麻豆约拍

Beethoven's Fidelio from The Royal Ballet and Opera, with Jennifer Davis as Leonore, Eric Cutler as Florestan and Alexander Soddy conducting.

Beethoven wrote his only opera at a time of Europe-wide upheaval amid the turmoil and fall-out of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. And in Fidelio he addresses some of his life-long pre-occupations: Freedom, Love and Liberty are at its heart with music of almost vertiginous contrast. The opera's ambition may have been unprecedented in terms of the scope of its ideas, but at its heart lies the most touching of love stories, as Leonore, disguised as the young man 'Fidelio', embarks on a daring mission to rescue her husband, who has been wrongly imprisoned. After sneaking into the jail as a male prison guard, the jailer鈥檚 daughter falls in love with her and, as time begins to run out - and Fidelio鈥檚 hidden identity is discovered - her own fate and that of Florestan, her husband are put in sudden peril.

Presented by Martin Handley in conversation with Laura Tunbridge, author of Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces.

Beethoven: Fidelio

Leonore, Florestan's wife, disguised as Fidelio, a young man ..... Jennifer Davis (soprano)
Florestan ..... Eric Cutler (tenor)
Rocco, Warden of the Prison ..... Peter Rose (bass)
Marzelline, Rocco's daughter ..... Christina Gansch (soprano)
Jaquino, a prison gatekeeper ..... Michael Gibson (tenor)
Don Pizarro, Military governor of the prison ..... Jochen Schmeckenbecher (baritone)
Don Fernando, Minister ..... Phillip Rhodes (baritone)
First Prisoner ..... Siphe Kwani (baritone)
Second Prisoner ..... Eugene Dillon-Hooper (tenor)
Royal Opera Chorus
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Alexander Soddy (conductor)