FIDELIO

In the organizer's words:

Opera by Ludwig van Beethoven

Florestan has disappeared. His wife Leonore suspects that he is languishing as a political prisoner in the state prison over which Florestan's adversary Don Pizarro watches as governor. Disguised as a man and under the name Fidelio, Leonore accepts a job as an assistant to the jailer Rocco in order to gain certainty - and to save Florestan. A message from the minister announces an inspection, as arbitrary violence is suspected in the prison. Pizarro feels threatened and plans to secretly murder Florestan, leaving Rocco and Fidelio to dig his grave in the dungeon. When Pizarro himself appears there with his dagger drawn, Leonore reveals herself to be a woman and pulls out a pistol in desperate need ...

With Fidelio , Beethoven created an opera that transcends the personal fate of its characters: a plea for freedom, justice and the overcoming of tyranny. In its uncompromising nature, Fidelio appears as a shining counter-image to Cherubini's tragic Medea (1797), which the Mainfranken Theater staged last season. Both works were written eight years apart, each reflecting in their own way the triumph and tragedy, ideals and devastation of the French Revolution. Beethoven deeply admired Cherubini, who in turn paid tribute to his younger colleague and attended the premiere of Fidelio in Vienna on November 20, 1805. However, Beethoven's only opera only began its triumphal march on the world's opera stages with the revised version of May 23, 1814.