Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

This book explores the fascinating musical and dramatic elements within Fidelio, Beethoven's only complete opera.

This book explores the fascinating musical and dramatic elements within Fidelio, Beethoven's only complete opera - one of the most admired and problematic in the repertoire. The book contains a comparison of the opera's first and final version, a consideration of its musical idiom and its performance history. It includes a synopsis, blurb, bibliography and illustrations.Fidelio is Beethoven's only complete opera and one of the most admired, and problematic, in the repertoire. This book explores the fascinating musical and dramatic elements within the work as well as the debt to the traditions of French opera in the late eighteenth century and its affinities with the French Revolution. Winton Dean offers a comparison of the opera's first (1805) and final (1814) versions. Essays by Michael Tusa and Joseph Kerman consider its musical idiom and the challenges Beethoven faced as an instrumental composer trying his hand at opera. A final chapter examines the opera's performance history, and the volume also includes a synopsis, bibliography, and informative illustrations.