Class 3: Through Prison Bars

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3. Through Prison Bars. Prison scenes were not uncommon in earlier operas, mainly because they offered a situation reduced to its basic elements where qualities such as love, honor, and sacrifice might shine all the brighter in contrast. But Beethoven’s Fidelio (final version 1814) is the first to take place entirely in prison. Set around the time of the French Revolution, it is about a woman (Leonore) who disguises herself as a young man (Fidelio) to obtain work at the prison where her husband (Florestan) is been secretly held by his political enemies. The somewhat awkward mechanics of the plot begin as domestic comedy then switch to melodrama, but the opera nonetheless stands as a powerful testament to freedom and the power of love.

Various productions of Fidelio have set the action at the time of its creation around 1800, or updated it to virtually any period from then to the present. Others have seen the essential action as taking place within the human spirit rather than a literal dungeon, and have staged the work abstractly. After a brief overview of several such approaches, we shall play major scenes from the opera in a remarkable 2020 production that has it both ways: playing the first act realistically in period, and switching to something more universal and timeless in the second. rb.

The script, videos, and images will be posted immediately after class.

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Q AND A

Do we need to read the handouts?
Yes, to check the synopsis of the opera[s] to be played, as I usually can't choose clips to illustrate my theme and tell the story at the same time. I'm afraid I was rather rude in making this point yesterday, for which I apologize. But you can check the story in advance online; there is no need to print the handout, and I will in fact bring in a limited number for those who can't. If you do print, however, select "Fit to paper" under Settings and, if you have a two-sided printer, "Print on both sides" and "Flip on the short edge."

Weren’t you using “reality” in several quite different senses?
Yes, I was, but there is one kind of reality that ran through the entire class: the power-gradient. Whether justified or not, prisons are a way for people in power to subjugate others, so this fits in with the theme I am exploring in these odd-numbered classes (to be followed by War and Protest Against Social Injustice).

Another reality is the nature of what you see on the stage. Even the most abstract of the productions we saw yesterday, the Salzburg staging by Claus Guth, had walls that looked solid and detailed in their finish; his characters wore clothes, not costumes. Act II of the Kratzer production had much the same quality. Its concept was artificial, sure, but it was made up of components that looked solid, not stage props. Kratzer’s reality changed between the two acts. Both were detailed, but one was in period and the other wasn’t. I had no difficulty believing in the authenticity of the prison courtyard, and that domestic interior was as true to the style of that culture, class, and period as you could possibly imagine. Yet if you are too true to period you risk losing the universal quality of the drama as an expression of the human spirit, or any relevance it may have to audiences today.

That’s what I think was so brilliant about Kratzer's second act. It tied the period story directly to the experience of the audience watching it, making us wonder (as one person said) whether some of the audience had been given seats on the stage. At first, the reaction of this audience was as an unreal entertainment set in a distant time and place with no possible relevance to us today; other than applauding the performance, why should we care? But eventually that changed, as the audience (our surrogates) realized that while the period trappings might be unreal, the underlying moral issues are as real to us today as they were in Revolutionary France 200 years ago.

VIDEO LINKS

There are oodles of clips of Fidelio on YouTube, but it is not possible to reproduce the excerpts played in class from this source alone. If you have Amazon Prime, I recommend renting the 2020 London production by Tobias Kratzer that was my main source for about $3 at the link below. Otherwise, we have two of the Act I excerpts shown, plus the famous Prisoners' Chorus and a gorgeous moment from the Act II finale. But there is also a brief trailer plus a long, detailed, and informative interview with the cast and creative team that I highly recommend. In addition, you may care to read the print interview with Kratzer, explaining some of his intentions.

Only one of the four clips shown in the opening section—Jonas Kaufmann in the opening of Act II at Salzburg—is available on YouTube. But there is a trailer that will give some further idea of Claus Guth's production, and similar tastes of the productions at the Met and Opéra Comique. I have added two shorter Act II clips from the current Met production with the same singers that we heard in London. An older revival of the Met production (with the young Jonas Kaufmann) is also available for Amazon Prime rental.

I provide links to three complete productions, plus one of Act I alone. For general purposes, I recommend the 1978 one from Vienna conducted by Leonard Bernstein; despite its age, it is a fine traditional production with a first-rate cast and English titles. It is also the only production readily available that is not updated in some way. The new production from Vienna last year is also excellently sung and also has titles, but it is a very strange concept in which both Leonore and Florestan are acted by larger-than-life puppets. A more acceptable performance for general consumption msy be the 2019 production from La Scala that is updated to a non-specific locale, enabling references to Abu Ghraib and other events in recent history; unfortunately, this has titles only in German.

If you are interested in a quick overview of the many updated approaches out there, I have put a bunch of trailers together in chronological order, including some repeats; their range may surprise you. There is a footnote to the Glyndebourne trailer in which the director, Freddie Wake-Walker, explains the concept of the set; it is brief, but entirely relevant to today's discussion. I also include a number of interpretations that I can only call extreme. One of these is the Vienna puppet version already mentioned. Another is a production in Amsterdam by a Ukrainian director who superimposes additional story ideas; I wish I could have seen more of it. Finally, a radical rewriting of the opera for chamber forces produced under the aegis of the Met—different, but I salute it.

*Asterisks indicate the few clips that were seen in class. rb.

TOBIAS KRATZER PRODUCTION, LONDON 2020
	Complete production	* Amazon Prime rental
	Individual numbers	* Act I quartet * Leonore's aria (Lise Davidsen) * Prisoners' chorus * Act II finale, adagio
	About the production	* Trailer (brief shots only) * Interview with cast and creative team * Print interview with Kratzer (translated from Die Welt)
OTHER PRODUCTIONS SAMPLED IN CLASS
	Claus Guth, Salzburg 2015	* Trailer * Florestan's recit and aria (Jonas Kaufmann)
	Cyril Teste, Paris 2022	* Brief trailer * Longer introduction (in French)
	Jurgen Flimm, Met 2002–	* Florestan's aria (Laus Florian Vogt) * Act II dungeon quartet * Leonore/Florestan duet (same cast as in London) * Amazon Prime rental complete
OTHER COMPLETE PERFORMANCES
	Vienna 1978	* Complete with titles (Leonard Bernstein)
	London 1991	* Act I only, with titles (Christoph von Dohnányi)
	La Scala 2019	* Complete, titles in German (Daniel Barenboim)
	Vienna 2025	* Complete with titles (with added puppets!)
ADDITIONAL ITEMS
	Updated trailers	* Met 2002, in 2024 revival (Jurgen Flimm, slightly updated) * Salzburg 2015 (Claus Guth, abstract) * Paris 2020 (Cyril Teste, hi-tech) * Dublin 2021 (Annabelle Comyn, updated) * Glyndebourne 2021 (Freddie Wake-Walker, see also below) * Warsaw 2021 (John Fulljames, updated) * Berlin 2022 (David Hermann, reimagined) * Toronto 2023 (Matthew Ozawa, hi-tech) * Vienna 2025 (Nikolaus Habjan, full video above)
	About the setting	* Freddie Wake-Walker (Glyndebourne 2021)
	Extreme interpretations	* Vienna 2025 (puppet production, as above) * Amsterdam 2024 (involves added plot elements) * Heartbeat Opera, via THE MET (reworked as chamber play)


IMAGES
The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in class, though there may be a few small discrepancies. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.

Here are brief bios of the composers and directors considered in the class, listed in order of birth.

	Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770–1827. German composer, working primarily in Vienna. The dominant composer of his time, Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, 16 string quartets, 32 piano sonatas, and one opera, Fidelio, which he labored on in several versions between 1805 and 1814. From about 1800 onwards, increasing deafness gradually put an end to his performing career, although he wrote some of his finest works when totally deaf. He is one of the first composers to exhibit a distinct late style.
	Claus Guth, 1964– . German opera director. Guth has been associated with the Salzburg Festival since 1999, directing for example a cycle of Mozart operas which typify his style: characters in modern dress set against monumental architectural backgrounds, the chill of the setting contrasting with the insightful and often passionate staging. In opera houses all over Europe, he has directed works by Monteverdi, Gluck, Beethoven, Wagner, Richard Strauss, and numerous contemporary premieres. He is also known for his staging of Handel's Messiah in 2008.
	Cyril Teste, 1975– . French film and stage diector. Teste, who studied visual arts before theater, is the co-founder of he MxM Collective, a group of theatrical artistis exploring the interface etween live and electronic media. As well as developing his own texts and those of others, he has also applied his approach to opera, as in his productions of Fidelio for the Opéra comique (2021) and Salome for the Vienna State Opera (2023)
	Tobias Kratzer, 1980– . German opera director. Kratzer studied Art History before turning to direction. He established himself in 2007 with a competition in Graz, then burst into international prominence in 2019 with a mixed-media production of Wagner's Tannhäuser in Bayreuth. His innovative 2020 production Fidelio in London treads new ground by treating each act on entirely different principles. He has been Intendant of the Hamburg State Opera since 2025.