DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (November 19, 2020)
Weve discussed Beethoven’s famous “Leonore” overature in two posts titled “Beethoven and the Heroics” (April 15 & 16). Now, let us discuss the various versions of this beautiful work.
Beethoven's only opera, Fidelio, was originally titled Leonore. His passion for the idea of a female hero was so great that he composed four different overtures for it. His first attempt, for the 1805 premiere, was the overture now known as "Leonore No. 2".
For the performances of 1806, he created "Leonore No. 3". It is the greatest of the four overtures, but it tends to overwhelm the opening scenes of the opera. Beethoven cut it back somewhat, for a planned 1808 performance in Prague, with the version now called "Leonore No. 1. For the 1814 revival Beethoven wrote something lighter, which we now know as the Fidelio overture.
The Fidelio Overture is used to today, but Leonore No. 3 is often played as the introduction to Act 3, because it is such a shame to leave it out.
Here is the first of them, Leonore Overture No. 2:
Here is the second, and to our minds the greatest, Leonore Overture No. 3:
Here is a scaled back version, Leonore Overture No. 1:
Finally, the fourth version, the even more scaled back Fidelio Overture:
To put things in perspective, Leonore No. 2 lasts for about 16 minutes, Leonore No. 3 for 14 minutes, Leonore No. 1 for 9 minutes, and the Fidelio Overture for about 6 and 1/2 minutes,
Beethoven decided that Leonore No. 3 tends to overwhelm the opera, but in our hearts, it is still one of his greatest masterworks.