Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ resonates with resistance and freedom at Washington National Opera

Paul Hyde | 31 OCT 2024

Beethoven’s Fidelio is the most political of operas, so it seems entirely fitting that Washington National Opera would offer a dynamic and provocative staging of the work at the Kennedy Center as Election Day nears.

It’s an opera about tyranny and freedom, centered on a devoted wife who assumes a false identity to break her husband out of prison.

Freedom, of course, is a cherished American value, not tied to any particular party, although one character in this production, the gender-swapped Prime Minister, might bring to mind a certain current presidential candidate.

The new production, which opened October 25, benefits from a top-tier cast of singers and the assured conducting of Robert Spano, who is music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; before that, he led the Atlanta Symphony for 20 seasons and now serves as that orchestra’s music director laureate.

Director Francesca Zambello has moved the action from 17th-century Spain to a sort of bleak Stalinist gulag. The country has fallen under the rule of a strongman, Pizzaro, who has imprisoned freedom fighters, including the resistance leader Florestan. His wife Leonore disguises herself as a young man, Fidelio, with the hope of freeing him.

In addition to Spano, the production features another creative artist familiar to Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth classical music fans: Erhard Rom, a frequent set designer for the Atlanta Opera and Dallas Opera, as well as Washington National Opera. This is the first time he has worked with Spano. Rom’s sets for this production are a stark and striking combination of chain-link fencing and brutalist, decaying stone walls. Those sets, which also include such details as a long row of bureaucratic filing cabinets, establish the oppressive atmosphere of an Orwellian police state.

Fidelio is not the easiest opera to cast. It requires two singers with ample vocal heft for the roles of Leonore and Florestan. On opening night, Sinéad Campbell Wallace brought a lustrous and nimble soprano to the role of Lenore. Jamez McCorkle, with a ringing tenor, was an impressive Florestan.

Baritone Derek Welton was a resonant-voiced Pizzaro, the murderous villain of the opera, though not as chilling as he might have been. David Leigh, with a big, sonorous bass, was wonderful as the jailer Rocco.

Sinéad Campbell Wallace (Leonore) and Jamez McCorkle (Florestan) in Washington National Opera’s “Fidelio.” (credit: Cory Weaver)

Fidelio has long been seen as a rather odd bird, a mix of comic opera and bold melodrama. Yet, it’s that combination of genres that makes the German composer’s opera seem, emotionally at least, so modern. Today’s theater-goers are quite comfortable with musical works that range from high drama to low comedy.

One of the opera’s comic elements involves a young woman, Marzelline, who falls in love with Fidelio — the disguised Leonore. The two almost get married. Tiffany Choe’s Marzelline was beautifully sung with a sparkling soprano. Meanwhile, a young man, Jaquino, is in love with Marzelline. Tenor Sahel Salam brought a pleasing timbre to the role of Jaquino.

Tiffany Choe (Marzelline) and Sahel Salam (Jaquino) in WNO’s “Fidelio.” (credit: Cory Weaver)

In a provocative move, Zambello cast mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as the Prime Minister, a role written for a man and, to my knowledge, never played by a woman. It’s a relatively small part: For most of the opera, the Prime Minister is assumed to be in exile. Graves was greeted with rapturous applause when she walked on stage late in Act II to free the innocent and punish the wicked. Graves is a house favorite, having appeared in about a dozen Washington National Opera productions over the years. But dressed in suffragist white, Graves also brought to mind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Graves’ Prime Minister is the last person we see on stage, holding a symbol of tyranny overthrown.

Denyse Graves (Prime Minister) and Derek Welton (Pizarro) in Washington National Opera’s “Fidelio.” (credits, l-r: Mauricio Castro, Cory Weaver)

Fidelio is an opera that can often seem static, but Zambello brought a compelling momentum to the dramatic proceedings. She staged a pantomime behind a scrim during the overture to provide the backstory of Florestan’s imprisonment — a dramatically effective touch. She also switched a few scenes, enhancing rather than harming the narrative. Pre-show scrim projections of excerpts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights connected the opera to modern concerns.

Spano, the Washington National Opera’s music director designate, led a polished and vigorous performance. Beethoven’s music ranges widely: For the earlier comic scenes, the opera’s textures are light, graceful, and Mozartean. Later scenes bring forth the more dramatic, brooding, revolutionary Beethoven. Spano negotiated each of these moods effectively, drawing warm, burnished playing from the strings. Spano’s tempos were fairly standard, with a fine contrast between slow, lyrical episodes and allegro passages. It was a taut, clean performance as well, with precise coordination between orchestra, principals, and chorus.

Conductors often insert Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No. 3 into the opera, giving the pit orchestra a chance to shine with this brilliant instrumental piece written for earlier versions of the opera, but Spano surprisingly chose to omit that overture, perhaps out of modesty or a desire not to impede the forward momentum of the drama.

The Washington National Opera Chorus, led by Steven Gathman, sang splendidly. Choral forces are used sparingly but memorably and to strong effect in Fidelio. Particularly poignant was the men’s chorus singing as prisoners who are allowed only briefly to enjoy the sunshine of the open air. (For prisoners in a gulag, however, the men did seem a little too clean and well-kempt.) At the end of the opera, the full ensemble sings one of those brisk, ecstatic Beethoven choruses that may remind listeners of the final moments of the Ninth Symphony. I might have wished there were 80 choristers rather than what seemed to be 40 on stage, but the robust, committed singing provided a magnificent, triumphant conclusion to the opera.■

EXTERNAL LINKS:

• Washington National Opera: kennedy-center.org/wno
• Robert Spano: robertspanomusic.com
• Francesca Zambello: francescazambello.com
• Erhard Rom: erhardrom.com
• Sinéad Campbell Wallace: sineadcampbellwallace.com
• Jamez McCorkle: mwamanagement.com/artist/jamez-mccorkle
• Derek Welton: derekwelton.com
• David Leigh: davidleighbass.com
• Denyce Graves: .thedenycegravesfoundation.org/sy23presenters/denyce-graves
• Tiffany Choe: kennedy-center.org/artists/c/ca-cn/tiffany-choe
• Sahel Salam: sahelsalamtenor.com

About the author:

Paul Hyde, a longtime journalist, teaches English at a college in South Carolina. He writes regularly for Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL, the Greenville Journal and the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Readers may find him on X at @paulhyde7 or write to him at paulhydeus@yahoo.com.

Read more by Paul Hyde.

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