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Leonore Overture No. 3

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Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven


The work bears the designation Opus 72b


General Info

Year: 1806 / 197-?
Duration: c. 15:50
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Symphony
Publisher: Hindsley Transcriptions
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $132.00;   |   Score Only (print) - $29.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute A I-II
Flute B
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Fidelio, originally titled Leonore, oder Der Triumph der ehelichen Liebe (Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera, the work premiering at Vienna's Theater an der Wien on 20 November 1805. After further work on the libretto by Georg Friedrich Treitschke, a final version was performed at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 May 1814. By convention, both of the first two versions are referred to as Leonore. The libretto, with some spoken dialogue, tells how Leonore, disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio", rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.

Beethoven struggled to produce an appropriate overture for Fidelio, and ultimately went through four versions. His first attempt, for the 1805 premiere, is believed to have been the overture now known as Leonore No. 2. Beethoven then focused this version for the performances of 1806, creating Leonore No. 3. The latter is considered by many listeners as the greatest of the four overtures, but as an intensely dramatic, full-scale symphonic movement it had the effect of overwhelming the (rather light) initial scenes of the opera. Beethoven accordingly experimented with cutting it back somewhat, for a planned 1808 performance in Prague; this is believed to be the version now called Leonore No. 1. Finally, for the 1814 revival Beethoven began anew, and with fresh musical material wrote what we now know as the Fidelio overture. As this somewhat lighter overture seems to work best of the four as a start to the opera, Beethoven's final intentions are generally respected in contemporary productions. While some believe that Gustav Mahler introduced the practice of performing Leonore No. 3 between the two scenes of the second act, something which was common until the middle of the twentieth century, David Cairns states that it goes back to the middle of the 19th century and was therefore prior to Mahler. In this location, it acts as a kind of musical reprise of the rescue scene that has just taken place. A new, modern-styled production that premiered in Budapest in October 2008, for example, features the Leonore No. 3 overture in this location.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media


State Ratings

  • Florida: VI
  • Georgia: VI
  • Tennessee: VI


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer

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Resources

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