Beethoven and contradiction at the Metropolitan Opera

Chicago, IL – It was a chilly Saturday in March. It was late morning, yet many were headed to the movie theater. Not to see the typical movie, but a live stream by the Metropolitan Opera (the Met) of Beethoven’s Fidelio. The Met has been live streaming some of their productions since December 30, 2006. What motivated them to live stream? Perhaps to reach new audiences? More revenues?

Except for a very few scattered areas, the working class in the United States rarely if ever listens to opera. It could rightfully be said that this an understatement of epic proportions. There are many reasons: the cost for a live performance ticket is extraordinarily, world class opera companies only exist in a few U.S. cities, other forms of quality entertainment have grabbed workers’ attention, and the list goes on.

On top of this, privatization and cuts to public education mean fewer and fewer working class students are offered orchestra or come into contact with opera in any serious way. Many will go a lifetime without seeing a performance, something that may not occur to those headed to the Beethoven live stream.

Is the Met using live stream to reach out to workers? I got my answer quickly as an ad for Rolex, proud sponsors of the Met, crossed the screen. A quick Google search revealed that the lowest-priced Rolex watch will cost a worker over $6000 and that they can pay up to $70,000 for a pricier model.

The ad followed by a speech by Met General Manager Peter Gleb. Gleb made an impassioned plea to continue to support the Ukraine, clearly meaning military funding and NATO expansion. He likened the expression of freedom in the Beethoven opera that we were about to see to the funding of a proxy war in Europe.

There were calls to come to a live performance in New York as well as calls to donate to the Met. There was no mention of Gleb’s $1.3 million annual salary.

But enough of all that. Gleb was correct about one thing; the opera the audience was about to see was about freedom and had a lot to offer any audience. Fidelio is Beethoven’s only opera. He was a prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, string quartets, ballet and much more, totaling 722 works. He is correctly seen as one of the masters bridging classical and romantic periods in music.

Why only one opera? Clearly, he struggled with it, taking almost ten years to bring it to its final version as he was losing his ability to hear. From the first to the final version, Beethoven cut much of the repetition as well as eliminating entire songs. He also restructured the opera, changing keys to make to make the repression as well as the actual struggle for freedom more prominent. Interestingly, Fidelio is one of the early operas that have some dialogue without music. Despite Beethoven’s struggles with his sole opera, it turned out to be a masterpiece.

In another change to the final version, Beethoven cut the size of the orchestra, which the Met put under the baton of conductor Susanna Mälkki. Mälkki is one of the few women to conduct such a prestigious orchestra.

Lise Davidsen plays the lead of Leonore, who disguises herself as a young man (Fidelio) to help free her husband Florestan from prison. Florestan is wrongfully convicted because he told the truth to the people in the face of tyranny. This opera is a story about true love as well as the struggle for freedom.

Working with Davidsen, the entire opera company, union members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, are all world class performers. Their acting and singing performances bring the emotion that opera is famous for providing audiences. For Davidsen, this is all the more spectacular as this was her last performance before taking family leave. She is pregnant with twins.

Even the Intermission is a treat. Besides live interviews, the Met shows the backstage working of the stagehands, who are union members of IATSE Local 1. The large number of workers quickly moving equipment and scenery before the start of ACT II is a ballet in itself.

Finally, a word about Beethoven and his politics. According to Wilhelm Liebknecht, Karl Marx called Beethoven one of the masters, and narrowly avoided a London pub brawl in the process. Apparently, an English drinker thought the British were superior in music.

As for Beethoven, we must realize that he was a composer and not a politician. Still, despite having to depend on aristocrats for work, he was a strong supporter of the relatively recent French Revolution and its struggle against feudal tyranny.

Richard Berg is the past president of Teamsters Local 743. He currently sits on the board of the Uri-Eichen Gallery and is the host of the Fight Back! Radio podcast.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Culture #Music #ClassicalMusic #Opera #Beethoven

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