Fidelio from the Royal Opera 👍🏻

Tobias Kratzer ....  Director

Antonio Pappano ... Conductor

Lise Davidsen .. Leonore

David Butt Philip ... Florestan

Simon Neal ... Don Pizarro

Georg Zeppenfeld ... Rocco

Amanda Forsythe ...Marzelline

Robin Tritschler ... Jaquino

Egils Silins ... Don Fernando

I found access to Beethoven's Fidelio from the Royal Opera Covent Garden in March of this this year.  Look on Opera on Video.  This was supposed to include Jonas Kaufmann, but he dropped out.  This was early in the pandemic and he caught it.  Remember, I first saw him in Fidelio in Zurich.

The overture is staged, and if you pay attention you will see Lise appear dressed as a woman.  I didn't realize Lise Davidsen was so tall.  The guys are her size, which makes her believable as a man.  She makes this performance.  Her rendition of the big aria gives me shivers.  The staging is a distraction.

For me the saddest thing about the pandemic is the absence of all the planned Fidelios.  It's one of my favorite operas.  Die Liebe wirt's erreichen.  I love it because he loved it.  You can feel it.  Beethoven would never have spent so much time on something if he didn't love it.  It's a new style of opera with heavier voices.  Die Liebe wirt's erreichen.

In modern day stagings operas that come with spoken dialog frequently get their dialog rewritten to suit the director's whim.  That has happened here.  Marzelline learns the truth about Fidelio much sooner than usual.  For me the worst offense was the Fidelio from Salzburg where there were sound effects instead of talk.  At least they say understandable things.

Marzelline has a black eye in this production.  Jaquino seems always angry, so perhaps he has punched her.  There's no hint that they will get back together.

Our Florestan is chained to a rock in a well lit room where he is surrounded by men and women watching him.  He expects to meet Leonore in heaven.  I imagine that Jonas would have been rather different.  The staging of the ending is badly muddled.  There is no scene change before the celebration. When they sing "O namenlose Freude," you feel it. Marzelline shoots Pizarro.

This is a great role for Lise.  She should sing it all over.

Here's a sample.