Fidelio

Fidelio is the only opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly.

The original text

Fidelio is inspired by a true story from the French Revolution. It centres on a woman, Leonore, whose husband Florestan has been secretly imprisoned by his political rival – the villainous Don Pizarro. Originally titled Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe. The opera premiered at Vienna's Theater an der Wien on 20 November 1805.

Translations and adaptations

A 2004 South African version, billed as Fidelio on Robben Island, produced by Cape Town Opera on Robben Island, with the action relocated to South Africa in 1990 – the year of Nelson Mandela's release from Robben Island. "The production went to great lengths to evoke a real apartheid prison experience. The set incorporated structures from the existing prison building, while singers’ costumes exactly replicated the uniforms worn by guards and inmates during apartheid. Wardens from Cape Town's Pollsmoor Prison, hired as supernumerary actors, were stationed on the prison walls and towers during crowd scenes".

Performance history in South Africa

1970: Presented by CAPAB Opera in collaboration with UCT; presented by NAPAC Opera.

1978: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1990: Presented by CAPAB Opera (31 January – 17 February)

1994: Presented by CAPAB Opera (14–25 April)

2004: Fidelio on Robben Island presented on Robben Island by Cape Town Opera and Den Norske Opera, with supplementary sponsorship from the South African National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund, the Western Cape Provincial Government, and the Western Cape Cultural Commission.Footnote (27 March). With Elizabeth Connell, Fikile Mvinjelwa, Abel Moeng, Linda Bukhosini, Bongani Tembe, Norwegian singers Carsten Stabell and Trond Halstein Moe and Cuban Moises Parker and the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. Angelo Gobbato directed the production, with design by Michael Mitchell and lighting by Kobus Rossouw and Asbjørn Hagen.

2012: Presented by Cape Town Opera (7–10 March) in the Castle of Good Hope.

Sources

'Fidelio in a nutshell'. Opera North. https://www.operanorth.co.uk/news/fidelio-in-a-nutshell/

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.

Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.

Ivan Meredith. 2006. 'Opera in South Africa during the first democratic decade'. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Cape Town.

https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/03/24/2003107603

J.M. Pistorius. 'A Modern-Day Florestan: Fidelio on Robben Island and South Africa’s Early Democratic Project'. Twentieth-Century Music. 2023; 20(1): 107-125.