Leonore, opera (early version of Fidelio), Hess 109
Fidelio, opera, Op. 72
Two great recordings of two great operas by Beethoven in a single box: this will be big news to those listeners who had been led to believe by opera companies and record labels that Beethoven wrote one and only one opera. And yet, contained herein are Herbert Blomstedt and the Dresden Staatskapelle's 1976 stereo recording of Leonore, Beethoven's three-act opera premiered in the Theater an der Wien in 1805 during the French occupation, and Christoph von Dohnányi and the Wiener Philharmoniker's 1991 digital recording of ...
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Two great recordings of two great operas by Beethoven in a single box: this will be big news to those listeners who had been led to believe by opera companies and record labels that Beethoven wrote one and only one opera. And yet, contained herein are Herbert Blomstedt and the Dresden Staatskapelle's 1976 stereo recording of Leonore, Beethoven's three-act opera premiered in the Theater an der Wien in 1805 during the French occupation, and Christoph von Dohnányi and the Wiener Philharmoniker's 1991 digital recording of Fidelio, Beethoven's two-act opera premiered in the Kärtnerthortheater in 1814 after the Austrian victory. Though both works have the same characters and essentially the same plot, Beethoven was fully justified in claiming after the second premiere that "almost no musical piece remained the same and more than half of the opera has been completely re-worked." Those scholars who know the operas well say both are great in their different ways, though they allow that Fidelio's dramatic...
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