Introduction
Fidelio, the only opera written by Beethoven, was not born under the best stars; it premiered in Vienna in November 1805 during a time in which Napoleon’s troops had already invaded the city and many of Beethoven’s patrons had left.
The premiere of the opera happened in front of an audience made largely of French officers who did not enjoy it.
Music aside, it’s easy to understand why: Fidelio is, in fact, the pseudonym with which Leonore disguises herself as a guard in order to free her husband Florestan imprisoned for political reasons.
Quite a clear message from Beethoven to the invading French troops.
Joseph Karl Stieler, portrait of L.v.Beethoven, 1820
Beethoven wrote and rewrote the overture to his opera 4 times: the first 3 are the Leonore overtures, while the final one takes the name of Fidelio. Beethoven himself always wanted to call the opera after her heroine rather than her pseudonym but, at the time, there were already another couple of operas going by the name Leonore. It was the theater that changed the name to avoid confusion.
The overture for the premiere is, in fact, the Leonore 2, which was replaced in 1806 by the Leonore 3, written to overcome some issues the wind players had with the Leonore 2.
The Leonore 1 was written, it seems, in 1805 but apparently only used in a performance in Prague of 1807. Finally, Beethoven wrote a 4th overture in 1814, which the one now officially used as the overture to Fidelio.
Mahler used to play the Leonore 3 between the two scenes of the second act, giving the piece a boost of popularity. It is, in fact, a sort of symphonic fresco that sums up the opera itself. The opening depicts Florestan’s dungeon, followed by a quotation from his second-act aria, and cut off by a trumpet call to signify his liberation. There is the realization that Leonore had a play in his newly found freedom. And finally the celebration of love and freedom itself.
L.v.Beethoven – Leonore overture n.3
Should you need a score you can find one here.
Adagio
Traditionally, this overture begins with a slow introduction. A full orchestra chord in fortissimo catches the attention of the audience and we descend down into the dungeon via a downward scale.
The entrance of the clarinets and bassoons line sheds a bit of light and hope, moving to Ab major.
The same idea is retaken by the strings but shifts the atmosphere again. Notice the line of the violas containing the scale we heard at the beginning.
The ominous entrance of the flute is turned into a game of triplets, moving to E minor.
The same triplets are transferred to the cellos and basses a few bars later, broadening the game to a question/answer between sections
The game is intensified and slowly but surely reaches a fortissimo with 3 fs followed by forte/piano contrasts. We’ve seen a lot of these dynamic contrasts in Beethoven, for instance in the 2nd symphony, or the 7th, of the Coriolan overture.
We approach the end of the introduction, suspended on the last note of the C major scale…
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Allegro
…and we continue right into the Allegro. The first thing that one can notice in the score is the absence of the second violins. All other string players are in but Beethoven saves the use of the seconds for later.
The syncopated theme is played by the first violins and the cellos; the violas accompany with repeated eight notes while the basses hold a pedal of Cs in pizzicato.
Notice the construction: 4 bars and the model is repeated; then the first 2 bars are repeated, shortening the phrase; then only the first bar is used as a model.
The second violins finally make their entrance, in octave with the first, and a huge crescendo leads to full orchestra fortissimo.
This crescendo is entirely built on the syncopated motive. But if we look closely, we can notice that the rhythm of the second bar of that motive is transferred to the woodwinds and horns.
The theme is repeated in full forte and its last element reused in a shortened version to continue the conversation. The symphonic arch of this overture is certainly of importance. Beethoven keeps going, prolonging the wait for a second theme. A surprising harmonic shift brings back the syncopate motive and we finally land on a new section.
Notice how this idea is also based on a scale, played by the first violins in their warm low register doubled by the flute. The triplets of the second violins and violas immediately add a certain excitement and anxiety to the line
Beethoven begins playing with the material immediately: he creates a crescendo that shifts to a subito pianissimo. And then starts again, in pianissimo, with a motive that is connected to the first theme by the syncopated element
Another crescendo to the full orchestra and it’s time for new dynamic contrasts landing on the third bar of the first theme, used as connecting tissue. This cell moves down the scale, explodes in a sudden fortissimo, and then it’s inverted, moving up, its rhythm slightly variated. On top, oboe and bassoon play a descending line. Notice the fire in the scales played by the second bassoon, the second violins, and the cellos and basses in the fortissimo bars.
These contrasts, built on phrase models of 4+4 or 4+8 bars, keep going till they are transformed into a passionate, languish line on bar 232. Notice that the motive is still based on the 3rd bar of the first theme, played by the first violins and echoed by the woodwinds in thirds, minus the oboes.
It’s all part of the same game: the dynamic contrasts return immediately, with the fiery scales of the strings and the inverted motive in piano, leading again to the same anguish, half a step higher
The syncopated motive is transformed and used as a model, moving back and forth between the cellos/basses and the first violins, to build a huge crescendo. Notice the presence of continuous sforzatos. A couple of final rising scales drop immediately to the bottom of the spectrum introducing the trumpet call of freedom. Time is suspended in a series of woodwinds’ chords sustained by the strings
And the trumpet call is back. The episode is repeated, with some variations in the orchestration, and we reach the reprise of this overture: left to a solo flute, in G major. The strings pulsate underneath and a solo bassoon offers delicate answers to the flute
After a recapitulation with few variations, Beethoven bridges into the coda: a fast Presto distilling notes in rapid scales, starting with, as specified in the score, only 2 or 3 violins from the first violins section joined by 2 or 3 of the second violins section, and then by the violas, cellos, and basses in a cascade of notes that explodes in a fortissimo where we hear the syncopated motive once again
An energic fanfare follows and this monumental overture finishes with great impetus.
Technical tip
This coda can be really tricky as it’s very easy to get thrown off by the offbeat accents. Give a pulseless cue for the first violins to begin and then keep your gestures really small, from the wrist.
For a technical analysis take a look at this other video
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