Fidelio

[Peter]

Take a look at the new page on this site about Beethoven's opera. If anyone has anymore info on the singers who took part in those first performances, I would be happy to add it to the page. Any pictures of the musicians would also be appreciated.
www.kingsbarn.freeserve.co.uk/fidelio.html



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'Man know thyself'

[SR]

Hi Peter...

Here is a page copied from another site. Don't know if there is any info you don't already have. I just ordered a DVD of Fidelio
I expect it will be here by this weekend and I can finally see rather than just hearing it.

Hearing it is nice, but it was written to combine music with stage action and tell a story. If you can't see the stage action any opera suffers.

Steve

From Website "Opera Glass" FIDELIO....Fidelio: Performance History
First performance: 20 November 1805, Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna (there were two subsequent performances on the 21st and 22nd)
Cast:

Don Fernando..Weinkopf
Don Pizarro.......Sebastian Mayer (brother-in-law of Mozart)
Florestan..........Joseph Demmer
Leonore.............Anna Milder
Rocco.................Rothe
Marcellina.........Louise Müller
Jaquino..............Caché
First performance of revised version: 29 March 1806, Theater-an-der-Wien, Vienna (there was one subsequent performance, on 10 April)

Same cast, except:

Florestan..........Joseph August Röckel
First performance of 2nd revised version: 23 May 1814, Kärnthnerthor-Theater, Vienna

Cast:

Don Fernando..Ignaz Saal
Don Pizarro......Johann Michael Vogl
Florestan...........Radichi
Leonore.............Anna Milder-Hauptmann*
Rocco.................Carl Friedrich Weinmüller
Marcellina.........Theresa Bondra
Jaquino..............Frühwald
conductor..........Michael Umlauf
*Mme. Hönig was originally announced
First performance in:

Czech Republic: 21 Nov 1814, Prague (Carl Maria von Weber conducting; his diary lists the 27th as the date; other sources give the 26th)
Germany: 15 Feb 1815, Leipzig (1805 version)
Hungary: 6 May 1816, Budapest (Pest?)
Poland: 12 Jul 1816, Wroclaw [Breslau]
Latvia: 22 Jun 1818, Riga
Russia: 1819, St. Petersburg
Netherlands: 13 Nov 1824, Amsterdam
France: 30 May 1829, Paris (Théâtre des Italiens)
Denmark: 17 Sep 1829, Copenhagen
Sweden: 14 Apr 1832, Stockholm
England: 18 May 1832, London (His Majesty's Theatre)
Switzerland: 27 Feb 1837, Basel (previously given in concert form in Zurich, 1834)
Belgium: 28 May 1838, Liège
United States: 9 Sep 1839, New York (Park Theatre)
Finland: 22 Jun 1841, Helsinki
Ireland: 14 Sep 1854, Dublin
Norway: 1876, Oslo
Scotland: 25 Nov 1876, Edinburgh
Italy: 4 Feb 1886, Rome
Mexico: 12 Apr 1891, Mexico City
Spain: Nov 1893, Madrid
Croatia: 15 Mar 1898, Zagreb
Monaco: 5 Apr 1898, Monte Carlo
Slovenia: 10 May 1927, Ljubljana
Argentina: 17 Jun 1927, Buenos Aires
Romania: Oct 1931, Bucharest
First performance at:
Covent Garden: 12 Jun 1835
Wiener Hofoper: 10 Jun 1869 (fourth opera performed there)
Metropolitan Opera: 19 Nov 1884 (119 performances in 30 seasons through 1976)
San Francisco Opera: 8 Nov 1937 (33 performances in 11 seasons through 1995, most recently in 1992)

[Peter]

Originally posted by SR:
Hi Peter...

Here is a page copied from another site. Don't know if there is any info you don't already have. I just ordered a DVD of Fidelio
I expect it will be here by this weekend and I can finally see rather than just hearing it.

Thanks but I already have all the necessary performance information - I deciphered the original cast with a magnifying glass looking at a photo of the original playbill!

What I'm really after is more background on the original cast - you know everyone is aware of B's association with the aristocracy but there are many people such as Ignaz Von Seyfried who were just as much a part of the composer's life. Indeed he was present at B's funeral and some of his music was also played.

Interesting to see that musical and opera loving country Italy so slow to take up the work!

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'Man know thyself'

[Rod]

Originally posted by Peter:


Interesting to see that musical and opera loving country Italy so slow to take up the work!

Well, there's Italian opera....and then there's Fidelio!!!!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[Joy]

I have a picture of Maria Malibran from the prison scene in full costume from 1836 and also pictures of Wilhelmine Schroder-Devrient in costume from her debut as Leonore in 1822 if you would want anything like that.

[Joy]

Also I read that Sebastian Mayer one of the original cast who played Pizarro was Mozart's brother in law.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Joy:
Also I read that Sebastian Mayer one of the original cast who played Pizarro was Mozart's brother in law.

Thanks Joy - I'll add that, but I don't need those pics as I want to concentrate on the original performers.

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'Man know thyself'