Search Arts
Search Arts
go
On Radio
On Radio
American Routes
Car Talk Puzzler (Saturday 9am CT 8am MT, Sunday noon CT 11am MT)
Echoes
Etown
Geo Quiz
Global Hit
Riverwalk Jazz (Saturday at 7pm CT, 6pm MT)
Schickele Mix
Sound & Spirit
Sounds Eclectic
Studio 360
(Sunday at 5pm CT, 4pm MT)
To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Whad'Ya Know?
Zorba Paster
CLASSICAL
Symphony to perform Beethoven's only opera, 'Fidelio'
The St. Louis Symphony Chorus and Orchestra perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s complex opera “Fidelio.” by Sarah Bryan Miller Ludwig van Beethoven wrote only one opera, "Fidelio." It's a heroic story and contains some of Beethoven's most inspired music. David Robertson, the St. Louis Symphony Chorus and Orchestra and a fine cast that includes sopranos Christine Brewer and Celena Shafer, tenor Stuart Skelton and bass-baritone James Morris will give three performances in a semistaged version over two weekends.

It's an opera that's infrequently performed for several reasons. It needs big voices, making it difficult to cast. It has dramatic problems because of its spoken dialogue and Beethoven's struggles with writing opera.

And the opera's bright-eyed idealism is out of fashion: Although its themes of marital love and human rights are timeless, an age as self-consciously ironic and cynical as ours has trouble accepting "Fidelio" on its own terms.

The story is simple enough: Leonora, married to a political prisoner, Florestan, disguises herself as a young man, Fidelio. She gets a job in the prison where her husband is held. Fidelio earns the trust of the jailer (and the love of his daughter), helps the prisoners and manages to prevent Florestan's murder by his enemy, Don Pizarro. In the nick of time, a high-ranking minister arrives and the captives are freed, to general rejoicing.

Beethoven labored over the score, revising it several times. He lacked Mozart's knack for light comedy, making some of the opera's early scenes dramatically problematic, but the music, and the message, make it more than worthwhile.

"I love singing the role of Leonore," says Brewer, who has recorded it twice, in English and in the original German. "The heroic nature of the role appeals to me first and foremost. She's a strong woman doing the right thing for all the right reasons to save her husband's dear life. I also think the opera remains timely and extremely relevant."

One of the issues with "Fidelio" is its use of spoken dialogue, which can be hard for singers to manage convincingly. That's one reason it will be performed instead with a narrator, conductor-actor Damon Gupton.

The dialogue is "a challenge," Robertson says. Using a narrator "helps, not only to give parts of the story, but it also places the story in context. I think that's going to be a very helpful thing for people who don't know the opera."

It will also shorten the evening somewhat.

"Fidelio," Robertson says, is among "our major cultural touchstones.

"The questions explored in 'Fidelio' -- how do we live, what's right and what's wrong, how do we govern ourselves and how do we let ourselves be governed -- are pertinent for society even today."

---
© Copyright 2008, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH