounded and less cutting in tone, though maybe not in her tidiest or most disciplined shape here. She's partnered by the great Alexander Kipnis, no longer in his refulgent vocal prime but still a powerful bass presence -- with Bruno Walter in the pit. Sena Jurinac and Christa Ludwig didn't have anything like Heldensopran endowments but in their different ways were singers of special personal qualities.

Gwyneth Jones would in time sing plenty of Isoldes and Brünnhildes -- and Leonores, and rightfully so in terms of vocal size and weight, but the voice early on settled into such a splayed condition that it's awfully nice to hear her here with a lot of its original beauty still operativehad all the vocal heft Leonore requires. Helga Dernesch probably never should have been singing Heldensopran roles but in her short run of them made some really lovely recordings, as the Siegfried and Götterdämmering Brünnhilde, Isolde, Leonore, all with Herbert von Karajan, whose EMI Fidelio keeps coming up in our Fidelio listening because it is for me one of the best opera recordings I know, extraordinarily well sung and conducted.

Though we've got some other fine Roccos here (it's no accident, and no cause for complaint, that Gottlob Frick keeps turning up as Rocco), I would put in a particular word for Karajan's Karl Ridderbusch, in his glorious vocal prime. As with his Daland in the Böhm-Bayreuth-DG Flying Dutchman, his King Heinrich in the mostly outstanding Kubelik-DG Lohengrin, and his really commanding Pogner in the mostly disappointing Karajan-EMI Meistersinger, his are the performances I return to with the greatest pleasure. I certainly have no complaints about René Pape's beautiful, cleanly sung Rocco, and Waltraud Meier has her fans, even in roles as extreme for her as Leonore and Isolde. I expect she makes a stronger impression when she can be seen as well as heard.


["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:38; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:19] Alexander Kipnis (bs), Rocco; Kirsten Flagstad (s), Leonore; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, recorded Feb. 22, 1941

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:24; "Wer du auch seist" at 3:53] Walter Kreppel (bs), Rocco; Christa Ludwig (ms), Leonore; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Herbert von Karajan, cond. DG, live performance, May 25, 1962

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:29; "Wer du auch seist" at 3:53] Franz Crass (bs), Rocco; Gwyneth Jones (s), Leonore; Staatskapelle Dresden, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded c1968

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:46; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:43] Gottlob Frick (bs), Rocco; Sena Jurinac (s), Leonore; Covent Garden Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Testament, recorded live, Feb. 24, 1961

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:19; "Wer du auch seist" at 3:50] Karl Ridderbusch (bs), Rocco; Helga Dernesch (s), Leonore; Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded 1970

["Nur hurtig fort" at 1:54; "Wer du auch seist" at 4:39] René Pape (bs), Rocco; Waltraud Meier (ms), Leonore; Staatskapelle Berlin, Daniel Barenboim, cond. Teldec, recorded May-June 1999


FINALLY, WE DO HAVE SOME CONTINUING OVERTURE
BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO, FOCUSING ON LEONORE NO. 2

The original plan was to highlight the "Great Moments in Act II" that are heard in some form in the set of overtures Beethoven bequeathed us. Nothing from the opera is used in the last of them, the wonderful curtain-raiser we know as the Fidelio Overture, added as part of the 1814 overhaul of the opera. Our Great Moment No. 1, the melody, or at least part of the melody, of "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen" from Florestan's monologue," which we heard again in the earlier "Taste of this week's post" post, is heard in all three of the earlier overtures, Leonore Nos. 2, 3, and 1 (to list them in what is now accepted as their proper order).

Great Moment No. 3, the offstage trumpet call that heralds the just-in-time arrival of the Minister, appears in Leonore Nos. 2 and 3, but not Leonore No. 1. When it was thought that Leonore No. 1 was Beethoven's first attempt at an overture for the opera, this meant that he didn't add the reference to the trumpet call until his second and third efforts; now we have to conclude that his first thought was to use it, in the overtures performed with in 1805 (Leonore No. 2) and 1806 (Leonore No. 3, clearly a revised version of Leonore No. 2; it just sounds like such a different piece), and that when he scrapped that version and wrote something new for the projected Prague performances (in 1807 or 1808) that never happened, he decided to use "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen" but not the trumpet call.

Here again is how Beethoven references Florestan's "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen" not long after the start of Leonore No. 2 --
This was our "Example 1" in the "Taste" post. Again, we pick up at 0:45 of the overture.

 

Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Recorded Nov. 5-6, 1963

Note that after the initial statement by the clarinets and bassoons of something we can reasonably recognizable as "In des Lebens Frühlingstagen," bearing in mind that if Leonore No. 2 is used as the opera's overture, this is the audience's first hearing of it; the audience won't hear it for real until after the whole of Act I and the intermission. For overturical purposes what I'm referring to as "In des Lebens" is mostly just the first three notes, which is to say not really a tune, but just a series of three consecutive descending notes a whole tone apart, of the same time. This encouraged me to extend Example 1 into the pointed, upward-curlicue interchange between the first flute and the first violins, since underneath them we hear the first bassoon conspicuously intoning the three-note "In des Lebens" motif.

Then, at 6:45 in the Klemperer performance, our Example 2 --


Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Recorded Nov. 5-6, 1963

Now, recall how the trumpet call is heard in the opera --

at the climax of the dungeon scene of Act II, as Don Pizarro is about to take his final revenge on Florestan by dispatching him with an ugly knife he's brought for the occasion. Also present, having finished their work unblocking the well, are Rocco and Fidelio. As Pizarro advances toward the bedraggled Florestan, Fidelio steps in front of the prisoner.

LEONORE [shielding her husband]: First kill his wife!
DON PIZARRO: His wife?
ROCCO: His wife?
FLORESTAN: My wife?
LEONORE [to FLORESTAN]: Yes, here see Leonore!
FLORESTAN: Leonore!
LEONORE [to the others]: I am his wife,
I have sworn comfort for him,
destruction for you!
DON PIZARRO: His wife?
ROCCO: His wife?
FLORESTAN: My wife?
DON PIZARRO: What incredible courage!
FLORESTAN [overlapping]: My blood stands still with joy!
ROCCO [overlapping]: My blood stands still with fear!
LEONORE [overlapping, aside]: I defy his rage!
Destruction for him,
I defy his rage!
DON PIZARRO: Ha, Shall I tremble before a woman?
Then I sacrifice them both to my fury!
You have shared life with him,
now share death with him!
LEONORE [overlapping]: Death I have sworn you,
first you must stab this heart. [Suddenly brandishes a pistol.]
One more sound -- and you are dead!
The trumpet sounds from the tower.
LEONORE: Ah, you are saved! Almighty God!
FLORESTAN [overlapping]: Ah, I am saved! Almighty God!
DON PIZARRO [overlapping]: Ha! The Minister! Death and damnation!
ROCCO [overlapping]: O! what is that? Righteous God!
[PIZARRO and ROCCO stand dumbfounded. LEONORE and FLORESTAN embrace.]
The trumpet sounds again, but louder.
[JAQUINO, two oficers, and soldiers bearing torches appear at the uppermost opening on the staircase.]
JAQUINO: Father Rocco! Father Rocco! The Lord Minister has arrived!
ROCCO [joyful and surprised, aside]: Praised be God!

[1st trumpet call at 0:53, no following spoken dialogue] Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Paul Schoeffler (bs-b), Don Pizarro; Gottlob Frick (bs), Rocco; Hans Hopf (t), Florestan; Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra, Erich Kleiber, cond. Broadcast performance, June 1956

[1st trumpet call at 0:46] Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Hermann Uhde (bs-b), Don Pizarro; Oskar Czerwenka (bs), Rocco; Jon Vickers (t), Florestan; Charles Anthony (spkr), Jaquino; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance, Feb. 13, 1960

[1st trumpet call at 0:57] Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Tom Krause (b), Don Pizarro; Kurt Böhme (bs), Rocco; James McCracken (t), Florestan; Donald Grobe (spkr), Jaquino; Vienna Philharmonic, Lorin Maazel, cond. Decca, recorded March 1964

[1st trumpet call at 0:59, no following spoken dialogue] Birgit Nilsson (s), Leonore; Theo Adam (bs-b), Don Pizarro; Franz Crass (bs), Rocco; Ludovic Spiess (t), Florestan; RAI Rome Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Broadcast performance, Mar. 17, 1970

Now here's how the trumpet call occurs in Leonore No. 2:


Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. Recorded Nov. 5-6, 1963


WITH THIS MUCH UNDER OUR BELTS, LET'S LISTEN
AGAIN TO LEONORE NO. 2 IN ITS PROPER FORM

I hadn't planned to offer the complete Klemperer performance; the idea was that we'd use the Klemperer stereo recordings of all the overtures for our extracted examples. But I think it's an awfully good performance. And while eventually we'll be hearing a larger assortment of performances, for now I wanted to present at least one more.

BEETHOVEN: Leonore Overture No. 2, Op. 72a


["In des Lebens" at 00:45-3:24 and 6:32-7:04; trumpet call at 10:12-12:09] Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Nov. 5-6, 1963

["In des Lebens" at 00:46-3:23 and 6:33-7:08; trumpet call at 10:33-12:10] Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded Oct. 8, 1966

The obvious point to make is that this isn't the trumpet call that we know from the opera. It seems typical of Leonore No. 2, that Beethoven seems to have felt he needed to be constantly doing something -- fussing, frilling, decorating, varying. Here he's giving the audience a variation on a tune they haven't even heard yet. I suppose it's possible that he didn't want to "give away" the real trumpet call, to allow the audience to be surprised by it, but this sounds kind of peculiar to me. Of course there's no reason why Beethoven should have felt compelled to exactly prefigure the trumpet call as it's heard in the opera. The problem is that the variant form is so ineffective. And while the call is indeed sounded twice, as it is so importantly in the opera, what is the noodling that comes between the calls? And after the second? I've let our clip run till it metamorphoses into, of all things, a version of "In des Lebens."

Beethoven himself saw the light when it came to transforming Leonore No. 2 into Leonore No. 3, and again we're going to be playing with this more closely. For now, though, I thought you might want a couple of performances of Leonore No. 3 handy.

BEETHOVEN: Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Klaus Tennstsedt, cond. EMI, recorded c1983

Staatskapelle Dresden, Karl Böhm, cond. DG, recorded c1968

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