Day 258: Leonore, Conclusion

BeethovenCD63For an opera, this is really quite good.

And I say that as an unabashed opera basher.

It’s a rare opera that I can truly say I enjoy.

Beethoven’s Leonore is a rare opera.

Composed in 1805 (Beethoven was 35), Leonore (also known as Fidelio) is his only opera.

Leonore features compelling, dynamic music, a believable story, and – on this edition by Brilliant Classics – superb performances from some of the world’s most famous opera stars.

Part of what I like about Leonore is the music. Usually, operas focus less on the music than they do on the performers’ voices. Not this one. The music is genuinely compelling on its own.

Plus, Leonore is not as talky as some opera. The balance between dialogue and music and singing is just about right. And the voices are superb.

Superb, I tell’s ya!

This is one of my favorite operas. Everything about it is top-notch.

Day 257: Leonore, Beginning

BeethovenCD62I am now listening to Beethoven’s opera.

I’m up to CD 62 and this is the first time voices enter the scene.

There’s a reason for that.

Beethoven only wrote one opera.

Here’s the poop on Fidelio, according to its entry on Wiikipedia:

Fidelio (Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe: Leonore, or The Triumph of Married Love) (Op. 72) is a German opera with spoken dialogue in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is his only opera. The German libretto was prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and the 1804 opera Leonora by Ferdinando Paer (a score of which was owned by Beethoven).

The opera tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named “Fidelio”, rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.

Frankly, I’ve never been a fan of opera. Much (most? all?) of it is dreck.

So, I’m usually wincing by the time one of my musical explorations enters the realm of opera.

Today’s foray into the world of opera is different for several reasons:

1. It’s Beethoven. So the music leading up to the singing is very good. It’s holding my attention.

2. This is Beethoven’s only opera, which gives it the weight of importance (at least in my mind).

3. It’s in German, which is a language that never fails to make me chuckle.

NPR posted a good review/commentary of Beethoven’s Leonore. Here’s an excerpt:

For ages, Leonore was viewed as little more than a flawed first draft of Fidelio. But over the last decade or two, interest in Beethoven’s earlier version has increased, even resulting in several recordings.

Some conductors who have taken interest in Leonore, like Nicholas McGegan (who conducts this concert), feel that the emotional content of Beethoven’s earlier version is more pure, intense and immediate.

The opera is imbued with Beethoven’s vision of freedom from political oppression, sparked by the ideals of the French Revolution. One writer described it as the story of “a woman, disguised as a prison worker, who liberates her husband, and strikes a blow for freedom, feminism, and prison reform.”

This recording is remarkably clear and clean. Every nuance is captured. The performers are superb. And that’s a biggie for me. There’s a certain range of voice that Continue reading

Day 49: The Creation (Part Two)

HaydnCD49This is the second part of Haydn’s “masterpiece” Die Schopfung (The Creation). It covers parts 2 & 3.

I don’t have much to add to what I posted yesterday. The performances are remarkable. It sounds like it took a master craftsman 2-3 years to compose this impressive oratorio. (By the way, if you do listen to The Creation, be prepared to get an earful of rolling Rs. This is opera, after all.)

Because it’s probably best appreciated in totality, I’ve offered another full performance of Haydn’s The Creation, courtesy of someone posting it to YouTube.

NOTE: This isn’t the performance to which I was listening today.

The clip below features Sally Matthews, soprano, Ian Bostridge, tenor, Dietrich Henschel, bass, and the London Symphony, conducted by Colin Davis.

Day 48: The Creation (Part One)

HaydnCD48Today’s musical selection is an oratorio titled Die Schopfung (“The Creation”), which — according to its entry on Wiki — is considered Haydn’s masterpiece…and a test of both his stamina and his faith in God.

Haydn was inspired to write a large oratorio during his visits to England in 1791–1792 and 1794–1795, when he heard oratorios of Handel performed by large forces. Israel in Egypt is believed to have been one of these. It is likely that Haydn wanted to try to achieve results of comparable weight, using the musical language of the mature classical style.

The work on the oratorio lasted from October 1796 to April 1798. It was also a profound act of faith for this deeply religious man, who appended the words “Praise to God” at the end of every completed composition. He later remarked, “I was never so devout as when I was at work on The Creation; I fell on my knees each day and begged God to give me the strength to finish the work.” Haydn composed much of the work while at his residence in the Mariahilf suburb of Vienna, which is now the Haydnhaus. It was the longest time he had ever spent on a single composition. Explaining this, he wrote, “I spent much time over it because I expect it to last for a long time.” In fact, he worked on the project to the point of exhaustion, and collapsed into a period of illness after conducting its premiere performance.

Haydn was between 64 and 66 when he composed this Continue reading

Day 47: The Seasons (Fall, Winter)

HaydnCD47 Today’s musical selection is the conclusion (Fall, Winter) of the massive oratorio that covers a year’s worth of seasons.

A song cycle about the seasons is nothing new, of course. Antonio Vivaldi’s (1678 – 1741) Four Seasons is likely the most well known of the genre. Certainly, the beloved violin concerto is the most famous work from the Italian.

The totality of yesterday’s CD and today’s (the complete Four Seasons from Haydn) is two hours and twenty minutes of music. Frankly, that’s beyond big. That’s massive.

If Haydn had done nothing else in his long, illustrious career, The Four Seasons, alone, would have been worthy of high praise. It really is a fine, fine oratorio, with terrific performances all around especially from soprano Helen Donath and tenor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalbert_Kraus.

But the instrumentation is superb as well.

And that’s why this works so well for me. If it had Continue reading

Day 46: The Seasons (Spring, Summer)

HaydnCD46There are more German words on the back of today’s CD sleeve than one is likely to hear in a movie about World War II.

Today’s Haydn composition is Die Jahreszeiten, which means The Seasons.

Apparently, according to said sleeve, this is just the “Beginning” of The Seasons, although I’m not sure what that means.

Just Spring? Just Winter?

Winter, Spring, Summer?

Googling is called for. (Actually Googling wasn’t needed. Ogling was. I just sifted through all of the German words and discovered that this recording covers Spring and Summer. That likely means the next CD will Continue reading