Lise Davidsen in Beethoven’s Fidelio © Karen Almond/Met Opera
The latest cinema production from the Metropolitan Opera, Beethoven’s Fidelio, screens on March 15 in The Met Live-in-HD series. This production, which will be available in more than 1800 theatres worldwide, stars soprano Lise Davidsen in her Met role debut as Leonore, with bass René Pape as the head jailer, Rocco, and tenor David Butt Philip as her husband, Florestan. Jurgen Flimm directs, and Susanna Mälkki conducts the production.
Beethoven was commissioned to write his only opera in 1804 by the Theater an der Wien. The story of Fidelio was based on a true incident of a woman disguised as a man who liberated her husband from a Jacobin prison. A judge named Jean-Nicolas Bouilly witnessed this event, and developed it into a story, entitled Leonoré, which was transferred to Spain. The theatre director and writer Joseph Sonnenleithner, then translated the French libretto into German. The premiere in Vienna on November 20th, 1805, was disrupted by the arrival in Vienna of Napoleon’s troops, and was an abject failure. The libretto was subject to a number of edits by Stephan von Breuning, the final version having been written by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, and Fidelio premiered at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna on May 23rd, 1814. Beethoven wrote four different overtures for the opera first known as Leonore, and the final in E major, is the one that has prevailed.
Ying Fang as Marzelline and Lise Davidsen as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio © Karen Almond / Met Opera
Fidelio was initially set in an 18th-century prison in Seville during a time of political upheaval following the French Revolution, but Jurgen Flimm has brought the action forward to an unspecified contemporary setting. The plot revolves around the unjust jailing of Spanish aristocrat, Florestan, by a political enemy, Don Pizzaro, the cruel governor of the State prison who would face a corruption scandal if the identity of his secret prisoner were to be revealed. Florestan’s wife, Leonore, devises a plan to rescue him from the death penalty, and taking the name Fidelio, she disguises herself as a man, and goes to work as a deputy gaoler at the prison. Don Pizzaro – concerned about a proposed inspection of the jail by the king’s minister, Don Fernando – orders the head jailer, Rocco, to kill Florestan, which Rocco refuses to do. When Don Pizzaro goes down to Florestan’s cell to kill him, Leonora reveals her true identity, threatens the tyrant, and Florestan’s life is saved by the arrival of Don Fernando.
Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen follows a number of highly acclaimed Met performances with her portrayal of Leonore. She was described by Gramophone magazine as “One of the greatest vocal talents to have emerged in recent years, if not decades”, following an acclaimed Live-in-HD performance in November in the title role of Puccini’s Tosca. She most recently opened the season at Staatsoper Unter Den Linden in Berlin, with her stage debut as Floria Tosca, followed by a performance at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, and the Vienna State Opera, and she also appeared at the Gstaad New Year Music Festival. Future performances include those at the Met in the title role in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, and in Schubert Songs with James Baillieu at Carnegie Hall.
René Pape as Rocco, Tomasz Konieczny as Don Pizarro, Lise Davidsen as Leonore and David Butt Philip as Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio © Karen Almond / Met Opera
German bass René Pape returns to the Met as Rocco, having last appeared in 2021 in the title role of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. Following a performance of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Salzburg Festival in 2019 – as Boccanegra’s nemesis Jacopo Fiesco – the Financial Times wrote: “René Pape, in sumptuous voice, superbly projects both the patrician’s implacability and his emotional wounds”. More recently, he has appeared as Sarastro in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at Staatsoper Berlin, in Verdi’s Messa di Requiem with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Timur in Puccini’s Turandot at Staatstheater Berlin. He continues this season with appearances as Gurnemanz in Wagner’s Parsifal at Staatsoper Berlin, King Mark in Tristan und Isolde at Staatsoper Hamburg, and a performance at the Wagner Gala at the Austrian Festspielhaus.
British tenor David Butt Philip will also sing the role of Florestan at Semperoper Dresden, making his company debut. He will reprise the title role in Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Wiener Staatsoper and sing the title role in Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg at Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he will also star as Kaiser in a new production of Richard Strauss’ Die frau ohne Schatten. On the concert platform he appears in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the Czech Philharmonic, the title role in Bernstein’s Candide at Semperoper Dresden and in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius for Huddersfield Choral Society with the Opera North Orchestra.
Lise Davidsen as Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio © Karen Almond / Met Opera
Others in the cast include bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny as Don Pizarro, soprano Ying Fang as the young Marzelline, tenor Magnus Dietrich making his company debut as Jaquino, and bass Stephen Milling as Don Fernando.
Gary Halvorson will direct the Live-in-HD presentation, and tenor Ben Bliss will host the transmission.
Susanna Mälkki leads the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus Live-in-HD on March 15. To find your local cinema, visit the Metropolitan Opera website, where further information on the performance will also be found.
Information sourced from:
Metropolitan Opera program notes
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