Ludwig van Beethoven, Fidelio (1805)

People who don't know anything about classical music (I mean, I'm not claiming to know muchabout it myself, but you know) have this idea that Beethoven is the ne plus ultra in the field. And, even if they don't really know anything about it, that perception exists for a reason. And that reason...is Schroeder from Peanuts. But another, secondary, reason is that he really is that good. I do not, god knows, have enough expertise to make definitive pronouncements, but I have never heard a Beethoven composition where I didn't think, goddamn. I am hearingsomething. As you are no doubt aware, Fidelio was his only opera.

This is about a woman who disguises herself as a man (Fidelio) in order to become engaged to a jailor's daughter to become close to the jailor so that she can get at her husband, who was made a political prisoner for telling some undefined "truth" about the boss of the prison. It's confusing at first if you're coming into it blind, because women playing men in operas is enough of the thing that you assume that "Fidelio" is in fact a man in the opera's reality. But...she's not. So anyway, she saves her husband and the bad boss gets his just desserts and everyone else is freed too. Apparently.

You cannot argue with Beethoven's music. Seriously, you can't. End of game. The plot here is...somewhat vague, even in operatic terms, but that's no problem. This production is set in some twentieth-century European military dictatorship (too many of those to count, alas). That's basically fine, and certainly seems natural; the only niggling issue one has is the idea that taking down one corrupt colonel is enough to dismantle an entire corrupt regime. I mean, that's gonna be an issue however you play it, but possibly more so here. The cast was fine, naturally. The highlight for me was a young René Pape as Rocco the jailor, but once again, I feel like the characters are so...loose that it's a little hard for most of them to make a huge impression. That's not a criticism, really; it's just the way it is.

So but you really just want to say, yeah, cool beans, great opera. But...there's the one sort of insoluble issue that gnaws at you a bit, which is: Rocco's daughter, Marzelline, is just crazy about Fidelio. The opera opens with her rejecting another suitor because goddamn that Fidelio is just the best. So naturally she's enraptured when they get engaged. And...then it's revealed to all have been a sham and never dealt with in any way and THAT'S THAT. I was thinking, even while watching, huh, so she just blatantly tricked this poor girl? That's not cool. But that's what happens. And I just don't think there's any possible way you could produce this that would really mitigate the problem. Would it be better to show Rocco comforting his daughter during the triumphant final number? Well...yes? Probably? And yet, the more you focus on her distress, the more you detract from what is, genuinely, some very joyful and triumphant music that closes the thing. Because, I mean, it's not supposed to have any kind of tragic aspect to it. You would have to do some rewriting to make this work in any way. I dunno. In outline this is fine, and it frustrates me that there should be this issue, but...there it is. It might be that this is one of those operas that, for that reason, is better listened to than watched.  I still wish that Beethoven had written more of them, however.