Disguised as a man, Leonore works in a state prison near Seville, where she suspects her husband Florestan. He's been missing for two years now, wrongly imprisoned by Governor Pizarro in the deepest dungeon. Leonore, outgrowing herself, takes courage to carry out a courageous act of rescue. "Love will achieve it," she sings, until she is reunited with Florestan in "nameless joy."
Ludwig van Beethoven took the material for his only opera from a French text penned by Jean Nicolas Bouilly, who, based on a true story, wrote a libretto entitled »Léonore ou L'amour conjugal« at the end of the 18th century , which Pierre Gaveaux set to music for a stage work in Paris. Beethoven's road to a final version was a long one: in 1805 and 1806 he presented his work at the Theater an der Wien without any major response, only to bring it to the stage again several years later in a thoroughly revised form: in 1814 at the Kärntnertortheater with some new texts and some new music. In German-speaking countries, but also beyond, Beethoven's "Fidelio" advanced to become one of the central opera works of classical music, with a plastic figure drawing and impressive moments,
