Fidelio – Beethoven's Last Words

10.1. WEDNESDAY SERIES 9 Helsinki Music Centre at 19:00

Fidelio – Beethoven’s last words

Hannu Lintu, conductor Jussi Nikkilä, direction & script Pietu Pietiäinen, lighting design Alise Polacenko, set design In partnership with Yle Drama Johanna Rusanen-Kartano, soprano (Leonore) Russell Thomas, tenor (Florestan) Tommi Hakala, baritone (Pizarro) Robert Gleadow, bass (Rocco) Malin Christensson, soprano (Marzelline) Jussi Myllys, tenor (Jaquino) Arttu Kataja, baritone (Fernando) Martti Anttila (1. Prisoner) Jussi Linnanmäki (2. Prisoner) Helsinki Music Centre Choir, coach. Jani Sivén Spoken roles: Esko Salminen (Beethoven) Kati Outinen (Rosalie the maid)

Video inserts filmed in Latvia in summer 2017.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio, an opera in two acts, op. 72

Interval at about 20.45. The concert will end at about 22.45. Broadcast on Yle Radio 1 on 20.1. and on Yle Teema on 30.3.

1 FIDELIO – the work ran to only three performances. Beethoven revised his opera after BEETHOVEN’S GREAT Stephan von Breuning had worked over SONG OF PRAISE TO the libretto. He wrote a new overture, LOVE AND FREEDOM tightened up the structure, reducing it from three acts to two, and either omit- ting or remodelling many of its num- Legend has it that, during the French bers. The new Leonore was staged in Revolution, a certain brave young wom- March 1806, but even though it got a an disguised as a man succeeded in better reception than the before, it was rescuing her husband languishing in still performed only twice due to a dis- prison for political reasons. At least Jean- pute that broke out between Beethoven Nicolas Bouilly must have believed the and the theatre’s new management. story, because he used it for an opera The opera then lay dormant for eight libretto called Léonore, ou l’amour conju- years. The reason why Beethoven then gal (Leonore, or the Triumph of Married returned to it was a sudden rise in Love), claiming it was based on histori- popularity occasioned by the warlike cal fact. Wellingtons Sieg (Wellington’s Victory) The subject appealed to Ludwig van premiered in December 1813. Fired Beethoven (1770–1827). A child of the by this success, the management of Revolution, he regarded human equality Vienna’s Kärtnertortheater decided and freedom as a greater ideal than the to reinstate Leonore in the repertoire. old, God-given social order with its set- Beethoven came up with a third and fi- in-stone classes. nal version, and it was given the name – Beethoven arrived at Bouilly’s Leonore Fidelio – by which it is nowadays known. via a slightly roundabout route. In early The premiere of this opera in May 1814 1803, he signed an agreement with the was a brilliant success. Theater an der Wien for an opera, and The events in the opera begin with a the job of providing a libretto was under- duet between Marzelline and Jaquino in taken by the theatre’s builder and direc- which she turns down his proposal of tor Emanuel Schikaneder famous as the marriage. She then has an aria of her librettist of Mozart’s The Magic Flute. He own before the musical temperature duly presented a libretto entitled Vestas shoots up in an electrifying quartet in- Feuer (Vesta’s Fire) set in ancient Rome, volving herself, Leonore, Jaquino and but Beethoven composed no more than Rocco. A minor issue has, all of a sud- a couple of scenes before losing inter- den, become profound and significant. est. His gaze then fell on Bouilly’s libret- A similar shift occurs, though in a dif- to, from which Joseph Sonnleithner sup- ferent context, when some of the pris- plied a version in German. oners are allowed out into the yard to The premiere of Leonore at the enjoy the sunlight in the great finale to Theater an der Wien in November Act I. 1805 got a lukewarm reception and

2 The fact that Florestan does not en- HANNU LINTU ter the scene as the object of the action until the beginning of Act II is both dra- matically bold and effective. His role as The 2017/18 season marks Hannu the male lead is thus shorter than usual, Lintu’s fifth year as Chief Conductor of but his entry in a moving, ecstatic aria is the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. all the more impressive and proves that A concert tour to Russia and a perfor- he really is worthy of Leonore’s uncon- mance of Väinö Raitio’s Princess Cecilia ditional love. at the Helsinki Festival – part of celebra- In Act I, solo numbers alternate tions marking 100 years of Finnish in- smoothly with flowing ensembles, but dependence – were among last season’s in Act II, the emphasis is on the latter; highlights, and on 6 December 2017 the Florestan’s aria is the only real solo one. orchestra honours both its 90th anniver- The dynamics in Act II trace a steadi- sary and 100-year-old Finland with pre- ly rising line. Florestan’s aria is followed mieres of newly commissioned works first by a duet (Leonore and Rocco), by longtime FRSO collaborator Magnus then a trio (Leonore, Florestan and Lindberg and Lotta Wennäkoski. Other Rocco) and finally – at its peak – a forthcoming engagements include per- quartet (Leonore, Florestan, Pizarro and formances of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle Rocco). and Beethoven’s Fidelio, and a concert Both the personal and the universal tour to Spain and Germany with cellist have their moments at the end of the Sol Gabetta. opera. First, Leonore and Florestan re- The 2017/18 season sees Lintu return joice at their reunion and the force of to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony their love, while in the finale, the univer- Orchestra, Washington’s National sal level takes precedence when Pizarro’s Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas misdeeds come to light, putting an end Symphony and Detroit Symphony or- to tyranny. The opera ends with an ec- chestras, among others. Lintu also static chorus as the chains are cast off makes his debut with the Naples and the music looks ahead to the decla- Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony ration of cosmic liberty and fraternity of and Hiroshima Symphony orches- the Ninth Symphony. tras. Recent engagements include the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Kimmo Korhonen Berlin, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, Programme note translated (abridged) Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Seoul by Susan Sinisalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the St Louis Symphony, Baltimore and Toronto Symphony orchestras, as well as three acclaimed European debuts: Staatsorchester Stuttgart Opera, Radio- Symphonieorchester Wien and NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester.

3 A regular in the pit, Lintu returns to JOHANNA RUSANEN- the Savonlinna Opera Festival in July KARTANO 2018 to conduct Verdi’s Otello – in 2017 he conducted Aulis Sallinen’s Kullervo at Savonlinna as well as Sibelius’s Johanna Rusanen-Kartano (soprano) Kullervo for the Finnish National Opera embarked on her operatic career in and Ballet as part of their special col- Kuopio in 1994 and after various com- laborative project with director/chore- petition victories made her debut at ographer Tero Saarinen. Previous pro- both the Finnish National Opera and the ductions with Finnish National Opera Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1997. Solo include Parsifal, Carmen, Sallinen’s King engagements have taken her to such Lear, and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in venues as the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the spring 2016. Lintu has also worked with Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Moscow Tampere Opera and Estonian National Bolshoi, the Teatro Regio Torino and the Opera. São Paulo Theatro Municipal. Her major roles have included Leonora in Verdi’s La forza del destino, Puccini’s Tosca JUSSI NIKKILÄ and Turandot, and Wagner’s Venus and Isolde. She was awarded the Karita A member of the Q-teatteri ensemble, Mattila Prize in 2001. Johanna Rusanen- actor-stage director Jussi Nikkilä has Kartano was one of the soloists on the also appeared at the Finnish National Penderecki Conducts Penderecki disc Theatre, the KOM and Koko Theatres that won a prestigious Grammy in 2017. and in many Finnish films. He has directed two plays for Q-teatteri and made his directing debut at the Finnish National RUSSELL THOMAS Theatre, in Shakespeare’s Richard III in 2016. He studied Shakespearean theatre at the London Academy of Music American Russell Thomas, lauded for and Dramatic Art, which, in its epoch both the power and the beauty of his productions, relies on powerful acting voice, has in the past decade or so be- and the timeless expressive impact of come one of the most illustrious ten- Shakespeare’s text. ors on the operatic firmament, star- ring at Covent Garden, the New York Metropolitan, the Deutsche Oper Berlin PIETU PIETIÄINEN and other equally celebrated opera houses. In summer 2017 he made his Pietu Pietiäinen is a freelance Helsinki debut at the Salzburg Festival, sing- lighting and video designer. He has ing the title role in the production of been working at, among others, the Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito directed Finnish National Theatre in the past few by Peter Sellars. Engagements this sea- years. son include appearances as Rodolfo in

4 Puccini’s La bohème at the Metropolitan, world. After making his Glyndebourne Henri in Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers in debut as Guglielmo, he joined the com- Frankfurt, Don Carlos in Washington pany on tour as Leporello – a role he and Tito at the Dutch National Opera. has also sung at the Champs-Elysées Verdi roles feature large in his reper- Theatre in Paris, the Deutsche Oper toire, most recently that of Otello in a Berlin and elsewhere, and this spring concert performance in autumn 2017. at the Vienna State Opera. At Covent Other composers whose works he fre- Garden in London he has sung the title quently sings included Mozart, Berlioz, role in Don Giovanni. Puccini, Dvořák, Offenbach and Berg. German suits his voice very well, he says, and he added Florestan to his repertoire MALIN CHRISTENSSON a few years ago. Swedish soprano Malin Christensson studied at Sweden’s Royal College of TOMMI HAKALA Music. Her operatic highlights include Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro, Even before winning the BBC’s “Singer of Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Marzelline in the World” title in 2003, Tommi Hakala Fidelio and a Flower Maiden in Parsifal. (baritone) had already made a name for She has appeared at the Salzburg and himself in his native Finland as the win- Glyndebourne Festivals, at London’s ner of the 2001 Merikanto Competition. Covent Garden, and at the operas in He has been a member of the solo en- Lisbon and Los Angeles. Also a frequent sembles in Nuremberg, Leipzig and soloist in concert repertoire, she has per- elsewhere, and at the Finnish National formed with the Leipzig Gewandhaus, Opera, where his forthcoming engage- BBC Symphony, London Symphony ments include the parts of Wotan and and other orchestras. Forthcoming en- the Wanderer in the production of The gagements include a concert version of Ring scheduled for 2019–2021. He has Wagner’s Rheingold as a soloist with the guested at many of the world’s top Boston Symphony Orchestra. opera houses (such as the New York Malin Christensson has sung Lieder Metropolitan, the Semperoper Dresden with pianist Roger Vignoles at, among and the Deutsche Oper Berlin), and as others, the Wigmore Hall and the BBC an active Lied recitalist and soloist in Proms in London. the United States and across Europe.

JUSSI MYLLYS ROBERT GLEADOW Jussi Myllys (tenor) studied at the Canadian Robert Gleadow (bass-bar- Sibelius Academy at home in Finland itone) continues to make his mark on and in Berlin before joining the solo en- operatic and concert stages around the semble of the Frankfurt Opera for the

5 period 2006–2009. Since then, he has Actors’ Union recently awarded him its been a member of the solo ensemble first honorary title on the 50th anniver- of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein oper- sary of his career as an actor. The “An ating in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. He Evening with Esko Salminen” sessions has made guest appearances at, among at the Finnish National Theatre have others, the Finnish National Opera, run to full houses year after year. the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Bavarian State Opera KATI OUTINEN and the operas in Paris and Barcelona. His repertoire encompasses the main Kati Outinen is an actress, script writer Mozart roles for tenor, the Italian Singer and stage director and was Professor of in Der Rosenkavalier, the Steersman in acting at the Theatre Academy 2002– The Flying Dutchman and Alfredo in 2013. She has taken many leading roles La traviata. He can also be frequently in films by Aki Kaurismäki, won awards heard in concert, oratorio and Lied rep- at Cannes and at home in Finland, and ertoire. had parts in many TV series. In the theatre, she has acted in both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking productions. ARTTU KATAJA Arttu Kataja (baritone) has been a THE HELSINKI MUSIC member of the Berlin State Opera’s solo CENTRE CHOIR ensemble since 2006, his roles there including the Count in The Marriage The Helsinki Music Centre Choir is a of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte band of some 90 experienced singers and Marcello in La bohème. He has all passionate about their art that can been a guest soloist at, among others, if required regroup as a male or female the Theater an der Wien, the Hamburg choir. Founded in autumn 2011 on the State Opera and the Deutsche Oper initiative of Hannu Lintu, Jukka-Pekka am Rhein, and he is an active singer of Saraste and John Storgårds, it works in concert repertoire. Recent productions close partnership with the main Helsinki in which he has sung include Bach’s Music Centre occupants: the Finnish Magnificat, Handel’s Messiah and Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem. Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy. Its Artistic Director from 2011 to 2016 was Tapani Länsiö, who was ESKO SALMINEN succeeded by Nils Schweckendiek. The chorus master is Jani Sivén. Esko Salminen is one of Finland’s best- known and most celebrated theatre, film and television actors. The Finnish

6 THE FINNISH Lindberg, Saariaho, Sallinen, Kaipainen, Kokkonen and others, and the debut RADIO SYMPHONY disc of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas ORCHESTRA Launis. Its discs have reaped some prestigious distinctions, such as the BBC The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Music Magazine Award, the Académie (FRSO) is the orchestra of the Finnish Charles Cros Award and a MIDEM Broadcasting Company (Yle). Its mis- Classical Award. Its disc of Sibelius’s sion is to produce and promote Lemminkäinen and Pohjola’s Daughter Finnish musical culture and its Chief was Gramophone magazine’s Critic’s Conductor as of autumn 2013 has been Choice in December 2015 and brought Hannu Lintu. His predecessors as Chief the FRSO and Hannu Lintu a Finnish Conductor were Toivo Haapanen, Nils- Emma award in the Classical Album Eric Fougstedt, Paavo Berglund, Okko category. Music by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Kamu, Leif Segerstam, Jukka-Pekka Lindberg, Bartók and others will be re- Saraste and Sakari Oramo. corded during the 2017/2018 season. The FRSO celebrates its 90th anni- The FRSO regularly tours to all parts of versary in the 2017/2018 season, for the the world. During the 2017/2018 season Radio Orchestra of ten players made its schedule will include a European tour its first appearance on September 1, under Hannu Lintu. The home channel 1927, at the Aleksanterinkatu 46 studio of the FRSO is Yle Radio 1, which broad- in Helsinki. It began giving public con- casts all the FRSO concerts, usually live, certs a few years later and grew to sym- both in Finland and abroad. Its concerts phony orchestra strength in the 1960s, can also be heard and watched with ex- during Paavo Berglund’s term as Chief cellent live stream quality in the web Conductor. (yle.fi/areena). In addition to the great Classical- Romantic masterpieces, the latest con- temporary music is a major item in the repertoire of the FRSO, which each year premieres a number of Yle com- missions. Another of the orchestra’s tasks is to record all Finnish orchestral music for the Yle archive. During the 2017/2018 season, the FRSO will premiere six Finnish works commissioned by Yle. The programme will also include concert performances of three operas, the FRSO’s first festival of its own and major 20th-century violin concertos. The FRSO has recorded works by Mahler, Ligeti, Sibelius, Hakola,