Beethoven's opera 'Fidelio' is a fitting project finale
Tonight James Levine begins the final installment of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's two-season, 10-program examination of works by Beethoven and Schoenberg . He'll conduct three concert performances of Beethoven's sole opera, "Fidelio ," over the next five days.
"Fidelio" tells the story of the nobleman Florestan, who has been unjustly imprisoned for exposing the crimes of the prison's governor. Florestan's wife, Leonore, disguises herself as a youth named Fidelio to infiltrate the prison and rescue her husband. The opera represents a high point of Beethoven's middle period and indisputably contains some of his most majestic and inspired music (and that's saying something).
Its place in the operatic repertoire is more problematic. Many find its plot contrived and its dramatic flow seriously flawed by a lack of forward momentum; they say its parts, while beautiful, don't quite come together as a whole. Some think Beethoven was more concerned with exploring grand themes -- human freedom, duty -- than in creating a tight musical narrative.
Levine disagrees. "In 'Fidelio' we have a piece which is a masterpiece and which, like a lot of pieces by Beethoven, is kind of singular in its effect, its proportions, and its inspiration," he says by phone from Symphony Hall. "There's a problem if we say, 'All very well the music, but it isn't a great opera.' I think if you're studying the score or sitting in a theater while it's being performed, it comes off as being very theatrical indeed."
Levine also sees no need to make allowances for its perceived weaknesses by ferreting out its philosophical subtext. References to freedom and duty are all over the libretto, and they were everywhere when "Fidelio" was written, early in the 19th century. Still, he says, "It seems to me that it's about what you're looking at, or what you're listening to. I don't find the need to say something like, 'Well, what this is really about is . . .' I think starting with a point of view like that is too one-sided and prejudiced."
One good argument that "Fidelio" works just fine as an opera is a Levine-conducted performance on DVD (Deutsche Grammophon , 2003). It captures director Jürgen Flimm's modernist production when it was first introduced at the Metropolitan Opera in 2000. Levine's leadership is fervent, from the overture to the great final chorus. His musical drive, as well as the contemporary staging, sharpens the opera's dramatic edge. And the cast is outstanding, with soprano Karita Mattila as Leonore and tenor Ben Heppner as Florestan. (Mattila was to have sung in Boston but withdrew because of illness earlier this week; she is replaced by Christine Brewer . Florestan will be sung by Johan Botha .)
It is one of the great recordings of the opera, and certainly the best available video. This makes it all the more astonishing that it was the first staged "Fidelio" Levine had ever conducted. (He had conducted a concert performance in 1970 and has since conducted another.) "I didn't do it for a long time because it's so difficult to do well," he explains. "I waited until I had a certain kind of cast and collaborators, as I had at the Met. I didn't want to do it in circumstances where we couldn't arrive at a unified way of looking at it."
He was no newcomer to the piece, though: "Understand, this is a piece I've carried around with me almost since I was a kid." And he's confident that it can be as effective in the concert hall -- "where you can really hear the score, where you can really hear singers at their best throughout" -- as in the opera house.
It somehow seems appropriate that the Beethoven-Schoenberg project conclude with this rewarding yet contested work. One thing that binds the two composers in Levine's mind is the fact that it took time and repeated exposure for their respective innovations to be accepted. He's clearly grateful for the reception his experiment has received in many -- if not all -- quarters.
"I was thrilled with the way the orchestra worked on the pieces," he says. Levine acknowledges that some in the audience "weren't convinced," but adds, "I was thrilled by the tremendous number of responses from people who got excited by it, who understood that this particular illumination was not something they'd had before. And I was amazed and gratified that people really plugged into it as intensely as they could."
At Symphony Hall tonight, Sunday afternoon, and Tuesday evening. 888-266-1200 , bso.org
