@ My Met Score Desk for FIDELIO

Above: Tomasz Konieczny and Lise Davidsen in Act II of FIDELIO; a MET Opera photo

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday March 15th, 2025 matinee – I’ve never really been drawn to Beethoven’s FIDELIO. I’ve only seen it a few times; my first Leonore was Shirley Verrett (!), later followed by Hildegard Behrens, Karita Mattila, and  Waltraud Meier in the title-role. I love the drama of Leonore’s rescue of her beloved Florestan, but I don’t like the ‘operetta’ couple who are quite silly; they hold up the action in what could otherwise be a potent drama.

This afternoon’s performance of the Beethoven opera was sold out, and overall it was a good FIDELIO. Susanna Mälkki’s conducting seemed on the fast side, and at times she seemed to succumb to the current Met trend of swamping the singers. The orchestra were on peak form, with excellent work from the horns. The chorus likewise excelled.

In the briefest roles, tenor Jonghyun Park’s sweet lyricism made his mark as the First Prisoner; Jeongcheol Cha was equally fine as the Second Prisoner, though he has less to sing. Ying Fang as Marzelline and Magnus Dietrich as Jaquino both sang beautifully, but their characters are cardboard…and if they were absent from the narrative, it wouldn’t matter. 

The impressive Danish basso Stephen Milling (above, in a MET Opera photo) is ever welcome at The Met. Today he had the brief but pivotal role of Don Fernando, and he sang with authority; I look forward to his Sarastro later in the season.

Rene Pape, who turned 60 last Autumn, retains the power and firmness of his cherished voice; he has given me so many wonderful memories in my opera-filled lifetime, and he sang handsomely and effortlessly today. His Act I aria, and his scene with Leonore as they prepare for their gruesome task, were highlights of the afternoon.

Tomasz Konieczny was a vivid Don Pizarro; his first spoken lines had a sense of urgency, and he displayed the meanness of the character in his sinister inflections. Joining Mr. Pape in duet, the sheer amplitude of their sound defined the description “Met-sized…”. Later, Mr. Konieczny’s taunting of the hapless Florestan was unsettling. 

Following a superb prelude to Act II from the MET Musicians under Ms. Mälkki’s baton, tenor David Butt Philip emitted an uncanny, sustained tone with his opening “Gott!” The intensity of Florestan’s suffering was strikingly voiced by the English tenor, who has an impressive list of European achievements to his credit. His trio with Ms. Davidsen and Mr. Pape had a palpable feeling of terror. Rescued by his wife’s cry “Töd’ erst sein Weib!” as she holds Pizarro at gunpoint, Florestan joins Leonore in the blazing “O namenlose Freude!”  But I did miss hearing Florestan’s haunting spoken line, “Was hast du für mich getan?” 

Lise Davidsen was the star of the afternoon, just as Leonore is the heroine of the story. The tall Norwegian soprano is pregnant with twins, and this run of FIDELIO at the Met will be her last performances until after the babies arrive. She was in excellent voice today, and her strikingly clear and shining top notes seemed truly to stun the audience. Her singing of the great aria “Abscheulicher!” had remarkable power but also some incredible subtleties, and the prayerful passage “Komm, Hoffnung” moved me deeply.  The soprano then went on to a blazing, prolonged top B at the aria’s climax, drawing cries of brava! from the Hall. In the opera’s finale, more of the soprano’s high notes lit up the afternoon. 

Following a benedictive passage from Mr. Milling’s Don Fernando, the minister then asks Leonore to remove her husband’s shackles. In this moving moment, I glanced up at the sculpture that hangs over the Met’s proscenium; created by American sculptor Mary Callery, it was described at the time the House opened in 1966 as having been inspired by the opened shackles of Florestan, rescued by his devoted wife. 

~ Oberon