Organization

Conductor

Stephan Zilias

Stage director

David Hermann

Set designer

Johannes Schütz

Costume designer

Lighting designer

Ulrich Niepel

Chorus master

Jeremy Bines

Dramaturge

Carolin Müller-Dohle

Singer

Baritone

Markus Brück

Don Pizzaro

Tenor

Valentyn Dytiuk

Florestan

Soprano

Flurina Stucki

Leonore

Bass

Tobias Kehrer

Rocco

Lilit Davtyan

Marzelline

Gideon Poppe

Jaquino

John Irvin

First prisoner

Tadeusz Milewski

Second prisoner

Deutsche Oper Berlin

Orchestra

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Others

Choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Michael Bachtadze

Don Fernando

German

Fidelio

Berlin

Germany

Foyer

Fidelio Beethoven

Private

Public

English

Approved

Im Geiste der Französischen Revolution komponiert, verhandelt FIDELIO die Frage nach individueller und kollektiver Freiheit angesichts tyrannischer Unterdrückung. Beethoven griff für die Arbeit an seiner einzigen Oper auf einen politischen Stoff zurück, der in der Tradition der französischen Rettungsoper wurzelt. Es ist die Geschichte einer todesmutigen Frau, Leonore, die ihren aus politischer Willkür inhaftierten Mann aus der Gefangenschaft befreit und damit einen politischen Umsturz auslöst. Dass sich in der Oper Elemente der deutschen Spieloper, Arien von romantischer Innerlichkeit, Orchesterzwischenspiele in tondichterischer Qualität und ein symphonisches Ende kreuzen, verweist in keiner Weise auf Beethovens musikalisches Unvermögen, eine schlüssige Oper zu komponieren. Vielmehr trägt die Form seiner revolutionären Vorstellung von Kontrastdramaturgie und Formsprengung Rechnung – je weiter Leonore in die Tiefen des Kerkers hinabsteigt, desto deutlicher tritt der existenzielle Kern des Dramas hervor. Die unbedingte Affirmation der Freiheit, der Menschenrechte und des Humanismus bricht sich schließlich im symphonisch angelegten, chorischen Finale Bahn, in dem Beethoven mit einem Zitat aus Schillers „An die Freude“ schon auf die Zukunftsmusik seiner „Neunten“ vorausdeutet. Die Oper wurde im Laufe ihrer Rezeptionsgeschichte von gegensätzlichen Lagern immer wieder politisch vereinnahmt, Leonore zur Ikone stilisiert. Und dennoch überstrahlt Beethovens in Musik gebannte Vision einer humanistisch geprägten Gesellschaft alle nachfolgenden Versuche, das Werk auf Eindeutigkeiten zu reduzieren.

Zur Inszenierung
David Hermann, der an der Deutschen Oper u. a. mit seinen Inszenierungen von so unterschiedlichen Werken wie DAS MÄDCHEN MIT DEN SCHWEFELHÖLZERN, ORESTEIA und DIE SACHE MAKROPULOS beeindruckt hat, nahm sich mit Bühnen- und Kostümbildner Johannes Schütz Beethovens Meisterwerk an. Das Nachdenken über Innen und Außen, Freiheit und Gefangenschaft, Macht und Ohnmacht steht im Zentrum ihrer Befragung. Für FIDELIO haben sie einen Bühnenraum erschaffen, der die von Beethoven und seinen Librettisten so eindringlich geschilderten Manipulationsmechanismen und Hierarchien des Gefängnisses in poetische Bilder übersetzt. Mit seiner sensiblen psychologischen Personenführung zeigt David Hermann die Deformationen, den Leidensdruck und die gefährliche Labilität der Figuren auf, die Teil dieses entfesselten Systems sind – sei es aus Zwang als Insassen oder „freiwillig“ als Wärter oder Angestellte. Auch Leonore begibt sich tief in dieses System hinein, reist von der Helligkeit ins Dunkel, während der Druck für alle beteiligten Figuren ins Unermessliche steigt. Kann Freiheit überhaupt gänzlich errungen werden, ohne dass daraus neues Leid hervorgeht?

Deutsch

Composed in the spirit of the French Revolution, FIDELIO negotiates the question of individual and collective freedom in the face of tyrannical oppression. For the work on his only opera, Beethoven resorted to political material rooted in the tradition of the French rescue opera. It is the story of a death-defying woman, Leonore, who frees her husband, who has been imprisoned for political arbitrariness, and thus triggers a political upheaval. The fact that elements of German light opera, arias of romantic inwardness, orchestral interludes of tone poetic quality and a symphonic ending intersect in the opera in no way indicates Beethoven's musical inability to compose a coherent opera. Rather, the form takes into account his revolutionary idea of ​​contrast dramaturgy and form explosion - the further Leonore descends into the depths of the dungeon, the more clearly the existential core of the drama emerges. The unconditional affirmation of freedom, human rights and humanism finally breaks ground in the symphonic, choral finale, in which Beethoven already hints at the future music of his "Ninth" with a quote from Schiller's "To Joy". In the course of its history of reception, the opera has repeatedly been politically appropriated by opposing camps, and Leonore has been stylized as an icon. And yet Beethoven's vision of a humanistic society, captured in music, outshines all subsequent attempts to reduce the work to unambiguousness. the more clearly the existential core of the drama emerges. The unconditional affirmation of freedom, human rights and humanism finally breaks ground in the symphonic, choral finale, in which Beethoven already hints at the future music of his "Ninth" with a quote from Schiller's "To Joy". In the course of its history of reception, the opera has repeatedly been politically appropriated by opposing camps, and Leonore has been stylized as an icon. And yet Beethoven's vision of a humanistic society, captured in music, outshines all subsequent attempts to reduce the work to unambiguousness. the more clearly the existential core of the drama emerges. The unconditional affirmation of freedom, human rights and humanism finally breaks ground in the symphonic, choral finale, in which Beethoven already hints at the future music of his "Ninth" with a quote from Schiller's "To Joy". In the course of its history of reception, the opera has repeatedly been politically appropriated by opposing camps, and Leonore has been stylized as an icon. And yet Beethoven's vision of a humanistic society, captured in music, outshines all subsequent attempts to reduce the work to unambiguousness. in which Beethoven, with a quote from Schiller's "An die Freude", already points to the future music of his "Ninth". In the course of its history of reception, the opera has repeatedly been politically appropriated by opposing camps, and Leonore has been stylized as an icon. And yet Beethoven's vision of a humanistic society, captured in music, outshines all subsequent attempts to reduce the work to unambiguousness. in which Beethoven, with a quote from Schiller's "An die Freude", already points to the future music of his "Ninth". In the course of its history of reception, the opera has repeatedly been politically appropriated by opposing camps, and Leonore has been stylized as an icon. And yet Beethoven's vision of a humanistic society, captured in music, outshines all subsequent attempts to reduce the work to unambiguousness.

To the staging
David Hermann, who impressed at the Deutsche Oper with his productions of such diverse works as THE GIRL WITH SULFUR WOODS, ORESTEIA and THE MAKROPULOS THING, took on Beethoven's masterpiece with stage and costume designer Johannes Schütz. Thinking about inside and outside, freedom and imprisonment, power and powerlessness is at the center of their questioning. For FIDELIO they have created a stage space that translates into poetic images the manipulation mechanisms and prison hierarchies so vividly described by Beethoven and his librettists. With his sensitive psychological leadership, David Hermann shows the deformations, the suffering and the dangerous instability of the characters, who are part of this unleashed system - whether by force as inmates or "voluntarily" as guards or employees. Leonore also goes deep into this system, travels from brightness to darkness, while the pressure on all the characters involved increases immeasurably. Can freedom be fully won without new suffering arising from it?

Fidelio by Beethoven, From (2024/2024), Directed by David Hermann,, Conductor Stephan Zilias, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin, Germany

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Videos

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues