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Donald Macleod explores Beethoven's only opera Fidelio and songs including An die Hoffnung op 94 with conductor Simone Young and pianist Iain Burnside.

Beethoven was born into a family of singers. His grandfather Ludwig and his father Johann were both remarked on for their voices. Judging by contemporary accounts it seems that Beethoven himself wasn't similarly gifted. The librettist and lepidopterist Georg Friedrich Treitschke claimed that Beethoven would growl when he was composing; Beethoven's biographer Anton Schindler said that he howled, and Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries was of the view that his teacher did both. If those reports are true, then Beethoven's inability to produce a harmonious sound himself certainly didn't act as a deterrent to his compositional focus. A quick tally shows that somewhere in the region of half of his six hundred plus works were written for voice, mining subjects like love, persecution, loneliness, freedom, brotherhood and sacrifice, themes that Beethoven held very close to his heart.

Across the week Donald Macleod and his guests will be discussing some personal favourites from Beethoven's vocal music, taking in the giants of choral repertory like Missa Solemnis and the ninth symphony, his opera Fidelio and orchestral vocal music, as well as relishing the astonishing variety of his song-writing, from the song cycle An die Ferne Geliebte and the most profoundly moving vocal masterpieces, to a comic song most likely dashed off to amuse friends in a bar.

Fidelio was an immense struggle for Beethoven and when the premiere finally arrived in 1805, it was under the dark cloud of occupation of Vienna by Napoleon and his army. The scale and vision of the opera found its way into some of Beethoven's most ambitious song-writing to date.

Music, Love and Wine
Catrin Wyn Davies, soprano
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Thomas Allen, baritone

La Tiranna WoO 125
Pamela Coburn, soprano
Leonard Hokanson, piano

Fidelio (Act 1)
O welche Lust, in freier Luft (Prisoner’s Chorus)
Arnold Schoenberg Choir
Berlin Philharmonic
Simon Rattle, director

Fidelio (Act 1) - [NB - error in presentation]
Abscheulicher! Wo eilst du hin? ……
Nina Stemme, soprano
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor

Fidelio (Act 2)
Introduction and Aria Gott! Welch’ Dunkel hier!
In des Lebens Frühlingstagen
Jonas Kaufmann, tenor, Florestan
Mahler Chamber Orchestra/Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Claudio Abbado, conductor

An die Hoffnung op 94
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Iain Burnside, piano