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How do you feel about Lenoroe #3 overture before the finale of Fidelio?

  • It is a real bother and disrupts the flow of the opera.

    Votes: 5 33.3%
  • I don't like it, but live with it.

    Votes: 4 26.7%
  • I think it is good to insert Leonore #4.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I add it in if it is not present in a recording

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I add it in before the Finale of any opera, LvB or not.

    Votes: 2 13.3%
  • What is all the fuss about, it's only an opera.

    Votes: 3 20.0%
  • I don't care.

    Votes: 1 6.7%

Fidelio and the pesky Leonore #3 Overture!

1653 Views 9 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  ScottK
I read that Beethoven had intended for the finale of Fidelio to start within 7 seconds of the last note of the Leonore and Florestan duet. A practice was begun to insert the Leonore #3 overture in between these two parts to accommodate the scene change (from dungeon to prison parade grounds). This I could understand in live performances, yet there are ways to cleverly make that scene change happen fast as in the DVD with Nylund and Kaufmann by having a curtain lift in the back of the dungeon scene exposing the new scene for the finale.

At any rate, I remove the Leonore #3 overture from all my folders before playing them on my MP3 player or burning discs for the car. I would remove the overture from the DVDs but it is probably not easy to do, so instead simply skip over the overture.

Oops: Third option should be Leonore #3, not #4.
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Leanora number three was played traditionally in opera houses to give time for the scene change between the dungeon scene and the finale which is set in the courtyard. Bernstein actually weaves it into the end of the duet. Works fine to me.
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